Varanus macraei
species of reptile
Varanus macraei, also known commonly as the blue-spotted tree monitor and the blue tree monitor, is a species of monitor lizard endemic to the island of Batanta in Indonesia. The species is named after herpetologist Duncan Malcolm MacRae.
Geographic range
The distribution of Varanus macraei is restricted to the island of Batanta, on the northwestern tip of the Vogelkop peninsula of Irian Jaya of Indonesia. Like the other members of the prasinus-group, it is a tree climber, with a prehensile tail. This may be the smallest distribution of any tree monitor, as this island has a size of only 450 km2, comparable with Lake Constance of Central Europe.
Habitat
The blue-spotted tree monitor inhabits tropical forests that average 28–38 °C (83–100 °F). In the dry season the humidity is around 65%, but it spikes to 100% in the wet season.
Discovery
Reports of a large blue arboreal lizard on Batanta, an island off the northwestern tip of the Bird's Head Peninsula of West Papua, reached Duncan MacRae, founder of the reptile park "Rimba" on Bali, in 2000. MacRae travelled to Sorong and continued by boat to Batanta, where local residents confirmed their familiarity with the animal and described it climbing on tree trunks and branches. Guided by local people to sites where the lizards had been seen, MacRae located the species in forest on Batanta and noted its resemblance in form to the green tree monitor (Varanus prasinus), from which it differed in colouration.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q882602. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Varanus macraei” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.