New Monitor Lizard Discovered
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 20th, 2009
Dragons still roam the Earth, at least if you consider the Varanus genus worthy of the moniker.
A new monitor lizard species has been discovered on the Talaud Islands in Indonesia by German scientist André Koch from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, during the course of a joint German-Indonesian research project. The new species was identified by using morphological characteristics and DNA analysis. Varanus lirungensis was described in the latest issue of the renowned Australian Journal of Zoology.
“The finding of Varanus lirungensis is very important because it illustrates the high diversity of monitor lizards in Indonesia” notes André Koch. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Böhme, also from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, adds: “After the discovery of several new species of Asian water monitors on Sulawesi and surrounding islands two years ago, this is further evidence for the underestimated diversity of Indonesian monitor lizards.”
For more, see here.
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Great discovery. What a scary-looking runt that is. Would hate to be the one sticking my hand in one of its “holes.” Have a feeling I would pull the hand out minus some digits.
Awesome,
Very interesting, indeed.
I was looking the new Monsterquest about Ropen, what if in some of these trips, scientists do find a ropen or a Megalania?
It would be simply amazing…(a dream?)
An american G.I swears he saw a ropen back in WW2 in New Guinea. I wonder if japanese troops, deployed in the same area, saw also something strange.
Greetings.
Julio.
Cool!
This just goes to show that undiscovered creatures remain hidden from us. It is not beyond the realm of possibilities that ancient animals remain undetected by human beings. This particular lizard is very small, but how can one account for the large troop of gorillas that maintained secrecy up until a few years ago? There is much that has yet to be discovered.
That’s cool. It’s kinda cute