Black-spotted ridge-tailed monitor


The black-spotted ridge-tailed monitor, also called black-spotted spiny-tailed monitor and yellow-throated monitor, is a monitor lizard native to Australia's tropical Northern Territory. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is considered common and not threatened.
It was first described in 1987.
It is also known as White's dwarf goanna.
The species name of this lizard, baritj, is an Australian aboriginal word for white.

Description

This monitor lizard's tail is spiny. It is similar to Varanus acanthurus in appearance, but differs in colour patterns. For example, V. baritji has a bright-yellow underside, but lacks the light and dark dorsal neck stripes and the light ocellated markings on its back for which V. acanthurus is known. The black-spotted ridge-tailed monitor can reach up to 72 cm in length.