The peach-throated monitor (''Varanus jobiensis''), also known commonly as the Sepik monitor, is a species of

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are recogn ...

in the family Varanidae. The species is native to New Guinea.

Taxonomy

''Varanus jobiensis'' belongs to the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

''Euprepiosaurus'', which includes species such as the

blue-tailed monitor The blue-tailed monitor, blue-tailed tree monitor or Kalabeck's monitor (''Varanus doreanus''), is a monitor lizard of the Varanidae family. It belongs to the ''V. doreanus'' group of the subgenus ''Euprepiosaurus''. Taxonomy Two subspecies ha ...

and mangrove monitor, both of which it is sympatric with in much of its range. It is likely that this species is actually a species complex of multiple different species that have been diverging since the Pliocene, and diverged from the ''V. indicus'' species complex 4.7 million years ago.

Distribution

''Varanus jobiensis'' is endemic to New Guinea and surrounding islands such as Biak, Salawati, Yapen, Normanby, and Waigeo. It occurs in rainforests at altitudes of .

Description

''Varanus jobiensis'' grows up to in total length (including tail). The colour of the throat is white-yellow to red, to which one of its common names refers.

Diet

''Varanus jobiensis'' primarily eats insects, and sometimes frogs, but may also take freshwater fish and small

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

As food

''Varanus jobiensis'' is hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.

Reproduction

''Varanus jobiensis'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''jobiensis'', which is Latin, means "from Jobi". Jobi is the island also known as Yapen, which is the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

of this species. The

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

, ''Varanus karlschmidti'', was named in honor of American herpetologist

Karl Patterson Schmidt Karl Patterson Schmidt (June 19, 1890 – September 26, 1957) was an American herpetologist. Family Schmidt was the son of George W. Schmidt and Margaret Patterson Schmidt. George W. Schmidt was a German professor, who, at the time of Karl ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Varanus karlschmidti'', p. 236).

References

External links

Photo at Varanus.net
{{Taxonbar, from=Q578712 Varanus Monitor lizards of New Guinea Endemic fauna of New Guinea Reptiles of Western New Guinea Reptiles of Papua New Guinea Reptiles described in 1932 Taxa named by Ernst Ahl