Varanus glauerti

(Fig. 5 E – L, 6 E – N)

Description. Size and proportions. A summary of the mensural and meristic data for V. glauerti is presented in Table 5. A medium-sized robust species (adult SVL: males 217 ± 23.4, 141 – 241 mm, N = 31; females 173 ± 19, 133 – 197 mm, N = 14). Scalation. 110 – 149 midbody scales rows; 93 – 111 ventral scale rows, and 19 – 27 lamellae under the 4 th toe (Table 5). Head scales small, smooth; interorbitals largest, supraorbitals smallest. Nostril lateral or dorsolateral, a little nearer to tip of snout than orbit. Body scales unkeeled. Ventral scales smooth, longer than wide, not overlapping. Claws darkly pigmented, relatively short, very thick, laterally compressed with sharp recurved tips. Tail slightly dorsoventrally compressed proximally, triangular in section distally. Dorsal and lateral caudal scales proximally small and keeled; distally larger and keeled and in western V. glauerti with all lateral caudal scales with posteriorly orientated mucronate tips (Fig. 7). Males have lateroventral cloacal spinal cluster of 6 – 8 long narrow pointed scales that form a rosette in two rows ascending in size from ventral to dorsal surface. Colouration. Head with black stripe starting between the snout and nostril or from below the nostril, proceeding (below the nostril) through the eye to above the ear, bordered below by a light stripe along the upper lip and below the eye to the upper half or top of the ear, with a shorter (not black) dark stripe on its lower border from below the eye (the angle of the jaw) to the ear. Lower jaw edge with light stripe that continues onto the side of neck demarking upper and lower neck colouration and sometimes forming a fold. Head mottled without a distinct pattern, with individual scales varying in colour from black, brown, to grey. Neck with cream to light grey to bluish-grey dispersed ocelli or patches in loose transverse bands, on either a grey, rusty or deep reddish background. Lower side of neck and throat yellow to cream with some individuals having indistinct, darker, narrow broken bands part way around the throat. Dorsally with around 15 – 20 transverse bands of ocelli, alternating in size, between the front and back legs (Fig. 6 E – N). The ocelli range in colour from bluish-grey to a cream or light lemon. The spaces between the rows of ocelli are filled by transverse wavy bands of dark brown to rusty-orange. The hind legs have a black to medium grey base colour with spots and / or ocelli aligned in transverse rows, while the forelegs are light grey with mostly cream spots in transverse rows. The proximal third to half of the tail has the same patterning as the dorsum, with a transition in the distal portion of the tail to solid black and cream or white bands. Black bands 1.6 to 3.7 times wider than white bands. Holotype measurements and scale counts. WAM R 12337 was described in detail by Mertens (1957).

Diagnosis. A member of the subgenus Odatria (Auliya & Koch 2020) diagnosed from all others except V. fyfei sp. nov. by a combination of medium body size, the distinctive tail, which combines exceptional length, generally exceeding twice the snout-vent length, and patterning of strong black and cream or white banding over at least the distal half. Varanus glauerti is diagnosed from its sister species Varanus fyfei sp. nov. by black bands in the middle section of the tail 1.6 to 3.7 times wider than white bands versus 0.9 to 1.3 times wider. Dorsally, it has alternating transverse rows of light - coloured large and small ocelli across the body between the front and back legs, separated by transverse wavy bands of reddish brown to light rusty-orange that fill the spaces between the rows of ocelli. The rows of large and small ocelli are both typically the same colour (Fig. 6 E – L). In contrast, Varanus fyfei sp. nov. has a less demarked alternating pattern of wide and narrow, light-coloured transverse bands separated by narrow dark transverse bands, with numerous small dark scales randomly distributed across the entire dorsum, neck and first half of the tail, such that the margins of the bands are not discrete and the dorsum has a variably densely peppered appearance. The wide and narrow light-coloured transverse bands are usually not the same colour (Fig. 6 A – D). Eastern V. glauerti are diagnosed also by small proximal lateral caudal scales keeled but not mucronate versus, in V. fyfei sp. nov., the proximal tail with small low keeled moderately mucronate lateral scales (Fig. 7). Varanus glauerti is also diagnosed from V. fyfei sp. nov. by apomorphic nucleotide states at nine sites in a 667 bp alignment of the mitochondrial ND 4 gene (Table 4).

Distribution. The Kimberley region of Western Australia, from north of the Yampi Peninsula and its offshore island in the south-west to the Bungle Bungle Ranges in the south-east, and across the border to the Keep River area of the Northern Territory. Records in public databases from the Top End of the Northern Territory represent another undescribed species related to Varanus tristis (Brennan et al. 2021, Bedford & Donnellan unpubl. data).

Holotype. WAM R 12337, Wotjulum, Western Australia (16 ° 11 ’ S, 123 ° 37 ’ E). Material examined. Supplementary Table S 2.

Kimberley Rock Goanna