Water Monitor
| subspecies: | V. s. salvator (LAURENTI 1768)
|
Varanus
salvator with his subspecies belonged some time to a subgenera not
named formally (BÖHME 1988a). ZIEGLER & BÖHME (1997b) put this group during
their genital study into the new subgenera Soterosaurus.The Water Monitor can reach a total length of over 300 cm (STEIN pers. comm.), depending on the subspecies. Dark olive above with small yellow spots and large rounded spots or ocelli in transverse rows, becoming indistinct with age. Black temporal stripe. Lower parts yellow with narrow black V-shaped marks on the sides of the belly. Tail alternately banded with black and whitish bands. Head long and flat; nostril round, very close to the tip of the snout. Scales on top of the head larger than nuchal scales. Tail is strongly compressed, with a double keel on top.
The ground coloration of V. s. andamanensis is strongly melanistic. The same is in the subspecies V. s. komaini, which was described by NUTHPAND (1987). This subspecies is put into synonymy to V. s. macromaculatus by KOCH et al. (2007).
In 2010 KOCH & BÖHMEdescribes another new subspecies V. s. ziegleri.
The distribution
of V. salvator with its subspecies extends from Sri Lanka across
Birma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia in the west, to Malaysia,
the Indonesian islands up to the Philippines in the east.
V. s. andamanensis occurs on the Andamanen (MERTENS 1942d, DERENIYAGALA 1944, 1961, VOGEL 1979a, WHITAKER & WHITAKER 1980, GAULKE 1986, 1989, 1991b, DAS 1989b, ERDELEN 1991).
V. s. bivittatus lives on the islands from Java in the west to
Timor in the east.
V. s. salvator occurs only on the island of Sri Lanka
(KOCH et al. 2007)
The remaining distribution area is occupied by the subspecies V.
s. macromaculatus .
All members of the V. salvator-complex are aquatic. They frequently
live colse to rivers, canals and estuaries. They also can easily climb
trees in search of food, but never to any great height. When disturbed,
they jump into the water, and they have been observed, while swimming
far out in the ocean. They are active from early morning to early afternoon,
at which time they shelter under bushes or in trees. Often they spend
the night laying in the water.
Eggs are laid at the beginning of the rainy season. They are deposited
in holes on the banks of the rivers. The main food items are mammals,
small crocodiles, turtles, birds, fish, and crabs (DELISLE 1996).
Young animals will hatch after 207-239 days (KRATZER1973, JES 1994). At hatching the young monitors measured 350 mm (V. s. salvator).
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