Interested in Monitor Lizards? Free on-line Magazine BIAWAK

Now available (Vol. 6 No. 2) of BIAWAK, an open-access journal of varanid lizard biology and husbandry. The issue can be downloaded directly from: http://varanidae.org/6_2.pdf

Individual pdfs of each article and section are also available for free download on the IVIG website: http://varanidae.org/biawak
To subscribe to Herp Digest, send a message to subscribers-subscribe@herpdigest.org. Wait for a confirmation message in your email.  Simply Reply to the message (no text is necessary), and your address will be automatically added to the mailing list. To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to subscribers-unsubscribe@herpdigest.org.  Reply to the confirmation message in your email (no text is necessary), and your address will be automatically removed.

FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN SUCH THINGS

Several people have written to me asking for the whereabouts of a citation on Varanus obor - the latest new monitor lizard to be discovered, this time from the Indonesian Moluccan islands. A general article on it can be seen here and the citation with the snappy title of A new melanistic species of monitor lizard (Reptilia: Squamata: Varanidae) from Sanana Island, Indonesia can be found here.

Sciencecodex writes: 'The scientific name of this lizard is Varanus obor; its popular names are Torch monitor and Sago monitor. It's called Torch monitor because of its bright orange head with a glossy black body. Obor means torch in Indonesian. It is a close relative of the fruit-eating monitor lizard recently reported from the Philippines. The Torch monitor can grow to nearly four feet in length, and thrives on a diet of small animals and carrion', which puts me firmly in my place because I got the two species mixed up. I really should monitor these new discoveries more closely.

VENOMOUS VARANIDS? HOW STRANGE

This is a young Komodo dragon that I photographed at London Zoo a couple of years ago, and a species which continues to surprise. Only a few years ago specimens in several zoos reproduced parthogenetically, and now it turns out that thes pecies is venomous.

For years accepted wisdom had always been that the only two venomous lizards in the world were the Gila monster and the beaded lizard, two closely related stumpy beasts from the deserts of the southwestern United States down as far south as Guatamala. As far as I was aware until about ten minutes ago this was still the case, and I was just about to write an "Everything We Know Is Wrong Bloody Hell" piece until I decided to check my facts. The report in The Australian reads in part:

...the lizard uses sharp, serrated teeth to open gaping wounds in its prey into which the venom easily flows. The wounds naturally bleed profusely while compounds in the venom increase blood flow and reduce blood pressure, inducing shock in the victim. They findings debunk a common belief the dragon's prey is killed by deadly bacteria in rotting food stuck in its mouth. "Their teeth are shiny white and their gums pink. They are remarkably clean animals," said Dr Fry, who worked with captive Komodo dragon's in Singapore.

But it also included this tell-tale line:

Komodo dragons lack the grooved-tooth venom delivery system found in other varanids.

What "grooved-tooth venom delivery system found in other varanids" I thought to myself, and did a little digging. Ten minutes later I found a learned paper published in letter form in Nature only three years ago, and entitled Early evolution of the venom system in lizards and snakes. I quote:

Here we report the presence of venom toxins in two additional lizard lineages (Monitor Lizards and Iguania) and show that all lineages possessing toxin-secreting oral glands form a clade, demonstrating a single early origin of the venom system in lizards and snakes.

Bloody Hell. I thought to myself, and carried on reading:

Demonstration that the snakes, iguanians and anguimorphs form a single clade provides overwhelming support for a single, early origin of the venom system in lizards and snakes.

And what's more, there is even a cryptozoological aspect to the story, because it turns out that:

What's more, new research shows that the mega-meat eater probably inherited its "biggest" and "most venomous" mantle from its extinct Australian ancestor, the 7m-long dragon, Megalania, The Australian reports.

And the story ends:

"Australia's Megalania was probably the largest venomous animal that ever lived," he said.

So, I very nearly managed to do what I set out to do at the beginning of this article. I haven't posted an "Everything we knew was wrong" article, but I have posted an "Everything I knew was wrong" article which is the next best thing, because if you can learn something interesting and enlightening each day, like I just have, then life is still definitely worth living.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25503172-421,00.html