A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Varanus palawanensis
second largest lizard after Komodo dragons
karst limestone and rainforest
Some monitor lizards have become fairly tolerant of humans in Puerto Princessa Subterranean National Park. I've never been able to get this close to a wild monitor lizard before.
You're welcome.
I think the scientific name should be V. palawanensis. V. marmoratus palawanensis would mean it is a subspecies of V. marmoratus.
Thanks alice and nath for the very current information. I also added some more photos to this spotting.
Notes:
1. Initially classified as V. salvator marmoratus, a subspecies of V. salvator (Mertens, 1942).
2. It was elevated to V. marmoratus in 2007 (Koch et al., 2007).
3. In 2010, a re-investigation of V. marmoratus specimens and field work showed that there are 3 species that were under V. marmoratus - V. marmoratus (Luzon faunal region), V. palawanensis (Palawan faunal region), and V. rasmusseni (Sulu, Tawi-tawi) (Koch et al., 2010).
Spotted on Jan 13, 2005
Submitted on Apr 13, 2011
