Hi Fabian,

According the most recent publication: Varanoid Lizards of the World (Edited) By Eric Painka, Dennis King and Ruth King, the chapter on V. albigularis written by Andy Phillips states there are three subspecies: V. albigularis albigularis, V.a. microstictus and V.a. angolensis. He does not say why V.a. ionidesi was omitted, or provides data on the aforementioned systematics....in 2000, I and Robert Sprackland wrote a 2-part article in June-July Reptiles magazine on how all 'races' (= subspecies) were the same with respect to osteological morphometrics (= skull shape/structure) regardless where they come from across Africa (Eygypt to Cape Town). We therefore said all forms of V. albigularis were 1 species with variations on the theme - Andy either over-looked this, as well as my distribution papers (J. of Ecology 1997, 37:354-357; J. of Biogeography 2002, 29:1643-1701) which provided a detailed distribution of the afore-mentioned V. albigularis types - and other African types as well. I am working on a formal academic treatise of this now....and it is very technical and full of old/new data...so according to academics = a complex group consisting of 3 subspecies, related to V. exanthematicus and V. niloticus, with V. yemenesis its closest relative, also found on African Continent in Djibouti. According to me it is a monotypic group, consisting of 1 species.

There are the 'clumpers' and 'splitters' in studies of evolution, I tend to be more conservative, a 'clumper' but with all the hemipenal studies, the Genus Varanus is being split into several super-complexes - and one I disagree with as it does not allow for behavior, distribution, etc, only 1 form of morphological key examined, and I do not think hemipenes entirely designate a species as such = does it for homo sapien and other primates? I think not, other factors contribute to speciation in my book.

cheers,
mbayless

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