Varanus rainerguentheri (New Species)

Thomas Ziegler, Wolfgang Böhme and Andreas Schmitz, have recently published a paper on Varanus rainerguentheri, a newly described species of the Varanus indicus Complex, found in Halmahera. The reference is:

Ziegler, T., W. Böhme, and A. Schmitz. 2007. A new species of the Varanus indicus group (Squamata, Varanidae) from Halmahera Island, Moluccas: Morphological and molecular evidence. Mitt. Mus. Nat.kd Berlin, Zool. Reihe 83 (2007) Supplement, 109-119.

For those that are not familiar with the Varanus indicus group, this might appear as Varanus indicus, but closer examination of morphological features, along with coloration of body, tongue and pattern distinguish it from it by looking at it. There is also DNA evidence, but this evidence is not so clearly shown in the paper, but should be able to be seen by comparisons with the other species of the group.

Here is the abstract:
Varanus rainerguentheri Abstract

Cheers,
Michael

Awesome. Must be exciting to discover a new species. Unfortunately I can't get the link to work for me. How did they come up with the name?

That is indeed pretty cool. I too couldn't get the link to work. I got a cookie error, and I know my PC and browsers accept cookies as i have them all set to. lol

I get session cookie error also

Sorry about the error, I must have copied it wrong or something else went wrong. This time, I will check it before leaving :o Here is is again.
Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies
(It worked when checking the preview).

Dr. Rainer Günther is the curator of herpetology at the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Univeristät zu Berlin (Museum of Natural History of the Humboldt University in Berlin).

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by kriminaal

How did they come up with the name?

They probably named it after Dr. Rainer Gunther. Many specific names are named after someone (but can't be named after the person or group of people who discovered it, according to International Nomenclature Laws).