V. togianus courtesy of T. Heinz

Varanus togianus belongs to the subgenus Soterosaurus, which was derscribed by ZIEGLER & BÖHME (1997).
V. togianus has a dark brown to black coloration on the back, which has some rare light brown to orange colored speckles. The coloration on the belly is dark, but along the throat and breast some bright yellow rectangles are visible. on the belly there are up to 10 light cross bands. The tail is uniformly dark brown to black, without any cross bands. The total length can be up to 130 cm.
This species is also adapted to water, which can be seen on the laterally compressed tail. The length is about 1.4 - 1.7 times the SVL.