Monitor lizards are the family Varanidae, a group of lizards which includes the largest living lizard, the Komodo Dragon. Varanidae contains only a single genus: Varanus.
In Australia monitor lizards are known as goannas (See main article).
Origin of Name
It has been said that the name of monitor lizards is derived from a superstition that the creatures would give a warning about the presence of crocodiles. However, this explanation may be apocryphal. According to Wildwatch (http://www.wildwatch.com/resources/other/monitors.asp), the name actually resulted from a mishearing of the Arabic word oaran (lizard) as the Germanwarnen (to warn), which was subsequently Latinized into monitor.
Classification
Genus Varanus
Varanus acanthurus: Spiny-tailed goanna or Ridge-tailed monitor
Varanus albigularis: White-throated monitor
Varanus auffenbergi
Varanus baritji
Varanus beccarii
Varanus bengalensis
Varanus bogerti
Varanus brevicauda Short-tailed monitor
Varanus caerulivirens
Varanus caudolineatus
Varanus cerambonensis
Varanus doreanus
Varanus dumerilii
Varanus eremius
Varanus exanthematicus: Savannah monitor
Varanus finschi
Varanus flavescens: Yellow monitor
Varanus giganteus: the Perentie
Varanus gilleni Pygmy mulga goanna
Varanus glauerti
Varanus glebopalma
Varanus gouldii Sand goanna (also Gould's goanna, or Ground goanna)
Monitor lizards are the familyVaranidae, a group of lizards which includes the largest living lizard, the KomodoDragon.
Monitor lizards are considered to be the most highly developed lizards, possessing a rapid metabolism (for reptiles), several sensory adaptations that benefit the hunting of live prey, and a lower jaw that may be unhinged to facilitate eating large prey animals.
The latter adaptation reveals the other relatives of the monitor lizards: snakes (Serpentes) are believed to have evolved from a sister group to the Varanidae.
Aspects of the ecology of Varanus niloticus (reptilia, Varanidae) in south-eastern Nigeria, and their contribution to the knowledge of the evolutionary history of V.
On the synonymy and taxonomy of the Bengal monitor lizard, Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) complex (Sauria: Varanidae).
Stanner, M. The etho-ecology of the desert monitor (Varanus griseus) in the sand dunes south of Holon, Israel.
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