Varanidae

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Varanids
Temporal range:
Ma
Male
Varanus komodoensis) fighting, Indonesia
Fossil of Saniwa, an extinct varanid known from the Eocene of North America
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Superfamily: Varanoidea
Family: Varanidae
Merrem, 1820
Genera

The Varanidae are a

crocodile monitor, savannah monitor, the goannas of Australia and Southeast Asia, and various other species with a similarly distinctive appearance. Their closest living relatives are the earless monitor lizard and Chinese crocodile lizard.[3] The oldest members of the family are known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.[2]

Taxonomy

The Varanidae were defined (using morphological characteristics) by Estes, de Queiroz and Gauthier (1988) as the clade containing the most recent common ancestor of

Lanthanotus and Varanus and all of its descendants.[4] A similar definition was formulated by Conrad et al. (2008) (also using morphological data), who defined the Varanidae as the clade containing Varanus varius, Lanthanotus borneensis, and all descendants of their last common ancestor.[5]
Using one of these definitions leads to the inclusion of the earless monitor lizard (L. borneensis) in the family Varanidae.

Lee (1997) created a different definition of the Varanidae, defining them as the clade containing Varanus and all taxa more closely related to Varanus than to Lanthanotus;

Lanthanotidae,[8] while Gauthier et al. (2012) classify it as a member of Varanidae.[9]

Genera

Genera marked with † are
extinct

Genera included in Varanidae according to Dong et al., 2022[2]

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram from Dong et al. 2022.[2]

Varanidae

Biology

tree-dwelling varanid from the Philippines that primarily feeds on fruit

Monitor lizards are reputed to be among the most intelligent lizards. Most species

Varanus bitatawa) are primarily frugivores.[1][13] Among species of living varanids, the limbs show positive allometry, being larger in larger-bodied species, although the feet become smaller as compared with the lengths of the other limb segments.[14]

Varanids possess unidirectional pulmonary airflow, including air-sacs akin to those of birds.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 20375042
    .
  2. ^
    PMID 35125002
    .
  3. S2CID 4386245
    .
  4. OCLC 16646258
    .
  5. S2CID 85271610
    .
  6. PMC 1691912
    .
  7. PMID 17148173
    .
  8. PMID 22809723
    .
  9. S2CID 86355757
    .
  10. ^
    PMID 22900001
    .
  11. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[1870:LHRREO]2.0.CO;2
    .
  12. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01207.x
    .
  13. OL 7155983M
    .
  14. JSTOR 1565513
    .
  15. ^ Unidirectional Airflow In The Lungs Of Birds, Crocs And Now Monitor Lizards

External links

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