Varanus kordensis
Encyclopedia
The Biak tree monitor (Varanus kordensis) is a member of the Varanidae
Varanidae
Varanidae is a group of lizards of the superfamily Varanoidea. The family is a group of carnivorous lizards which includes the largest living lizard, the Komodo dragon, and the crocodile monitor. Varanidae contains the living genus Varanus and a number of extinct taxa...

 family found on Biak Island in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. It is also known as the kordo tree monitor. Long considered a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the emerald tree monitor
Emerald tree monitor
The Emerald Tree monitor , or the Green Tree monitor, is a small-to-medium-sized arboreal monitor lizard. It is known for its unusual coloration, which consists of shades from green to turquoise, topped with dark, transverse dorsal banding. This coloration helps camouflage it in its arboreal habitat...

 (V. prasinus), most authorities now treat it as a separate species.

Description

The Biak tree monitor is mainly green to turquoise
Turquoise (color)
Turquoise or is a slightly blueish tone of light green. The color is based on the gem turquoise. The term comes from the French for Turkish.At right is displayed the X11 color named turquoise....

in color. It has a black netted pattern which is visible on its back. It reaches a total length of up to 90 cm.

Further reading

  • Photo of Varanus kordensis at Reptilob.de
  • Boulenger, G. A. (1895). On a collection of reptiles and batrachians from Ferguson Island, D'Entrecasteaux group British New Guinea. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 16: 28-32
  • Boulenger, G.A. (1885). Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp.
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp.
  • Jacobs, H.J. 2002. Zur morphologischen Variabilität der nominellen Smaragdwaran-Taxa Varanus prasinus (H. SCHLEGEL 1939) und V. kordensis (A.B. MEYER 1874), mit *Bemerkungen zur Erstzucht des letzteren. Herpetofauna 24 (137): 21-34
  • Jacobs, H.J. 2003. A further new emerald tree monitor lizard of the Varanus prasinus species group from Waigeo, West Irian (Squamata: Sauria: Varanidae). Salamandra 39 (2): 65-74
  • Jacobs, H.J. 2008. Zucht von Varanus reisingeri EIDENMÜLLER & WICKER, 2005 mit Vergleich der jugendkleider der V. prasinus-Gruppe und Bemerkungen zu deren Taxonomie. Sauria 30 (1): 5-12
  • Mertens, R. 1942. Die Familie der Warane (Varanidae), 3. Teil: Taxonomie. Abh. Senckenb. naturf. Ges., 466: 235-391
  • Meyer,A.B. 1874. [Eine Mittheilung von Hrn. Dr. Adolf Meyer] über die von ihm auf Neu-Guinea und den Inseln Jobi, Mysore und Mafoor im Jahre 1873 gesammelten Amphibien. Monatsber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1874: 128-140
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