In Iran, a Herpetologist Finds a Colorful Caspian Monitor Lizard - Observation of the Week, 3/8/22

Our Observation of the Week is this Caspian Monitor (Varanus griseus caspius), seen in Iran by @hossein_nabizadeh!

“As a child, I was always looking for reptiles in my grandfather's garden,” recalls Dr. Hossein Nabizadeh, a biologist at Razi University.

and [people’s] fear of reptiles made me do more research on them. For this reason, I started studying biology, and my research for my master's degree focused on the systematics and ecology of the lizards in the Maranjab Desert in Iran. This made me focus entirely on the taxonomy, ecology, and protection of reptiles. Iran has a high variety of reptiles and has the strangest snake in the world called the spider-tailed horned viper.

Hossein has been studying Iranian reptiles for years now with an International Herpetology team, and in 2017, on a research trip to central Iran, he and his fellow herpetologists came across the Caspian monitor you see here. It’s one of two Varanus griseus subspecies known in Iran (the other being the grey monitor), and “[in the caspius] subspecies, the transverse bands on the dorsal region are reddish-brown and the tail is dark with 13 to 19 transverse bands at the end of the tail (usually one-third of the tail)...

Monitor lizards have bifurcated tongues, drooping eyelids, strong, well-developed limbs, long, strong tails, and large, sharp teeth, and they can be seen in most desert areas of the Iranian plateau. The largest lizards in Iran and the world belong to the Varanidae family.

Currently working on descriptions of new lizard species from Iran (to be published soon), Hossein (above), a member of the Institute of Herpetology Research at the Central Iranian Plateau, joined iNat last June and his posted most of his photos of Iranian reptiles here, in order to help them be seen by others. “I do photography as an amateur,” he says, “and I use most of these photos for my research.”

(Some quotes have been lightly edited)

- Look closely at the second photo of this monitor lizard and you’ll notice how close its nostrils are to its eyes - a trait of this species.

- Take a gander at the beauty of Iran’s reptilian residents on iNat!

- Check out two previous Observations of the Week from Iran: @parham_beyhaghi’s Lorestan Newt, and @shahrzadasa’s Bongardia chrysogonum.

Posted on March 8, 2022 10:38 PM by tiwane