Varanus griseus

Taxobox | name = Desert Monitor
status =


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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Squamata
familia = Varanidae
genus = "Varanus"
species = "V. griseus"
binomial = "Varanus griseus"
binomial_authority = (Daudin, 1803)
synonyms =
range_

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The Desert Monitor, "Varanus griseus", is a species of monitor lizard found in North Africa and western Asia.

Description

Teeth acute, compressed. Snout depressed at the end, as long as the distance from anterior border of orbit to anterior border of ear; "canthus rostralis" distinct. Nostril an oblique slit, about four times as distant from end of the snout as from orbit. Digits rather short. Tail round or slightly compressed. Scales of head, including supra-oculars, very small, granular, subequal. Scales on upper surface small, smooth or feebly keeled; those on the sides of the neck generally conical in adult specimens. Abdominal scales smooth, in 110 to 125 transverse series (counted from collar-fold to groin). Caudal scales more or less distinctly keeled; no caudal crest. Greyish yellow, sometimes with more or less distinct brown cross bars on the back and tail and brown streaks along the sides of the neck. Young with round yellow spots and dark brown cross bars and temporal and cervical streaks; a few brown lines across the snout and short vertical brown lines on the lower lip. [Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.]

Notes

From snout to vent 1 foot 10 inches; tail 2 feet 4 inches.

Distribution

Turkey (from Urfa) [Eiselt (1970), Böhme (1973)] Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Syria,Lebanon, Iraq, Arabia, Oman, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, KyrgyzstanWestern Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran (including Kavir desert), Pakistan, NW India

Type locality: Dardsha, coast of the Caspian Sea

Notes

References

* Tsellarius, A. Y.;Cherlin, V. A.;Menshikov, Y. A. 1991 Preliminary report on the study of biology of Varanus griseus (Reptilia, Varanidae) in Middle Asia Herpetological Researches (1): 61-103

External links

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* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Varanus_griseus3.jpg
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Varanus_griseus.jpg