Vol. 4 No. 1 - International Varanid Interest Group

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13 WEIJOLA - MONITOR LIZARDS OF THE NORTHERN MOLuccAS Fig. 8. Varanus caeurulivirens. Air Mangga, Obi.
its range. This species is a forest generalist and occurs in most non-salt water influenced forest types: from coastal forest and beach vegetation, plantations, primary and secondary lowland forests, limestone-, alluvial- , hill- and mountain forests up to at least 600-650 m elevation. They are often found basking around small clearings. Occasionally, specimens are encountered while patrolling freshwater streams, and on one occasion, two specimens were observed near a lake at over 600 m elevation (Tables 1 and 2). This species is most often encountered while actively foraging through the leaf litter layer of the forest floor, and stomach content analysis reveals that they consume burrowing animals such as earthworms, mole crickets, etc. They almost invariably seek refuge in trees when frightened by or pursued by humans and use tree cavities as night refugees, and probably for nesting as well. The claws and scales of the feet are well adapted for climbing and they make much use of tree trunks and canopies for basking, sometimes even jumping from one tree to the other. <strong>No</strong> significant difference in habitat utilization could be observed between juveniles and adults - both were equally terrestrial and arboreal, though admittedly far fewer sightings were made of small vs. large individuals. Fig. 9. Varanus rainerguentheri. Ibu, Halmahera. BIAWAK VOL. 4 NO. 1 14 It is possible that younger individuals make more extensive use of tree hollows. Dissection of sexually mature specimens revealed males to have enlarged testes throughout the year, suggesting that reproduction takes place year-round. The largest adult specimen measured 110 cm in total length, which is probably near maximum size. Varanus rainerguentheri Varanus rainerguentheri (Figs. 9-14) was described as a cryptic species within the V. indicus complex based on molecular and morphological evidence (Ziegler et al., 2007a). unfortunately, the genetic comparison of the new species with V. indicus in that paper was restricted to a single sequence of mtDNA from a V. indicus specimen without specific locality data. Additionally, the type locality of V. rainerguentheri (Jailolo, Halmahera) is disputed by the original collector (L. Wagner, pers. comm. <strong>No</strong>vember 2008), making the genetic and morphological argumentation a comparison between two unknown localities. Two of the characteristic morphological features of the holotype were the blunt snout and occurrence of a light postocular stripe. The blunt snout was never
Page 1 and 2: BIAWAK Quarterly Journal of Varanid
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Page 11 and 12: Fig. 3. Nypa-palm swamp, Kasiruta.
Page 13: esults Species accounts up to nine
Page 17 and 18: Fig. 12. Varanus rainerguentheri. A
Page 19 and 20: Table 1. Habitat use of monitors on
Page 21 and 22: Fig. 16. Head and teeth of V. yuwon
Page 23 and 24: and V. salvator overlap is not equa
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Page 27 and 28: Biawak, 4(1), pp. 26-30 © 2010 by
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Page 31 and 32: Outlook Since V. ornatus is now the
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Page 39 and 40: The author’s support for a number
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Vol. 4 No. 1 - International Varanid Interest Group

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