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The New Caledonian monitor is a cryptid reptile reported from the New Caledonian island of Grande Terre and some of its offshore islets, assumed to be a monitor lizard. Holocene remains of monitors are known from New Caledonia, but these have not been assigned to any taxon; they may represent the widespread mangrove monitor (Varanus indicus), or a related endemic species.[1]:256[2]
Attestations[]
Reports of living monitor lizards in New Caledonia were originally investigated by French palaeontologist Jean-Christophe Balouet, concurrent with his discoveries of fossil birds and reptiles on the island. Several witnesses, whom he regarded as sincere, reported sightings of monitors around the northeastern and southwestern coasts;[3]:77 more recent reports come from the montane forests of the Hienghène Valley and Sarraméa in the interior.[1]:256 Entomologist Jean Chazeau also collected sightings of a large lizard capable of standing on its hind legs from the islands off the east coast of Grande Terre.[1]:256 Aaron M. Bauer and Ross A. Sadlier included an entry for the New Caledonian monitor in their The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia (2000).
Sightings[]
Balouet interviewed a hunter from Boulouparis who claimed to have a hit and killed a giant lizard on a road near the La Foa River around 1963. He described it as measuring around 1 m (3 ft) in length. The hunter ate the lizard and retained its jawbone, but had disposed of it or lost it by the time of Balouet's investigations twenty years later. A "recent" sighting of a living monitor, allegedly missing most of its tail, was reported to monitor specialist Mark K. Bayless by Bauer in 1993.[4]
Theories[]
The New Caledonian monitor may belong to the former Varanus indicus species complex, which includes V. tsukamotoi of Micronesia (CC BY 4.0).
The reported New Caledonian monitor may be identical with an undescribed form known from fossil and subfossil remains discovered at various sites, including the Pindaï Caves and Boulouparis. Bauer argued that it could plausibly still survive as of 2000.[1]:256 The fossil monitor resembles the mangrove monitor (Varanus indicus), which is present on South Pacific islands, and has been introduced to others by human agency, but can be distinguished based on tooth and jaw anatomy. Whether the New Caledonian form represents a related endemic species, or only a local population or subspecies of mangrove monitor, is debated;[5]:43 several Pacific monitors formerly assigned to V. indicus have been split into their own species.
Bauer suggests that some recent sightings may refer to the Fijian banded iguana (Brachylophus fasciatus), which has been introduced to New Caledonia, although it is unknown whether the escapee iguanas have established a feral population, and Bauer does not regard the species as a major candidate for most sightings.[1]:256
See also[]
- Du
- Samoan monitor
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bauer, Aaron M. & Sadlier, Ross A. (2000) The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
- ↑ Barloy, Jean-Jacques & Civet, Pierre (1985) Les Survivants de l'Ombre, Arthaud
- ↑ Balouet, Jean-Christophe (1990) Extinct Species of the World, Barron's
- ↑ Bayless, Mark K. & Naclerio, Greg "A Report of Varanus on New Caledonia," Varanews, Vol. 3, No. 3 (May 1993)
- ↑ Molnar, Ralph E. "History of Monitors and Their Kin," Varanoid Lizards of the World (2004), Indiana University Press