Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The perentie is the largest lizard Australia, and also one of the biggest lizards in the world. The perentie (Varanus giganteus) is by average length and weight the largest extant lizard native to Australia and fifth or fourth-biggest lizard in the world after Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, crocodile monitor and competes with Nile monitor. [1]
Perenties are the largest living species of lizard in Australia. Perenties can grow to lengths of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and weigh up to 20 kg (44 lb), possibly up to 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and 40 kg (88 lb), making it the fourth-largest extant species of lizard (exceeded in size only by the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor and crocodile monitor).
Australia has over 860 species, a large number in comparison to other continents; for example, North America's total is about 280. [1] The most species-rich group is Squamata, the snakes and lizards. They are especially diverse in the arid areas of Australia, where other fauna are scarcer.
Being predatory lizards, goannas are often quite large with sharp teeth and claws. The largest is the perentie (V. giganteus), which can grow over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length. Not all goannas are so large; pygmy goannas may be smaller than the arm of an adult human.
Megalania (Varanus priscus) is an extinct species of giant monitor lizard, [1] part of the megafaunal assemblage that inhabited Australia during the Pleistocene.It is the largest terrestrial lizard known to have existed, but the fragmentary nature of known remains make estimates highly uncertain.
The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard in the world. The largest of the monitor lizards (and the largest extant lizard in genera) is the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), endemic to the island of its name, at a maximum size of 3.13 m (10.3 ft) long and 166 kg (366 lb), although this is currently the only record that places ...
In Australia, it coexisted with the even larger monitor species Varanus priscus also known as megalania, the largest terrestrial lizard ever. [22] The oldest records of the Komodo dragon on Flores date to around 1.4 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene. [23]
The largest land lizard ever lived was extinct megalania from Australia The prehistoric Australian megalania ( Varanus priscus ), which may have existed up to 40,000 years ago, is the largest varanid and the largest terrestrial lizard known to exist, but the lack of a complete skeleton has resulted in a wide range of size estimates.