MANGROVE MONITOR

Photographed on Boigu Island, Torres Straits, March 2020

  

151               MANGROVE MONITOR               Varanus indicus

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS                 106

Also known as Mangrove Goanna or Western Pacific Monitor Lizard. Distributed from northern Australia and New Guinea to the Moluccas, Soloman Islands, Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands and Mariana Islands. An opportunistic carnivore, feeding on the eggs of reptiles and birds, mollusks, rodents, insects, crabs, smaller lizards, fish and carrion. The only monitor capable of catching fish in deep water.

HEATH MONITOR

Photographed on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, January 2019

123                   HEATH MONITOR                         Varanus rosenbergi

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS                    88

Also known as Rosenberg's Goanna. Found in open woodlands and heaths on sandy soils from sw WA to western Victoria, with isolated pockets in ACT and mid-coast NSW.

BLACK-HEADED MONITOR

Photographed at Uluru, Northern Territory, October 2018

109                 BLACK-HEADED MONITOR                 Varanus tristis tristis  

AUSTRALIAN LIZARD                    77

Also known as Freckled Monitor. A subspecies of the Black-tailed Monitor, Varanus tristis. Found across most of WA, Queensland, all of NT, northern half SA, and nw NSW. Feeds mainly on insects, but also small lizards, eggs and rodents. Usually found in grassy woodlands.

Photographed at Standley Gorge, NT, October 2018

LACE MONITOR

Photographed in Kiola State Forest, NSW, October

36            LACE MONITOR               Varanus varius   

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS                 22

Found on coast, ranges, slopes and adjacent pains of eastern and south-eastern Australia, from s-e SA to Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Large arboreal lizard, feeds on insects, reptiles and small mammals, and major predator of nesting birds; also feeds on carrion.

SAND MONITOR

25             SAND MONITOR                 Varanus gouldii

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS              18

Also known as Gould's Goanna. Wide-spread across mainland except central Queensland and se coastal areas Sydney to Adelaide. Ranges over large area foraging for insects, reptiles, birds, mammals and carrion. Shelters in burrows or hollow logs.

MERTEN'S WATER MONITOR

7                    MERTEN'S WATER MONITOR                       Varanus mertensi

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS               7

Ranges across central and inland waters of far northern Australia, from nw WA to central Queensland and western catchment of Cape York peninsula. Aquatic lizard, usually seen basking on riverside rocks; submerges when disturbed and can stay submerged for long periods.

YELLOW-SPOTTED MONITOR

4                   YELLOW-SPOTTED MONITOR               Varanus panoptes

AUSTRALIAN LIZARDS               4

Range: Kimberley and arid western regions of WA and NT to Cape York and central Queensland. Large, ground-dwelling monitor; feeds largely on insets and small, terrestrial vertebrates.