Varanus hooijeri
| Varanus hooijeri Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Varanidae |
| Genus: | Varanus |
| Species: | †V. hooijeri
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| Binomial name | |
| †Varanus hooijeri Brongersma, 1958
| |
Varanus hooijeri is an extinct species of medium-sized monitor lizard found in Liang Bua on Flores and possibly also Sumba, dating to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.
Discovery
It was described in 1958 by Leo Daniël Brongersma on the island of Flores in Indonesia.[1] In 2021 two maxilla bones from each having four teeth from Liang Lawuala on Sumba, were assigned to V. cf. hooijeri, suggesting that it inhabited Sumba as well.[2]
Description
Varanus hooijeri is a medium-sized varanid, at around 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long,
Paleoecology
Varanus hooijeri lived with another, much larger, monitor lizard, the modern day
It also lived with the dwarf proboscidean Stegodon florensis,[5] the large stork Leptoptilos robustus,[6] the cat-sized Flores giant rat[7] and the dwarf hominid Homo floresiensis.[8]
Extinction
The youngest remains of the species date to the Holocene.[2][9]
References
- S2CID 86301714.
- ^ PMID 28855367.
- PMID 22900001.
- ISBN 978-0-253-34366-6.
- ISSN 1040-6182.
- PMID 35845853.
- hdl:2246/568.
- ^ "Homo floresiensis: Making Sense of the Small-Bodied Hominin Fossils from Flores | Learn Science at Scitable". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- PMID 19058833.