Canopy goanna
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Varanidae
Genus:	Varanus
Subgenus:	Hapturosaurus
Species:	V. keithhornei
Binomial name
Varanus keithhornei Wells & Wellington, 1985[2][3]
Synonyms
Varanus teriae Sprackland, 1991

Varanus keithhornei, commonly known as the canopy goanna, Keith Horne's monitor, blue-nosed tree monitor,^[4] or Nesbit River monitor,^[5] is a species of monitor lizards native to northeast Australia. It is a member of the Varanus prasinus species group.^[6]

This monitor lizard is found in a restricted area of less than 100 km² near the Claudie and Nesbit rivers, in the McIlwraith and Iron Ranges of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.^[2][7][8]

Description

The colouration of V. keithhornei is dark black on the upper side. It has moderately big and smooth head scales. Its tail has no visible keel.^[6] The canopy goanna is small for a monitor lizard, reaching a total length up to 77 cm,^[9] but more robust than other species of the V. prasinus species complex, and can be further distinguished from them by its colour and the conical throat scales.^[8]

Specimens were originally assigned to the species Varanus prasinus by Czechura in 1980,^[8] but Wells and Wellington declared it a new species 5 years later.

Diet

They forage in the trees and the leaf litter for insects such as orthopterans, roaches, and beetles.^[8]