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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(1)

Refining the polytypic species concept of mangrove monitors (Squamata: Varanus indicus group): a new cryptic species from the Talaud Islands, Indonesia, reveals the underestimated diversity of Indo-Australian monitor lizards

André Koch A E , Evy Arida B , Andreas Schmitz C , Wolfgang Böhme A and Thomas Ziegler D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum A. Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany.

B Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Jl. Raya Bogor km 46, 16911 Cibinong, Indonesia. Current address: Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum A. Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn, Germany.

C Muséum d’histoire naturelle, C.P. 6434, CH-1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland.

D AG Zoologischer Garten Köln, Riehler Straße 173, D-50735 Köln, Germany.

E Corresponding author. Email: a.koch.zfmk@uni-bonn.de

Australian Journal of Zoology 57(1) 29-40 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO08072
Submitted: 3 September 2008  Accepted: 16 March 2009   Published: 6 May 2009

Abstract

The description of a new cryptic member of the mangrove monitor (Varanus indicus) (Daudin, 1802) group from Indonesia presents a refinement of the systematic concept for a polytypic complex of closely related species. The new species is recognised on the basis of morphological and molecular evidence. It is so far known only from the type locality, the remote Talaud Islands, located between Sulawesi, Halmahera and Mindanao at the outer boundary of the Wallacea transition zone between the Oriental and Australian faunal regions. While the descriptions of several sibling and mostly sympatric species within the last 15 years have not affected the range of V. indicus, here, we demonstrate that morphologically distinct island populations represent independent evolutionary lineages and warrant specific recognition as distinct species within an evolving superspecies complex. In addition, some basic natural history information is provided for the new species based on observations at the type locality. These systematic and zoogeographic investigations reveal shortcomings in the current knowledge concerning the diversity and endemism of Indo-Australian monitor lizards, particularly within the Wallacean region.


Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) for research permit (2767/SU.3/KS/2005 to AK) in support of their biodiversity sampling on Sulawesi and adjacent islands. The generous support of Pak Dedy Darnaedy (Research Center for Biology, LIPI, Indonesia), and Pak Mulyadi (MZB, Indonesia) is acknowledged also. Further thanks are due to Mumpuni (MZB) for allowing AK to examine monitor specimens of the MZB collections and to Henry (Salibabu Island) and to Sahid Kampi and his family (Sangihe Island) for hospitality and manifold support. The authors also thank Ronald Vonk (ZMA) for the loan of material under his care and for the exchange of one paratype of the newly described monitor species for deposition in the ZFMK collection. Bernhard Huber (ZFMK), Peter Jäger (Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt, Germany) and Siegfried Ingrisch (Bad Karlshafen, Germany) identified the arthropod remains. Kai Philipp (Baden-Baden, Germany) and local staff of Conservation International Indonesia (Sangihe Island) kindly provided photographs of Varanus lirungensis. Finally, an earlier version of the manuscript benefited from critical comments by Robert Neal (Brisbane, Australia), Johan van Rooijen (Voorburg, The Netherlands), and two anonymous reviewers. Field work in Sulawesi and the Talaud Islands was made possible by a Ph.D. grant (AK) from the Evangelisches Studienwerk e.V. Villigst. This is publication No. 9 of the cooperation project about the herpetofaunal diversity of Sulawesi and adjacent islands between the herpetological sections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig Bonn (ZFMK), Germany, and the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), Indonesia.


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Appendix 1.  Additional specimens of the Varanus indicus species complex included in this study
Specimens that have been examined for the first time are indicated by an asterisk
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