#anguimorpha

[ambopteryxthecreature]

idk what I expected but hey I'm not complaining

[taxonomytournament]

do you have any idea where varanus will be in the bracket? :D

love what youre doing btw it is very fun

Oh you just missed it. Anguimorpha (which includes Monitor lizards along with Komodo Dragons) was in the first round, and just barely lost to Iguania. Looking back, I didn't mention that the clade inclueds Monitor Lizards in the poll post. Maybe if I did Anguimorpha would have won

[archtangential]

Typical. Northern Alligator Lizards, Elgaria coerulea, have been biting me for 2 decades. This one is a younger adult, apparently already through its first tail loss, and caused no pain. Larger inds. can draw light blood. Generally lethargic. The blue fuzz on its mouth is from the old packing blanket it was disturbed from under. Eats arthropods, sometimes smaller lizards/verts like you'd expect. Alligator lizards are consistently outnumbered by the more active and agile fence lizards in my yard, but have maintained a consistent littoral presence of a least several inds. in the general area at a time for as long as I remember. I have however witnessed and photographed at least a couple of occasions of these #squamates climbing to the top of shrubbery to sun. #lizardsofinstagram #anguidae #anguimorpha #alligatorlizard #alligator #socal #bernie2020 #diapsid #eattherich (at Oceanside, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9aZhSMg-r1/?igshid=xqe4pj2j220h

[lepidosaurophilia]

Blue Tree Monitor (Varanus macraei)

Pic source: Greg Hume at Wikimedia Commons

[lepidosaurophilia]

The Earless Monitor Lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis) is a small, semiaquatic varanoid lizard, placed within its own monotypic family, Lanthanotidae. It is the closest known relative of the monitor lizards (Varanidae), and is found only in some secluded areas of northern Borneo. It is covered with smooth, keeled scales that aid it in watery habitats. They are predominantly nocturnal, emerging only at night to hunt their chosen prey of bugs and fossorial invertebrates like earthworms.

This obscure and poorly-understood lizard has not been evaluated by the IUCN.

Pic: by Ch'ien C. Lee

Sources:  [x] - [x]