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Water monitor lizard

Varanus palawanensis

Photo by Dan Doucette
Published on Project Noah
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9.44623, 118.393

Field Notes

Description:

second largest lizard after Komodo dragons

Habitat:

karst limestone and rainforest

Notes:

Some monitor lizards have become fairly tolerant of humans in Puerto Princessa Subterranean National Park. I've never been able to get this close to a wild monitor lizard before.

Reference Links:

Water monitor

Species ID Suggestions

Biawak/Bayawak

Varanus palawanensis

Reference Link
alice and nath
1

Comments (3)
alice and nath
You're welcome. I think the scientific name should be V. palawanensis. V. marmoratus palawanensis would mean it is a subspecies of V. marmoratus.
Dan Doucette
Thanks alice and nath for the very current information. I also added some more photos to this spotting.
alice and nath
Notes: 1. Initially classified as V. salvator marmoratus, a subspecies of V. salvator (Mertens, 1942). 2. It was elevated to V. marmoratus in 2007 (Koch et al., 2007). 3. In 2010, a re-investigation of V. marmoratus specimens and field work showed that there are 3 species that were under V. marmoratus - V. marmoratus (Luzon faunal region), V. palawanensis (Palawan faunal region), and V. rasmusseni (Sulu, Tawi-tawi) (Koch et al., 2010).

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PublishedApril 13, 2011

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