Varanus niloticus
Creators: name: Sánchez-Vialas, Alberto
name: Calvo-Revuelta, Marta
name: Riva, Ignacio De La
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Varanidae
Varanus
Varanus niloticus

description: Varanus niloticus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Lacerta monitor Linnaeus 1758: 201 (nomen rejectum).
Lacerta nilotica Linnaeus, 1766: 369. Type locality: “in AEgypto” (Egypt). The holotype was a specimen mentioned by Hasselquist (1757), which is presumed lost (Marques et al. 2018).
Stellio saurus Laurenti, 1768: 56. Type locality: “Zeylania ad littora maris”.
Lacerta capensis Sparrman, 1783: 749. Type locality: “European settlement, called Agter Bruntjes-hoogte”, Hinterbruyntjes Cave, surroundings of Cape Town, South Africa.
Lacertus tupinambis Lacépède, 1788: 251 (in part). Type locality: Cape of Good Hope and Senegal.
Tupinambis elegans Daudin, 1802: 59 (in part). Type locality: “ Suriname ”.
Tupinambis stellatus Daudin, 1802: 59 (in part). Type locality: from Senegal to Cape of Good Hope, restricted by Mertens (1942) to Senegal.
Tupinambis ornatus Daudin, 1803: 353. Type locality: Malimbe, Cameroon.
Monitor pulcher Leach in Bowdich, 1819: 493. Type locality: Fantee, Gold Coast, Ghana.
Varanus niloticus (Linnaeus, 1766): Fitzinger, 1826: 50.
Monitor elegans senegalensis Schlegel, 1844. Type locality: Senegal.
Distribution. Widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, extending northward to Egypt. In Equatorial Guinea it has been recorded in Bioko (Boulenger 1885; Bocage 1895a) at San Carlos (Mertens 1941, 1942, 1964), Batete (Mertens 1941, 1942), Bococó (Mertens 1941), and at the road between San Carlos and Malabo (Mertens 1964a), and in Río Muni at Cabo San Juan (Boulenger 1905) and Monte Alén National Park (Lasso et al. 2002), including Monte Mitra (Gonwouo & Nsang 2005) (Map 18A).
Comments. Central African populations from the Gulf of Guinea were considered by some authors as a different species, namely Varanus ornatus (Daudin, 1803), which differs from the other African populations by some phenotypic traits (Böhme & Ziegler 1997). However, based on molecular data, Dowel & Hekkala (2016) found no genetic differences between V. niloticus and V. ornatus, recognizing the later as a synonym of V. niloticus. Thus, we follow Dowel & Hekkala (2016) and consider the populations from the Gulf of Guinea a phenotypic morph of V. niloticus. This species is harvested as bush-meat for local consumption in Río Muni (Fa & García Yuste 2001; Fa et al. 2002; Gonwouo & Nsang 2005), where it is often found close to water bodies across a wide diversity of habitats; common around the Uoro and Laña rivers (Lasso et al. 2002).
Specimens examined. Twenty-three specimens. Equatorial Guinea (MNCN 20834). Bioko: without precise locality (MNCN 8093, MNCN 8097, MNCN 23887–23888); without precise locality October 1897 (MNCN 45307); Finca Carboneras, 3 November 1983 (EBD, without number); Bioko Sur, 13 November 1983 (EBD 21390); Malabo, 24 January 1933 (MNCN 8098–8099). Río Muni: from Río Campo to Río Benito, Río Muni (MNCN 8095- 8096); San Joaquín de Ndyiacom, 1987 (EBD 27482); Miboman (30 km from Niefang), 1 February 1987 (EBD 25124), 01 August 1986 (EBD 25127); Besisebe, Río Ntem, 31 August 1986 (EBD 25126); Patio de Alosa, Niefang, 20 September 1986 (EBD 20913, EBD 20916), 20 August 1985 (EBD 21757); Miboman, Km 27, carretera Movo-Bata, 24 July 1985 (EBD 20914); Miboman, carretera Niefang, 08 July 1986 (EBD 20915); Miboman, December 1987 (EBD 27674); Bata, 17 May 1965 (EBD 2752).
description: Published as part of Sánchez-Vialas, Alberto, Calvo-Revuelta, Marta & Riva, Ignacio De La, 2022, Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea, pp. 1-197 in Zootaxa 5202 (1) on page 65, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5202.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7285600