The peach-throated monitor (''Varanus jobiensis''), also known commonly as the Sepik monitor, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of monitor lizard in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Varanidae The Varanidae are a family of lizards in the superfamily Varanoidea within the Anguimorpha group. The family, a group of carnivorous and frugivorous lizards, includes the living genus '' Varanus'' and a number of extinct genera more closely rel ...

. The species is native to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

Taxonomy

''Varanus jobiensis'' belongs to the subgenus ''Euprepiosaurus'', which includes species such as the blue-tailed monitor and

mangrove monitor The mangrove monitor, mangrove goanna, or Western Pacific monitor lizard (''Varanus indicus'') is a member of the monitor lizard family with a large distribution from northern Australia and New Guinea to the Moluccas and Solomon Islands. It grows ...

, both of which it is sympatric with in much of its range. It is likely that this species is actually a species complex of multiple different species that have been diverging since the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58

Distribution

''Varanus jobiensis'' is endemic to New Guinea and surrounding islands such as

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The large ...

Salawati Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), Indonesia. Its area is 1,623 km2. Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southeast by the Sele Strait (a.k.a. Galowa Str ...

Yapen Yapen (also Japan, Jobi) is an island of Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is Mios Num Island ...

, Normanby, and

Waigeo Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about to the north-w ...

. It occurs in

rainforests Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

at altitudes of .

Description

''Varanus jobiensis'' grows up to in total length (including tail). The colour of the throat is white-yellow to red, to which one of its common names refers.

Diet

''Varanus jobiensis'' primarily eats

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

, and sometimes

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s, but may also take freshwater

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and small mammals.

As food

''Varanus jobiensis'' is hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.

Reproduction

''Varanus jobiensis'' is oviparous. Varanus jobiensis on log

Etymology

The specific name, ''jobiensis'', which is Latin, means "from Jobi". Jobi is the island also known as

, which is the type locality of this species. The junior synonym, ''Varanus karlschmidti'', was named in honor of American herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Varanus karlschmidti'', p. 236).

References

External links

Photo at Varanus.net
{{Taxonbar, from=Q578712 Varanus Monitor lizards of New Guinea Endemic fauna of New Guinea Reptiles of Western New Guinea Reptiles of Papua New Guinea Reptiles described in 1932 Taxa named by Ernst Ahl