Megalania

Megalania (Varanus priscus) is an extinct species of giant monitor lizard, part of the megafaunal assemblage that inhabited Australia during the Pleistocene. It is the largest terrestrial lizard known to have existed, but the fragmentary nature of known remains make estimates highly uncertain. Studies suggest that most known specimens would have reached around 2–2.4 m (6 ft 7 in – 7 ft 10 in) in body length excluding the tail, while some individuals would have been significantly larger, reaching sizes around 4.5 m (15 ft), 5.5 m (18 ft) or perhaps even 7 m (23 ft) in total length.

Megalania is thought to have had a similar ecology to the living Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) which may be its closest living relative. The youngest fossil remains of giant monitor lizards in Australia date to around 50,000 years ago. The indigenous peoples of Australia might have encountered megalania when they first arrived on the continent and might have subsequently played a role in megalania's extinction. While originally megalania was considered to be the only member of the titular genus "Megalania", today it is considered a member of the genus Varanus, being closely related to other Australian monitor lizards.

Taxonomy

Sir Richard Owen described the first known remains of megalania in 1859, from three vertebrae amongst a collection of primarily marsupial bones purchased by the British Museum, collected from the bed of a tributary of the Condamine River, west of Moreton Bay in eastern Australia. The name "Megalania prisca" was coined in the paper by Owen to mean "ancient great roamer"; the name was chosen "in reference to the terrestrial nature of the great Saurian". Owen used a modification of the Greek word ἠλαίνω ēlainō ("I roam").