Varanus primordius

Odatria

Varanus primordius MERTENS 1942
Northern Ridge-Tailed Monitor

V. primordius
Adelaide River, NT

Varanus primordius is a member of the subgenera Odatria. With a total length of about 30 cm and a SVL of 13 cm this species is one of the smallest monitors. MERTENS (1942d, 1963, 1966) described this species as subspecies of V. acanthurus. STORR (1980) lifted this subspecies up into species status during his taxonomic review.
V. primordius reminds very strongly on V. storri not only on the phenotyype, but also in the way of life. But some features in the pholidose distinguish V. primordius clearly from V. storri. The major coloration on the top side is pale to dark reddish brown with numerous scattered deep brown to black scales, occasionally form a reticulation. An indistinct dark temporal stripe is available. The neck is white or cream-colored at the side and on the lower side. The head scales are small, irregular and smooth. The nostril is situated at the side and is insignificantly closer to the tip of the snout than to the eye. Less than 70 scale rows are around midbody. The tail is round in diameter without every sign of a keel. Its length is approximately 1.4 times as long as the SVL. The scales are strongly keeled, every keel ends in a short but clearly visible spine.

Distribution, habitat and behavior

primordius

The distribution of Varanus primordius is restricted to the north of the Northern Territory of Australia. It lives there in stony areas, where it has enough hiding-places in crevices and under large rocks, The monitor is able to block himself with his moderate spiny tail, and it is not possible to pull him out (MERTENS 1942d, 1958, KEAST 1959, WORRELL 1966, BUSTARD 1968, SWANSON 1976, STORR 1980, STORR et al. 1983b, WILSON & KNOWLES 1988, HOSER 1989, COGGER 1992, EHMANN 1992).
Small insects, spiders, and occasionally also small geckos or skinks are the diet of V. primordius (JAMES et al. 1991).

Keeping and breeding

Only little is known about the captive husbandry of V. primordius till now. A small group of three animals is housed in the Territory Wildlife Park south of Darwin (HUSBAND, pers. comm.). The floor of the enclosure is covered with sand, and several rocks give the monitors the possibility to hide under. The animals are, similar as V. storri, not very friendly to each other. Therefore we should only keep one pair together during the mating season, and keep them separate during the rest of the year if possible. The animals otherwise do not make any special demands on the furnishing of the enclosure. We can offer the monitors nearly everything as food, which they are able to overpower (e.g. house crickets, crickets and locusts). A bowl with clean water should always be offered.
HUSBAND (2001) published an article on the captive husbandry of Varanus primordius. He mentioned, that the monitors in the Territory Wildlife Park near Darwin laid a clutch of 4 eggs in 1998. After an incubation period of about 120 days at a temperature of 30°C four babies hatched. Unfortunately, one offspring died after some days, the remaining three animals developed well. Unfortunately, no further data are published till now.

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