Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone working with this species?
Bob

opps.

It's V. melinus, not a sulfur.

Ive seen a few V. Melinus but this looked like a different monitor to me. they were called sulpur water monitors and had canary yellow and seemed larger then melinus.
Bob

I'm calling that a Melinus too........Head and body shape isn't Salvatorish in any way.........
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South Central Herpetological

Yes, it is a Melinus but in the mid 90's when that pic was taken they were called sulphur water monitors by the owner of them, Im not really into all the research and science of Indo species and for all I know perhaps V.Melinus was non classified at the time? I have seen that not to long ago when a FL. importer was selling the recently discoverd V. Reisingeri as yellow phase prasinus when they are unmistakenly much larger and docile [even the W/C imports] in comparison to prasinus.
Bob

V. melinus got named 12 or so years ago. It should be called the Quince Monitor or even Moluccan Yellow Monitor would suffice, but calling it a Sulphur or Yellow or Yellow Tree is confusing as V. reisingieri and V. flavescens already have those common names. Quince is more appropriate.

Perhaps some importers and dealers were mistaking it for the V. salvator type "Sulphur" monitor, but they are very distinct animals with the Quince being more like an Indicus type and Sulphurs being more of a Water Monitor/Salvator.

It's actually sort of a grey area where true Sulphur Waters come from, but the Quince is from, you guessed it, the Moluccans and a few neighboring Indo islands as far as is known.

Here's a Quince:

Here's a Sulphur Water:

-Krusty

Krusty,Thanks for the clarity on the species/names. Like I said that pic was taken prior to the V. Melinus being described. I did see another pair of them in a private zoo in Germany in the mid 90s. They were both males but one trying to copulate with the other. That was the first time I had ever seen this weird behavior [at the time] in monitors or any lizard species for that matter.
Bob

without getting into technicalities on names D&J Reptiles had them quite often... They were working with them in Indonesia and had them at their store but when the laws changed that put an end to their Croc Monitor and Sulpher Monitor days... I still want to get another CB Croc Monitor. Just waiting for my window!