Kings' monitor

Kings Monitor Lizard ( Varanus kingorum )

The Kings Monitor Lizard ( Varanus kingorum ), alternatively Kings Felswaran is a kind of Squamata ( Squamata ) from the family of monitor lizards ( Varanidae ). He lives in north-east Australia, is one of the smallest lizards and feeds on small insects. The species was named in honor of unrelated herpetologists Max King and Dennis King.

Features

Kings goanna is a rather small species of monitor lizards. 5 conserved in museums specimens have snout-vent lengths of 6.7 to 11.4 cm ( average ~ 10 cm), tail length ranging from 20-27 cm. The tail length is on average 2.3 times the head -body length, the tail is thus proportional very long for monitor lizards. The claws of the dragon Kings are short, thick and curved. The tail is compressed close to the approach in cross-section side, on medium-length almost triangular in shape and towards the end elliptical. The scales of the tail are strongly keeled.

The Kings - Waran is reddish brown, and this color is interspersed with dark brown to black markings. The body underside is yellow-brown to white, and shows all the throat dark drawings. From other sympatric lizards can be distinguished by its small size and the relatively long tail.

Dissemination

Kings monitor lizard known only from a small area in the west of Kimberley. The most common type is in the eastern part of their range ( extreme north-east of Western Australia ). From Wyndham in the south, the range extends north to Turkey Creek, and Turkey Creek as the westernmost limit of distribution to Timber Creek in the Northern Territory, the easternmost known locality. The monitor lizards inhabit sandy, vegetated by eucalyptus soils or tropical savanna. Important for the Kings Waran are rocks or rock formations.

Way of life

Like all dragons is Kings Waran diurnal. He is soil and rock inhabiting, and uses rock crevices as shelter. Little is known about other aspects of life in nature.

In terrarium animals kept went on sandy soils in addition to their shelters on the hunt, in nature they hunt well on the rocks and in their vicinity. At 3 caught, the stomach contents were examined, and only confirmed insects as prey. Half of the stomach contents accounted for Spring locusts, the remaining shares were 25 % blattids, 12.5 % and 12.5 % termite insect eggs.

The Reproduction of Kings Waran is also studied insufficiently. In museums, preserved, specimens found in February showed signs of reproductive activity (eg germ cell production ), in the wild the breeding season is so in the rainy season. Captive Kings monitor lizards ( Eidenmüller 2001) laid 3-6 eggs in ground nests and tunnels under rocks. The females produce two clutches within 2-3 months. The juveniles hatched at 27-29 ° C incubation temperature after 97-119 days. They were on average 13.5 cm long and 1.5 to 2.1 g. The tails of the pups were at a ratio of 1.7 to the head -body length proportionally shorter than in adult animals.

Swell

• M. King (2004): Varanus kingorum. In: ER Pianka & DR King ( ed.): Varanoid Lizards of the World, pp. 406-409. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis. ISBN 0253343666