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It is endemic to the d’Entrecasteaux Archipelago of Milne Bay Province (Ferguson and the Trobriand Islands). Three Papuan monitor lizards are not illustrated.īlack tree monitor (V.bogerti) is closely related to the emerald tree monitor, of which it was once a subspecies. The skins of some monitor lizards are used on traditional drums in PNG and their meat is also eaten in rural areas.
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The most recent research also suggests that some species, such as the Komodo dragon and the Australian Lace monitor (V.varius), actually possess venom glands in their jaws, so the unpleasant ensects caused by their bites may not just be as a result of the virulent bacteria in their mouths, but also due to venom oozing into the skin of the victim through the teeth lacerations. Monitors have acute senses and even possess a forked tongue like a snake that enables them to track down carrion or prey over considerable distances.
![argus monitor care sheet argus monitor care sheet](https://www.reptarium.cz/content/photo_rd_12/Varanus-panoptes-03000042602_01.jpg)
They occur in virtually all habitats from mangrove swamps to urban areas, and from kunai grasslands to montane rainforest. They reach their greatest diversity in Australia (26 species) but mainland Papua New Guinea is home to eight species, and two more occur on the islands of Milne Bay Province. Monitors are found through Africa, Asia and Australasia, but they are replaced in S.America by the unrelated Tegus (Tupinambis). The generic name Varanus comes from the Egyptian word ‘waran’, which also means ‘monitor’, and originally referred to the Nile monitor, (V.niloticus), the most widespread African species. Monitors are also accomplished egg-thieves, gorging on the eggs of birds and reptiles, in fact the name ‘monitor lizard’ is believed to have originated because in Africa these lizards were good monitors of where there were dangerous crocodiles, since they would linger nearby, waiting their chance to raid crocodile nests. However, both are small compared to their ancestor Megalania prisca, which grew to 4-5m and lived in eastern Australia (and possibly New Guinea) up to 19,000 years ago, alongside early human inhabitants. The largest species is the Komodo dragon (V.komodoensis) of Indonesia, but the longest species lives in PNG, the Papuan monitor (V.salvadori). There are 73 described species, ranging in size from 23cm to 2.65m. Monitor lizards are the predators and scavengers of the lizard world, diferent sized species taking prey ranging in size from insects to deer, or cleaning up after other predators.