The Yellow Monitor, Golden Monitor,Varanus flavescens, is a species of Monitor lizard

Monitor lizard

Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...

 found in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

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Description

Varanus flavescens has subcorneal teeth, scarcely compressed. Its snout is short and convex, measuring a little less than the distance from the anterior border of the orbit to the anterior border of the ear; canthus rostralis distinct. Its nostril an oblique slit, a little nearer to the end of the snout than to the orbit. Digits short, the length of the fourth toe, measured from its articulation with the tarsus to the base of the claw, not exceeding the length of the femur. The tail of the Yellow Monitor feebly compressed, keeled above. Scales of head small, subequal; the median series of supraocular scales slightly dilated transversely. Scales on upper surfaces moderate, oval, keeled. Abdominal scales smooth, in 65 to 75 transverse rows. Caudal scales keeled; the caudal keel with a very low, doubly toothed crest. Olive or yellowish brown above, with irregular darker markings which are generally confluent into broad cross bars; a blackish temporal streak; lower surfaces yellowish, with rather indistinct brown cross bars, which are most distinct on the throat. Young dark brown above, with yellow spots confluent into crossbars; lower surface yellow, with dark brown cross bars.
From snout to vent 1 foot 3 inches; tail 1 foot 8 inches.

Distribution

Flood plains of the Indus

Indus River

The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...

, Ganges

Ganges River

The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...

 and Brahmaputra river

Brahmaputra River

The Brahmaputra , also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It is the only Indian river that is attributed the masculine gender and thus referred to as a in Indo-Aryan languages and languages with Indo-Aryan influence...

s in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 and Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

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