Bogert's monitor

Bogert's monitor
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Anguimorpha
Family:	Varanidae
Genus:	Varanus
Subgenus:	Hapturosaurus
Species:	V. bogerti
Binomial name
Varanus bogerti Mertens, 1950
Synonyms [2]
Varanus prasinus bogerti Mertens, 1950 Varanus bogerti — Sprackland, 1991 Varanus (Euprepiosaurus) bogerti — Ziegler et al., 2007 Varanus (Hapturosaurus) bogerti — Bucklitsch et al., 2016

Bogert's monitor (Varanus bogerti) is a species of tree-dwelling monitor lizard. The species is native to Papua New Guinea. ^[1]

Taxonomy

This species was found to clade inside V. prasinus (emerald tree monitor), making V. prasinus a paraphyletic species. This indicates that V. prasinus may actually be composed of multiple species, although the paraphyly may instead be a result of introgression or incomplete lineage sorting. ^[3]

Etymology

Both the specific name, bogerti, and the common name, Bogert's monitor, are in honor of American herpetologist Charles Mitchill Bogert. ^[4]

Geographic range

V. bogerti is found on the D'Entrecasteaux Islands and the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea. ^[2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of V. bogerti is forest at altitudes from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft). ^[1]

Reproduction

V. bogerti is an oviparous species. ^[2]

References

1. Tallowin, O.; Shea, G.; Allison, A. (2016). "Varanus bogerti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016 e.T42485692A42485697. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T42485692A42485697.en . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
2. Species Varanus bogerti at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Weijola, Valter; Vahtera, Varpu; Lindqvist, Christer; Kraus, Fred (14 March 2019). "A molecular phylogeny for the Pacific monitor lizards (Varanus subgenus Euprepiosaurus) reveals a recent and rapid radiation with high levels of cryptic diversity". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (4): 1053–1066. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz002. ISSN   0024-4082.
4. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. (Varanus bogerti, p. 30).

Further reading

• Koch A, Ernst N, Eidenmüller B, Kraus F (2014). "New data on the rare Varanus bogerti Mertens, 1950 and V. telenesetes Sprackland, 1991 (Squamata: Varanidae), two endemic monitor lizard taxa from island groups off southeastern New Guinea". Herpetological Journal24 (2): 111–122.
• Mertens R (1950). "Notes on some Indo-Australian monitors (Sauria, Varanidae)". American Museum Novitates (1456): 1–7. (Varanus prasinus bogerti, new subspecies, pp. 3–6, Figure 1),
• Ziegler T, Schmitz A, Koch A, Böhme W (2007). "A review of the subgenus Euprepiosaurus of Varanus (Squamata: Varanidae): morphological and molecular phylogeny, distribution and zoogeography, with an identification key for the members of the V. indicus and the V. prasinus species groups". Zootaxa1472: 1-28.