Varanus niloticus

The Nile monitor is a large member of the monitor family (Varanidae) found throughout most of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in drier regions, and along the Nile River and its tributaries in East Africa. Additionally, there are modern, invasive populations in North America. The population found in West African forests and savannahs is sometimes recognized as a separate species, the West African Nile monitor and Ornate monitor. While it is dwarfed by its larger relatives, such as the Komodo dragon, the Asian water monitor or the crocodile monitor, it is still one of the largest lizards in the world, reaching Australia's perentie in size. Other common names include the African small-grain lizard, as well as iguana and various forms derived from it, such as guana, water leguaan or river leguaan.

Varanus niloticus

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Nile monitorPBDB
Sits inside
VaranusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Varanidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Varanidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Varanidae

Time the record covers

At least 1.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 7 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 7 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 5 of 7 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–809 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.6 Mya1.8 Mya12.1 Mya0 Mya

7 occurrences of Varanus niloticus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

7 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Nachukui — 4.27°N, 35.82°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°E

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The named rock units Varanus niloticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Varanus niloticus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Varanus niloticus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

108 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Varanus niloticus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 7 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Varanus niloticus

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Varanus niloticus · mvz:amphibian and reptile specimens:68534

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVaranus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1766)