Target Species: Salvador’s monitor lizard, Varanus salvadori
Location: Western Province, Papua New Guinea
Director: Jon Stephens
Location: Western Province, southwestern Papua New Guinea.
Mark and monitor lizard expert Dr Robert Sprackland are on the trail of a lizard which grows longer than the Komodo dragon, Varanus komodoensis. A giant of a lizard with unusual Tyranosaurus rex-like teeth and amazing tree-climbing abilities, Salvador’s monitor lizard, or the ‘tree crocodile’ as it is known locally, is a much feared creature which reputedly leaps down from the trees and to kill pigs, deer and even valuable hunting dogs. Despite several visits to Papua New Guinea (PNG) Mark has only met with a pair of tree crocodiles and they were captive specimens at a crocodile farm. He and Robert are keen to try and capture and examine a truly wild specimen of one of the largest but least known lizards in the world. With the help of expert Papuan trackers and hunters, led by a charismatic headman, they search the expansive savanna woodlands and crocodile infested water ways of the Binaturi, Bensbach and Fly River systems.
En route Mark knows there are many opportunities to find other fascinating and rare reptiles because he and Robert are visiting the remote and little explored Western Province of PNG, near the West Papuan (formerly Irian Jayan) border. Mark has seen all of New Guinea’s python species except the Water python found on these seasonally flooded southern savannas, but even Mark was not expecting to find the confusing species he encounters here.
Salvador’s monitor lizard, (Varanus salvadori), has a long, forked chemo-sensory snake-like tongue as do all monitor lizards.
| BUFONIDAE |
TRUE TOADS |
| Bufo marinus |
Cane toad |
| MYOBATRACHIDAE |
SOUTHERN FROGS |
| Crinia remota |
Paperbark froglet |
| Lechriodus melanopyga |
Black-rumped slant-tooth frog |
| Limnodynastes convexisculus |
Marbled frog |
| HYLIDAE |
TREEFROGS |
| Litoria congenita |
New Guinea savanna treefrog |
| Litoria infrafrenata |
White-lipped treefrog |
| Litoria nigrofrenata |
Bridled frog |
| RANIDAE |
TRUE FROGS |
| Rana daemeli |
Damel’s pond frog |
| Rana sp. (PNG) |
(unidentified Western stream frog |
| MICROHYLIDAE |
BURROWING FROGS |
| Phrynomantis sp. (PNG) |
(unidentified Western burrowing frog) |
| Sphenophryne gracilipes |
Slender wedge-shaped frog |
| CHELIDAE |
FRESHWATER TURTLES |
| Emydura novaeguineae |
New Guinea short-neck turtle |
| Emydura subglobosa |
Red-bellied short-neck turtle |
| CROCODYLIDAE |
CROCODILES |
| Crocodylus novaeguineae |
New Guinea crocodile |
| Crocodylus porosus |
Estuarine crocodile |
| GEKKONIDAE |
GECKOES |
| Gehyra variegata |
Tree dtella or Variegated dtella |
| Hemidactylus frenatus |
Common house gecko |
| Nactus pelagicus |
Pelagic gecko |
| PYGOPODIDAE |
SNAKE LIZARDS |
| Lialis burtonis |
Burton’s snake-lizard |
| SCINCIDAE |
SKINKS |
| Carlia bicarinata |
Bicarinate four-fingered skink |
| Carlia fusca |
Brown four-fingered skink |
| Cryptoblepharus virgatus |
Cream-striped snake-eyed skink |
| Emoia tropidolepis |
Keel-scaled skink |
| Eugongylus rufescens |
Brown sheen skink |
| Glaphyromorphus nigricaudis |
Black-tailed skink |
| Lygisaurus macfarlani |
New Guinea litter skink |
| Prasinohaema flavipes |
Yellow-footed green-blooded skink |
| Sphenomorphus fragilis |
Fragile skink |
| AGAMIDAE |
DRAGONS |
| Chlamydosaurus kingii |
Frilled lizard |
| Diporiphora bilineata |
Northern two-lined dragon |
| Hypsilurus dilophus |
Twin-crested anglehead |
| Lophura temporalis |
Twin-striped lashtail dragon |
| VARANIDAE |
MONITOR LIZARDS |
| Varanus doreanus |
Blue-tailed monitor |
| Varanus indicus |
Mangrove monitor |
| Varanus panoptes horni |
New Guinea argus monitor |
| Varanus prasinus |
Emerald tree monitor |
| PYTHONIDAE |
PYTHONS |
| Antaresia maculosa |
Spotted dwarf python |
| Morelia amethistina |
Amethystine python |
| COLUBRIDAE |
TYPICAL SNAKES |
| Boiga irregularis |
Brown treesnake |
| Dendrelaphis calligastra |
Green treesnake |
| Dendrelaphis punctulatus |
Common treesnake |
| Stegonotus cucullatus |
Slatey-grey snake |
| Tropidonophis mairii plumbea |
Western common keelback |
| Tropidonophis multiscutallatus |
Many-scaled keelback |
| ELAPIDAE |
COBRAS & THEIR KIN |
| Demansia vestigata |
New Guinea whipsnake |
| Pseudechis papuanus |
Papuan blacksnake |
| Pseudechis sp. (PNG) |
(unidentified Western blacksnake) |
