Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A V. komodoensis female was found to reproduce asexually in the UK as many of you are probably aware of. I am curious, has anybody experienced parthenogenesis with their females? Does anybody know of other Varanid spp that this has been documented in? I know this is common in other families (i.e Teiidae), but not in Varanidae. I ask only out of curiosity, and it could lead to a possible Graduate research project.

Thanks
-Eric

P.S. UV increased keratinization of the skin = nuthin' much

Although the recent V. komodoensis parthenogenesis paper published in Nature received much attention, most people fail to realize that parthenogensis had already been reported in Varanus (V. panoptes).

Linked below is the 2005 paper:

Lenk, P., B. Eidenmueller, H. Staudter, R. Wicker, and M. Wink. 2005. A parthenogenetic Varanus. Amphibia-Reptilia 26: 507-514.

Varanus parthenogensis

Thanks for posting that paper. I knew the story and the results, but never actually got to review it. The late M. Bayless was going to send me a cc of it.