''Varanus keithhornei'', commonly known as the canopy goanna, Keith Horne's monitor, blue-nosed tree monitor, or Nesbit River monitor, is a species of
monitor lizards native to northeast
Australia. It is a member of the ''
Varanus prasinus''
species group
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
.
[Monitor-lizards.net](_blank)
This monitor lizard is found in a restricted area of less than 100 km
2 near the Claudie and Nesbit rivers, in the
McIlwraith and
Iron Ranges
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in front ...
of the
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...
in northern
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
.
Description
The colouration of ''V. keithhornei'' is dark black on the upper side. It has moderately big and smooth head scales. Its tail has no visible keel.
The canopy goanna is small for a monitor lizard, reaching a total length up to 77 cm,
but more robust than other species of the ''V. prasinus'' species complex, and can be further distinguished from them by its colour and the conical throat scales.
Specimens were originally assigned to the species ''Varanus prasinus'' by Czechura in 1980,
but Wells and Wellington declared it a new species 5 years later.
Diet
They forage in the trees and the leaf litter for insects such as
orthopterans
Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshopp ...
,
roaches, and
beetles.
References
Further reading
Photos of Varanus keithhornei at Pbase.com* Anonymous 2001. Opinion 1970 – Odatria keithhornei WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 (Reptilia, Sauria): specific name placed on Official List. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 58 (1): 74
* Bleeker, P. 1856. Reis Minahassa 1: 278
* Cogger,H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
* Czechura, G. V. 1980. The emerald monitor Varanus prasinus (Schlegel): an addition to the Australian mainland herpetofauna. Mem. Qd Mus. 20: 103–109
* De Lisle, H.F. 1996. Natural History of Monitor Lizards. Krieger, Malabar (Florida)
* Eidenmüller, B. 2007. Small monitors in the terrarium. Reptilia (GB) (50): 12–19
* Sprackland, R. G. 1991. Taxonomic review of the Varanus prasinus group with descriptions of two new species. Mem. Queensl. Museum, 3 (3): 561–576.
* Wells, R. W. and Wellington, C. R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplementary Series, (1):1–61.
* Ziegler, T. & W. BÖHME 1998. Comments on the proposed conservation of the specific name Varanus teriae SPRACKLAND, 1991 (Reptilia, Squamata) (Case 3043; see BZN 54: 100–103, 250–251; 55: 37–39). Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 55 (2): 111–113.
* Ziegler, T., Schmitz, A., Koch, A. & W. Böhme 2007. A review of the subgenus Euprepiosaurus of Varanus (Squamata: Varanidae): morphological and molecular phylogeny, distribution and zoogeography, with an identification key for the members of the V. indicus and the V. prasinus species groups. Zootaxa 1472: 1–28
Varanus
Monitor lizards of Australia
Reptiles described in 1985
Taxa named by Richard Walter Wells
Taxa named by Cliff Ross Wellington
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