Monitor Lizards
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| Missing image Goanna.jpg An Australian lace monitor (Varanus varius) on a tree. | ||||||||||||||
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Many, see text. |
Nile_Monitor.JPG
Monitor lizards are the family Varanidae, a group of lizards which includes the largest living lizard, the Komodo Dragon. Varanidae contains only a single genus: Varanus.
In Australia monitor lizards are known as goannas (See main article).
Evolutionary Overview
Monitor lizards are considered to be the most highly developed lizards, possessing a rapid metabolism (for reptiles), several sensory adaptations that benefit the hunting of live prey, and a lower jaw that may be unhinged to facilitate eating large prey animals. The latter adaptation reveals the other relatives of the monitor lizards: snakes (Serpentes) are believed to have evolved from a sister group to the Varanidae.
Origin of Name
It has been said that the name of monitor lizards is derived from a superstition that the creatures would give a warning about the presence of crocodiles. However, this explanation may be apocryphal. According to Wildwatch (http://www.wildwatch.com/resources/other/monitors.asp), the name actually resulted from a mishearing of the Arabic word oaran (lizard) as the German warnen (to warn), which was subsequently Latinized into monitor.