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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and West African Nile monitor, one species is also found in south America as an invasive species. A ...

native to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Taxonomy

''Varanus jobiensis'' belongs to the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

'' 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 (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

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

Yapen Yapen (also Japen, Jobi) is an island of Papua (province), 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 ...

, which is the type locality of this species. The

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

, ''Varanus karlschmidti'', was named in honour of American herpetologist

Karl Patterson Schmidt Karl Patterson Schmidt (June 19, 1890 – September 26, 1957) was an American herpetologist. Family Schmidt was the son of George W. Schmidt and Margaret Patterson Schmidt. George W. Schmidt was a German professor, who, at the time of Karl ...

Distribution

Peach-throated monitors are endemic to New Guinea and surrounding islands such as

Biak Biak is the main island of Biak Archipelago located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The largest popula ...

Salawati Salawati () is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), Indonesia. Its area is 1,902.1 km2 (including smaller offshore islands). Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southea ...

, Normanby, and

Waigeo Waigeo is an island in the 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 nort ...

. It occurs in

rainforests Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

at altitudes of .

Description

Peach-throated monitors grow 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

Peach-throated monitors primarily eat

insects Insects (from Latin ') are 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 jointed ...

, and sometimes

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s, but may also take freshwater

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and small

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

As food

Peach-throated monitors are hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.Pangau-Adam, Margaretha; Noske, Richard; Muehlenberg, Michael (2012). "Wildmeat or Bushmeat? Subsistence Hunting and Commercial Harvesting in Papua (West New Guinea), Indonesia". ''Human Ecology'' 40: 611–621.

Reproduction

Peach-throated monitors are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

Gallery

File:Varanidae- Varanus jobiensis (Peach-throated Monitor) - 25420447277.jpg, Raja Ampat Papua, 2017 File:Varanidae- Varanus jobiensis (Peach-throated Monitor).jpg,

Raja Ampat Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The title has a long ...

Papua, 2017 File:Varanidae- Varanus jobiensis (Peach-throated Monitor) - 40246479482.jpg, Raja Ampat Papua, 2017, note the peach coloured throat File:Peach-throated Monitor Lizard (Varanus jobiensis) (CWPG).jpg, On wall

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