A NEW SPECIES OF BLUE-TAILED MONITOR LIZARD (GENUS VARANUS) FROM HALMAHERA ISLAND, INDONESIA

We describe a new species of mangrove monitor from Halmahera Island, I ndonesia. The new species differs most dramatically from its congeners by having a blue tail, tines of tongue with xanthophores, the body of the tongue with a distal black band, the gular region not heavily pig mented, the dorsum melanic anteriorly, and large black blotches on its neck, The new species appears to be partially arboreal and joins Vara nus indicus and V. salvator as the third monitor species known from Ha lmahera.