Roughneck monitor

Rough-necked monitor
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Varanidae
Genus: Varanus
Subgenus: Soterosaurus
Species:
V. rudicollis
Binomial name
Varanus rudicollis
(Gray, 1845)[3]

The black rough-necked monitor (Varanus rudicollis) is a species of monitor lizard found in Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Burma, and Malaysia. It is also found in Indonesia on Sumatra and islands of the Riau Archipelago[4] It is sometimes known simply as the roughneck monitor.[5] In Thailand is called h̄èā cĥāng (Thai: เห่าช้าง; "elephant bark").[6]

The habitat of Varanus rudicollis is limited to primary and secondary rainforest and mangrove swamps.[7] In the wild the black rough-necked monitor is very rarely seen, but whether this is because of its rarity or its very secretive behavior is uncertain.[3] They are often kept successfully in captivity, but have a shy disposition.[3][8]

This species is most closely related to its sister group, the water monitor species complex (e.g., the Asian water monitor) which are also in the subgenus Soterosaurus, having split from them 14 million years ago in the middle Miocene.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  2. ^ Phimmachak, S.; Cota, M.; Grismer, L.; Quah, E.; Iskandar, D.; Wogan, G.; Arida, E. (2021). "Varanus rudicollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T83778529A83778660. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Monitor-lizards.net". Archived from the original on 2010-05-19.
  4. ^ "Indonesiatraveling.com".
  5. ^ JCVI.org
  6. ^ "อ.เจษฎา เร่งแจง เห่าช้าง เป็นสัตว์กลุ่มตะกวด ไม่ใช่งู-ไม่มีพิษ". Kapook.com (in Thai). 12 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. ^ Mampam.com
  8. ^ "Herpcenter.com". Archived from the original on 2009-10-31.
  9. ^ Welton, Luke J.; Wood, Perry L.; Oaks, Jamie R.; Siler, Cameron D.; Brown, Rafe M. (2014-05-01). "Fossil-calibrated phylogeny and historical biogeography of Southeast Asian water monitors (Varanus salvator Complex)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 74: 29–37. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.01.016. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 24486878.
  10. ^ Brennan, Ian G.; Lemmon, Alan R.; Lemmon, Emily Moriarty; Portik, Daniel M.; Weijola, Valter; Welton, Luke; Donnellan, Stephen C.; Keogh, J. Scott (2020-02-03), Phylogenomics of monitor lizards and the role of competition in dictating body size disparity, doi:10.1101/2020.02.02.931188, retrieved 2024-05-18