Yellow-headed water monitor

The yellow-headed water monitor (Varanus cumingi), also commonly known as Cuming's water monitor, the Mindanao water monitor, and the Philippine water monitor, is a large species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is endemic to the Philippines. It thrives in mangrove, forest and water margins in tropical refuges, where it feeds on birds, fishes, mammals, and carrion.

Yellow-headed water monitor
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Varanidae
Genus:	Varanus
Subgenus:	Soterosaurus
Species:	V. cumingi
Binomial name
Varanus cumingi Martin, 1839
Synonyms[2]
Varanus cumingi Martin, 1839 Varanus salvator cumingi — Mertens, 1942 Varanus cumingi — Koch et al., 2007 Varanus (Soterosaurus) cumingi — Koch et al., 2010

Juvenile

Taxonomy

V. cumingi was previously recognized as a subspecies of the water monitor (Varanus salvator), but since 2007 is acknowledged as a species in its own right.^[3][4]

Etymology

The specific name, cumingi, is in honor of English conchologist and botanist Hugh Cuming.^[5]

Geographic range

V. cumingi is found in the southern Philippines, where it is distributed on Mindanao and a few small nearby islands.^[2]

Description

V. cumingi has the highest degree of yellow coloration among all the endemic water monitors in the Philippines. The V. cumingi is a large lizard and medium-sized monitor lizard. The largest specimens its species can reaching a length of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) with a snout-vent length of 60 cm (24 in) and 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) in a mass.^[6][7]

Showing yellow head

Darker individual in Frankfurt Zoo

Habitat

V. cumingi

The preferred natural habitats of V. cumingi are mangroves and moist forest, but it is also abundant in artificial habitats such as fish ponds and cultivated lands.^[1]

Diet

The diet of V. cumingi is composed of rodents, birds, fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, and other invertebrates, including eggs and carrion.^[8]

Subspecies

Two subspecies were formerly recognized: V. c. cumingi occurring on Mindanao and offshore islands and V. c. samarensis on the islands of Bohol, Leyte and Samar. However, the latter has since been elevated to full species status as Varanus samarensis.^[9]

References

1. Sy E, Diesmos A, Jakosalem PG, Gonzalez JC, Paguntalan LM, Demegillo A, Custodio C, Delima E, Tampos G, Gaulke M, Jose R (2009). "Varanus cumingi ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T169897A6687602.en. Accessed on 06 May 2022.
2. Species Varanus cumingi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Koch A, Auliya M, Schmitz A, Kuch U, Böhme W (2007). "Morphological Studies on the Systematics of South East Asian Water Monitors (Varanus salvator Complex): Nominotypic Populations and Taxonomic Overview". pp. 109–180. In: Horn H-G, Böhme W, Krebs U (editors) (2007). Advances in Monitor Research III. (Mertensiella Series 16). Rheinbach: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde.
4. monitor-lizards.net. "Soterosaurus: Mindanao Water Monitor". Retrieved 20 March 2012.
5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Varanus cumingi, p. 62).
6. Pianka, E.; King, D.; King, R.A., eds. (2004). Varanoid Lizards of the World. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253343666.
7. "Visual Identification Guide for the Monitor Lizard Species of the World (Genus Varanus)" (PDF). Bfn.de.
8. Avilon Zoo, http://www.avilonzoo.com.ph
9. Species Varanus samarensis at The Reptile Database

Further reading

• Martin [WCL] (1839). "Remarks on two species of Saurian Reptiles". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1838: 68–70. (Varanus cumingi, new species, pp. 69–70). (in English and Latin).