Varanus hooijeri is an extinct species of medium-sized monitor lizard found in Liang Bua on Flores and possibly also Sumba, dating to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.
| Varanus hooijeri Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Varanidae |
| Genus: | Varanus |
| Species: | †V. hooijeri |
| Binomial name | |
| †Varanus hooijeri Brongersma, 1958 | |
Discovery
It was described in 1958 by Leo Daniël Brongersma on the island of Flores in Indonesia.[1] In 2021 two maxilla bones from each having four teeth from Liang Lawuala on Sumba, were assigned to V. cf. hooijeri, suggesting that it inhabited Sumba as well.[2]
Description
Varanus hooijeri is a medium-sized varanid, at around 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long,[3] around the size of a living Nile monitor.[4] The teeth are blunt and wide (bunodont), unlike the sharp, curved teeth typically seen in other monitor lizards.[2] This has been assessed as adapted for a frugivore diet supplemented by small mammals and insects.[2]
Paleoecology
Varanus hooijeri lived with another, much larger, monitor lizard, the modern day Komodo dragon. Due to its frugivore diet it would have niche partitioned with the larger animal, although it may have been prey for the latter.
It also lived with the dwarf proboscidean Stegodon florensis,[5] the large stork Leptoptilos robustus,[6] the cat-sized Flores giant rat[7] and the dwarf hominid Homo floresiensis.[8]
Extinction
The youngest remains of the species date to the Holocene.[2][9]