Monitor Lizard - Varanus dalubhasa

Small Monitor Lizard - Varanus dalubhasa, around 1 meter length including the tail.
Saw it in the water of a shallow river, first saw the tail, the head was covered in dead leafs and I had thought it was a Snake. When I slowly removed the dried leafs covering its head, it moves about a meter away, exposing its full head and body, allowing me to get this picture.

Received the ID from a Filipino Hepertologist. He thinks this could be Varanus dalubhasa as it doesn't has the typical look of the other possible ID, Varanus marmoratus. Varanus dalubhasa was recently described in 2014.

comments (2)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Nice find, and thanks for researching the ID so thoroughly! Posted 8 years ago
1. Albert Kang
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks, Ferdy :)
  Still not definitely sure if its Varanus dalubhasa or Varanus marmoratus as the distribution of this 2 species could overlap. Was in touch with the Taxanomists from US who described the 2 new species in 2014 - V.dalubhasa and V.bangonorum. V.bangonorum can be easily separated as it is only reported on a specific island ie. Mindoro Island whereas both Varanus dalubhasa or Varanus marmoratus are known from Luzon.
  
  Furthermore, the Holotype and type materials they obtained for descriptions came from exotic pet markets and locals who sells them for meat etc. It was not from the wild. At the time, they were not aware its new species, they were getting them for DNA materials and when they got the results, then only they realised its a different species. So, they are keen to know the real field information of where the species are found in the wild as informations from the people they buy from are sketchy or contradictory.
  
  According to their explanations, one of the key points to differentiate the 2 species are the markings on the neck and chin, which I was not able to capture in my pictures :( Posted 8 years ago