Blue-spotted tree monitor

Blue Baumwaran ( Varanus macraei )

The Blue Baumwaran, Blaugefleckte Baumwaran or MacRae 's monitor lizard ( Varanus macraei ) is a recently discovered monitor species that is very closely related to the Smaragdwaran and thus is a representative of the subgenus Euprepiosaurus. It inhabits Southeast Asia, and is as yet little known, especially since its first description was not published until 2001.

Features

The Blue Baumwaran is a tall, slender, up to 110 centimeters long monitor lizard. The longest animal was a male and had a body length of 36 centimeters and a tail length of 76 centimeters. The longest females had a body length of 31.3 centimeters and a tail length of 59.9 centimeters. He has flat, not keeled Nuchalschuppen. He is distinctive compared with other lizards because of its partly blue color. He has three or four oblique, large Supraocularschuppen. The dorsal ground color is blackish with bruises. The upper side of the head is bluish and the snout whitish. The color of the abdomen is greyish seen with a blue tone and brown cranial horizontal stripes, which do not meet in the middle. The long tail has 22-23 blue ribbons. The juveniles have blue Dorsalflecken, but unlike said adults without black center. The abdomen has 12 to 14 bands, the tail is banded. Are located at the tip of the snout in young animals two dark ring drawings.

Occurrence

Until now, the Blue Baumwaran is only known from the small island Batanta off the north west coast of the bird's head peninsula of the Indonesian part of New Guinea. On this tropical island, interestingly, there are no Smaragdwarane.

Way of life

The Broad the lifestyle of the Blue Baumwaranes with the Smaragdwaranes is similar: it is a diurnal, highly specialized arboreal. He lives probably carnivorous, but is about habitat and many other data to date, nothing is known.

A clutch in captivity consisted of 3 eggs. Two were 43 × 21 mm in size and weighing nine grams, another measured 45 × 20 mm and weighed ten grams. At temperatures 28-30 ° C the juveniles hatched after 159 days.

History

The Blue Baumwaran was discovered in an import of live lizards from Indonesia to Germany. The adult female holotype is currently in the Zoological Research Institute and Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn.

In July 2008, the Cologne Zoo as the second zoo to Pilsen succeeded in breeding the rare animals.