Monitor lizards (genus Varanus) have attracted a great deal of interest--these large and impressive lizards are often the centerpiece of reptile house exhibits. Monitors tend to be fairly wary and difficult to observe--therefore they are not particularly tractable research subjects, but they have nevertheless received an extraordinary amount of attention from devoted students. Varanoid Lizards of the World is a comprehensive account of virtually everything important that is known about monitor lizards, beginning with detailed species accounts and proceeding to various modern comparative analyses. Where possible, people who have had detailed field experience with a particular species have assembled species accounts. In the process of reporting what is known, we also identify what remains to be learned about these lizards. We hope to establish a prototype showing how such a diverse monophyletic group can be exploited both to identify and to understand the actual course of evolution. As such, this effort becomes a protocol for future workers to follow for other groups of closely-related species.
ERIC R. PIANKA, a world-renowned ecologist, has spent his life studying the evolutionary ecology of the second-largest group of terrestrial vertebrates, lizards. Pianka is the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. His past and present research covers a broad range of topics pertaining to the ecology, biology, and evolution of reptiles. His text Evolutionary Ecology, first published in 1974, went through six editions and has been translated into many languages. DENNIS R. KING (1942-2002) was one of the world's leading experts on lizards. For many years before his death, he was employed as Research Officer, Agriculture Protection Board of Western Australia. King is author of more than 100 papers on Australian varanids, mammals, and conservation, among other topics.
Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments Part I. 1. Introduction by Eric R. Pianka and Dennis R. King 2. The Long and Honorable History of Monitors, and Their Kin by Ralph E. Molnar 3. Biogeography and Phylogeny of Varanoids by Ralph E. Molnar and Eric R. Pianka 4. Tempo and Timing of the Australian Varanus Radiation by W. Bryan Jennings and Eric R. Pianka Part II Introduction to Part II: Species Accounts. 5. African Varanid Species by Daniel Bennett, Wolfgang Boehme, Sigrid Lenz, John ("Andy") Phillips, Michael Stanner, and Thomas Ziegler 6. Asian Varanid Species by Daniel Bennett, Wolfgang Boehme, Claudio Ciofi, Gil Dryden, Maren Gaulke, Harry W. Greene, Hans-George Horn, Hans J. Jacobs, Dennis R. King, Kai M. Philipp, Eric R. Pianka, Lawrence A. Smith, Gerard Visser, and Thomas Ziegler 7. Australian Varanid Species by Gavin S. Bedford, Keith Christian, Sean Doody, Gil Dryden, Bernd Eidenmueller, Hans-Georg Horn, Grant Husband, Steve Irwin, Dennis R. King, Max King, Ruth Allen King, Jeffrey M. Lemm, Eric R. Pianka, Tim Schultz, Lawrence A. Smith, Samuel S. Sweet, Graham Thompson, and Brian Weavers 8. Other Varanoids by Daniel D. Beck, Mark A. Norell, and Eric R. Pianka Part III. 9. Evolution of Body Size and Reproductive Tactics by Eric R. Pianka 10. Keeping Monitors in Captivity: A Biological, Technical, and Legislative Problem by Hans-Georg Horn Glossary Index
The most comprehensive reference on varanoid lizards ever published
