Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox
The Varanidae are a family of lizards in the superfamily Varanoidea and order Anguimorpha. The family, a group of carnivorous and frugivorous lizards,<ref name="Welton2010">Template:Cite journal</ref> includes the living genus Varanus and a number of extinct genera more closely related to Varanus than to the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Varanus includes the Komodo dragon (the largest living lizard), crocodile monitor, savannah monitor, the goannas of Australia and Southeast Asia, and various other species with a similarly distinctive appearance. Their closest living relatives are the earless monitor lizard and Chinese crocodile lizard.<ref name="Fry2006">Template:Cite journal</ref> The oldest members of the family are known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.<ref name=":0" />
TaxonomyEdit
The Varanidae were defined (using morphological characteristics) by Estes, de Queiroz and Gauthier (1988) as the clade containing the most recent common ancestor of Lanthanotus and Varanus and all of its descendants.<ref name="estes1998">Template:Cite book</ref> A similar definition was formulated by Conrad et al. (2008) (also using morphological data), who defined the Varanidae as the clade containing Varanus varius, Lanthanotus borneensis, and all descendants of their last common ancestor.<ref name=conrad2008>Template:Cite journal</ref> Using one of these definitions leads to the inclusion of the earless monitor lizard (L. borneensis) in the family Varanidae.
Lee (1997) created a different definition of the Varanidae, defining them as the clade containing Varanus and all taxa more closely related to Varanus than to Lanthanotus;<ref name=LeeMSY>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> this definition explicitly excludes the earless monitor lizard from the Varanidae. Whether L. borneensis is included in or excluded from the Varanidae depends on the author; for example, Vidal et al. (2012) classify the earless monitor lizard as a member of a separate family Lanthanotidae,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> while Gauthier et al. (2012) classify it as a member of Varanidae.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
GeneraEdit
- Genera marked with Template:Extinct are extinct
Genera included in Varanidae according to Dong et al., 2022<ref name=":0" />
- Template:ExtinctOvoo Norell, Gao, & Conrad, 2008<ref name=PLOS12>Template:Cite journal</ref> (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctAiolosaurus Gao and Norell, 2000<ref name=PLOS12/> (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctCherminotus Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984 (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctSaniwides Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984 (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctParavaranus Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984 (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctProplatynotia Borsuk-Bialynicka, 1984 (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctTelmasaurus Gilmore, 1943<ref name=PLOS12/> (Mongolia, Late Cretaceous)
- Template:ExtinctSaniwa Leidy, 1870 (Europe, North America, Eocene)
- Template:ExtinctArchaeovaranus Dong et al., 2022 (China, Eocene)
- Varanus Shaw, 1790
PhylogenyEdit
Below is a cladogram from Dong et al. 2022.<ref name=":0" />
BiologyEdit
Monitor lizards are reputed to be among the most intelligent lizards. Most species forage widely and have large home ranges,<ref name="Perry_and_Garland_2002">Template:Cite journal</ref> and many have high stamina.<ref name="Clemente_et_al_2009">Template:Cite journal</ref> Although most species are carnivorous, three arboreal species in the Philippines (Varanus olivaceus, Varanus mabitang, and Varanus bitatawa) are primarily frugivores.<ref name=Welton2010/><ref name = "Greene">Template:Cite book</ref> Among species of living varanids, the limbs show positive allometry, being larger in larger-bodied species, although the feet become smaller as compared with the lengths of the other limb segments.<ref name="Christian_and_Garland_1996">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Varanids possess unidirectional pulmonary airflow, including air-sacs akin to those of birds.<ref>Unidirectional Airflow In The Lungs Of Birds, Crocs And Now Monitor Lizards</ref>