Evolution of the Monitor Lizards

This book is a comprehensive review of the entire lineage of monitor lizards (Varanidae), living and extinct. It fills a gap in our understanding of the relationships and role of environmental and ecological diversity and their effects on evolution and ecology. The evolutionary history of varanids stretches back some 70 million years. These lizards, so often described as “morphologically uniform” differing mainly in size, are incredibly diverse. This variation comprises numerous small features adding up to 80-plus distinctly different species. Synthesizing the latest research, plus a half-century of original observation and research by the author, this text presents a wide-ranging account of the broad biology and evolution of a successful group of vertebrates adapted to environments from the harshest deserts to lushest forests and even tropical beaches. Monitors are shown to be far from a homogeneous group, a lineage in which subtle variations have led to profoundly divergent organisms.

Robert George Sprackland is a herpetologist who has been interested in zoology since early childhood. He studied herpetology and paleontology at the University of Kansas (BA), San Jose State University (MA), and University College London (Ph.D.), where he conducted the bulk of his research at the Natural History Museum, London. Robert began studying varanids while an undergraduate and has pursued his interest in the lizards across Australia, Europe, and New Guinea for over 45 years. He has published three books and over 40 papers about monitors, plus dozens of other zoological papers. Robert spent most of his academic career teaching college biology, anatomy, and physiology, and has been conducting research in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian Institution since 2015.