The Peach Throat Monitor or Sepik Monitor is a relatively large species of Monitor Lizard that is native to New Guinea and some of the surrounding islands.
Peach Throat Monitor Taxonomy
The Peach Throat Monitor belongs to the Varanidae family of lizards. This family contains only one genus of living lizards. There are two extinct genera associated with this family, Ovoo and Saniwa.
The remaining genus, and the genus that the Peach Throat Monitor belongs to is called Varanus. This is essentially the genus of Monitor Lizards, which are native to Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The closest living relatives to the lizards in the Varanus genus are the species in the anguid and helodermatid genera.
The lizards in the anguid genus are native to the Northern Hemisphere and include the glass lizards and the alligator lizards.
There are only 5 species of lizards in the helodermatid genus and they are all venomous. This family includes the Gila Monster.
Monitors are a large genus of lizard that contains over 80 different species at the time of writing. However, many species and sub-species are constantly being disputed so the exact number will change from time to time.
The group of Monitor lizards include some of the largest species of lizards in the world such as the Komodo Dragon and Crocodile Monitor.
The genus name, Varanus is derived from the Arabic word ‘waral’ which simply translates into Monitor.
The scientific name for this species is Varanus jobiensis. They are also known as the Sepik Monitor.
The name jobiensis is Latin and mesns ‘from Jobi’. Jobi is the type locale for this species. It is an island better known as Yapen, situated between New Guinea and Biak.
They belong to the sub-genus Euprepiosautus which also contains their close relatives, the Mangrove Monitor and the Blue Tailed Monitor.
Peach Throat Monitor Description
The Peach Throat Monitor is a relatively large species of Monitor Lizard that can grow to around 4 feet in length. However, about half of this length is made up of their tail.
The background color of the lizard is brown to olive-green in color. This is overlaid with bright yellow spots. These spots are small and cover most of their body, giving the lizard a speckled appearance.
They have a peach or salmon colored throat which is where they get their common name from. They can also have a blue or green coloration on their tail which is usually more prominent in juveniles.
They have very characteristic monitor features such as a long snout and neck, strong body, sharp claws and a long slender tail.
Natural Habitat and Distribution
The Peach Throat Monitor is native to New Guinea and some of the surrounding islands. They can be found on Waigeo, Biak, Yapen, Salawati and other smaller island in the area.
The type locale for this Monitor is the island of Yapen. This island is located just off the Coast of New Guinea between the mainland and the island of Biak.
They are generally found in the rainforests of the area and have been known to live at elevations of up to 900m.
They live in a part of the world that has a huge diversity of different reptile species. They share part of their geographic distribution with a wide range of other reptiles such as the Bismarck Ringed Python, Blue Tailed Monitor, Blue Tongue Skink, Boelen’s Python, Crocodile Monitor, Emerald Tree Monitor, Mangrove Monitor, Mourning Gecko, Amethystine Python and the Pink Bellied Side Neck Turtle. However, some of these reptiles may have different habitat niches.
Peach Throat Monitor Diet
The Peach Throat Monitor primarily feeds on insects in the wild. New Guinea alone has somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 different species of insects.
More research needs to be done to understand the exact make-up of their diet but they are also known to eat other sources of food.
Other animals that this lizard will prey on include different species of frogs and freshwater fish. They will likely also eat the occasional small mammal or rodent in the wild.
