Canopy goanna

Canopy goanna
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Varanidae
Genus:	Varanus
Subgenus:	Hapturosaurus
Species:	V. keithhornei
Binomial name
Varanus keithhornei Wells & Wellington, 1985[2][3]
Synonyms
Varanus teriae Sprackland, 1991

Varanus keithhornei, commonly known as the canopy goanna, Keith Horne's monitor, blue-nosed tree monitor,^[4] or Nesbit River monitor,^[5] is a species of monitor lizards native to northeast Australia. It is a member of the Varanus prasinus species group.^[6]

This monitor lizard is found in a restricted area of less than 100 km² near the Claudie and Nesbit rivers, in the McIlwraith and Iron Ranges of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.^[2][7][8]

The colouration of V. keithhornei is dark black on the upper side. It has moderately big and smooth head scales. Its tail has no visible keel.^[6] The canopy goanna is small for a monitor lizard, reaching a total length up to 77 cm,^[9] but more robust than other species of the V. prasinus species complex, and can be further distinguished from them by its colour and the conical throat scales.^[8]

Specimens were originally assigned to the species Varanus prasinus by Czechura in 1980,^[8] but Wells and Wellington declared it a new species 5 years later.

They forage in the trees and the leaf litter for insects such as orthopterans, roaches, and beetles.^[8]

• Photos of Varanus keithhornei at Pbase.com
• Anonymous 2001. Opinion 1970 – Odatria keithhornei WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 (Reptilia, Sauria): specific name placed on Official List. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 58 (1): 74
• Bleeker, P. 1856. Reis Minahassa 1: 278
• Cogger,H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
• Czechura, G. V. 1980. The emerald monitor Varanus prasinus (Schlegel): an addition to the Australian mainland herpetofauna. Mem. Qd Mus. 20: 103–109
• De Lisle, H.F. 1996. Natural History of Monitor Lizards. Krieger, Malabar (Florida)
• Eidenmüller, B. 2007. Small monitors in the terrarium. Reptilia (GB) (50): 12–19
• Sprackland, R. G. 1991. Taxonomic review of the Varanus prasinus group with descriptions of two new species. Mem. Queensl. Museum, 3 (3): 561–576.
• Wells, R. W. and Wellington, C. R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplementary Series, (1):1–61.
• Ziegler, T. & W. BÖHME 1998. Comments on the proposed conservation of the specific name Varanus teriae SPRACKLAND, 1991 (Reptilia, Squamata) (Case 3043; see BZN 54: 100–103, 250–251; 55: 37–39). Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 55 (2): 111–113.
• Ziegler, T., Schmitz, A., Koch, A. & W. Böhme 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. Zootaxa 1472: 1–28

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