Varanus komodoensis Ouwens, 1912

Louys, Julien & Price, Gilbert J., 2015, The Chinchilla Local Fauna: An exceptionally rich and well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from fluviatile deposits of south-eastern Queensland, Australia, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60 (3), pp. 551-572 : 556

Varanus komodoensis Ouwens, 1912

Fig. 4G .

Material.—QM F874 (right maxilla), QM F42105 (partial right maxilla), QM F870 (partial left dentary), QM F871 (partial left dentary), QM F42156 (quadrate), QM F866 (scapulacoracoid), QM F53954 (partial left humerus), and QM F53955 (partial right humerus) from Chinchilla, Australia, Pliocene; QM F25392 supraorbital) from “Wilkinson’s Dig, near Graham’s Gully”, Chinchilla Rifle Range, Australia, Pliocene.

Remarks.— De Vis (1889b) erected the species Varanus dirus on the basis of a single tooth from King Creek, Darling Downs. He later assigned the first lizard material described from Chinchilla, a partial maxilla (QM F874) to that species ( de Vis 1900), a referral that was later confirmed by Feférváry (1918). Hecht (1975), in his review of Megalania , subsumed Varanus dirus into Megalania prisca ; however, he could not confidently refer de Vis’s maxillary fragment to either Megalania or Varanus komodoensis . He also referred four vertebrae from Chinchilla (QM C20 and C106) to Megalania sp. ( Molnar 1982a; Lees 1986). Several additional varanid specimens were assigned to? Megalania sp. and Varanus sp. by Hutchinson and Mackness (2002). Those specimens were then part of a private collection (WPC); however, ten of the twelve specimens were later donated to the QM and have been assigned registration numbers (SOM: Table 1). Of those, four are clearly not varanid, (SOM: Table 1) and this is probably due to either numbers being incorrectly quoted or the result of typographical errors (see comments for Agamidae gen. et sp. indet.). The six specimens that are varanid (QM F56191–F56196) are comparable with Varanus komodoensis and are here assigned to that species. Hocknull et al. (2009) referred several QM specimens from Chinchilla, including de Vis’s (1900) maxillary fragment and several previously unidentified specimens, to Varanus komodoensis .

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Pliocene to Recent; eastern Australia (fossil only) and Indonesia.

Figures

Fig. 4. Reptiles from Chinchilla Sand, Australia, Pliocene. A.?Reptilia, QM F56197, Chinchilla Rifle Range, unidentified fragments (A 1 –A 3), showing the WPC registration numbers of Agamidae sp. indet. cited by Hutchinson and Mackness (2002). B. Varanus sp. QM F56189, “Wilkinson’s Quarry” Chinchilla Rifle Range, dorsal vertebra. C. Quinkana sp., QM F10204, Chinchilla Rifle Range, isolated tooth. D. Trionychidae sp. indet. QM F9037, Fairymeadow, carapace fragment. E. Emydura sp., QM F7035, Middle Gully, Chinchilla Rifle Range, anterior half of carapace. F. Pallimnarchus pollens de Vis, 1886, QM F11612, “Sand Scree locality, 4’6” from top of bank of Condamine River”, symphyseal portion of dentary. G. Varanus komodoensis Ouwens, 1912, QM F874, unspecified locality near Chinchilla, right maxilla. Scale bars 20 mm.