Varanus Douarrha

Varanus Douarrha

Long lost monitor lizard 're-discovered' on Papua New Guinean island

Scientists have recently found and re-described a monitor lizard species from the island of New Ireland in northern Papua New Guinea. It is the only large-growing animal endemic to the island that has survived until modern times. The lizard, Varanus douarrha, was already discovered in the early 19th century, but the type specimen never reached the museum where it was destined as it appears to have been lost in a shipwreck. Ref. Source 6l.