Reptilia - Squamata - Varanidae
Alternative combinations: Megalania prisca, Varanus priscus
Synonyms: Notiosaurus dentatus Owen 1884, Varanus dirus de Vis 1889, Varanus warburtonensis Zeitz 1899
Full reference: R. Owen. 1859. Description of some Remains of a Gigantic Land-Lizard (Megalania prisca, OWEN) from A4ustral. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 149:43-48
Belongs to Varanus according to J. J. Head et al. 2009
See also Lydekker 1888 and Swinton 1934
Sister taxa: Varanus (Varaneades), Varanus acanthurus, Varanus albigularis, Varanus baritji, Varanus beccarii, Varanus bengalensis, Varanus bogerti, Varanus brevicauda, Varanus catalaunicus, Varanus caudolineatus, Varanus deserticolus, Varanus doreanus, Varanus dumerili, Varanus eremitus, Varanus eremius, Varanus exanthematicus, Varanus gilleni, Varanus griseus, Varanus hoffmanni, Varanus hooijeri, Varanus komodoensis, Varanus lemoinei, Varanus lungui, Varanus marathonensis, Varanus mokrensis, Varanus niloticus, Varanus olivaceus, Varanus prasinus, Varanus rusingensis, Varanus salvadorii, Varanus salvator, Varanus semiremex, Varanus semjonovi, Varanus sivalensis, Varanus tristis, Varanus tyrasiensis, Varanus varius, Iberovaranus catalaunicus
Type specimens:
- Varanus prisca: BMNH 32908c, a set of vertebrae (dorsal vertebra)
- Notiosaurus dentatus:
- Varanus dirus:
- Varanus warburtonensis:
Ecology: scansorial carnivore
Distribution:
• Quaternary of Australia (8 collections)
• Pliocene of Australia (1)
Total: 9 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.