A new species of the Varanus indicus group (Squamata, Varanidae) from Halmahera Island, Moluccas: morphological and molecular evidence
✍ Scribed by Thomas Ziegler; Wolfgang Böhme; Andreas Schmitz
- Publisher
- Pensoft Publishers
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 658 KB
- Volume
- 83
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0232-5519
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✦ Synopsis
We describe a new species of Varanus from the Moluccan island of Halmahera, based on a preserved male and a juvenile specimen. The new species is assignable to the V. indicus group of the varanid subgenus Euprepiosaurus Fitzinger, by molecular and genital morphological characters. The new species is characterized by the following combination of characters: habitus relatively stoutly built, without swollen parietal region, but with relatively blunt snout tip in the larger specimen; dorsum greyish, with transversal rows of blackish ocelli with yellow centres; blackish temporal band, framed below by a light stripe; ventral side cream to greyish, with a dark network or transversal stripe pattern, but with light centre of throat; tongue pink-coloured, with greyish tips and bifurcation area as well as a longitudinal dark pigmented middle stripe running above and below the first half of the tongue; tail with transversal ocellate pattern; tail shape roundish only in its first eighth to tenth, then with well differentiated double keel on dorsal ridge; 138--139 midbody scale rows; 130--136 transverse rows of dorsal scales from hind margin of tympanum to beginning of hind legs; hemipenis with asymmetrical sulcus spermaticus, and paryphasma rows that stretch only towards the outer lobe. The new species is the eleventh species of the V. indicus group that furthermore consists of the species V. caerulivirens, V. cerambonensis, V. doreanus, V. finschi, V. indicus, V. jobiensis, V. juxtindicus, V. melinus, V. yuwonoi, and V. zugorum. The existence of V. indicus s. str. and of V. doreanus on Halmahera Island, i.e. besides the new species, V. caerulivirens, V. salvator, V. yuwonoi, and V. zugorum, must still be verified.