Order Squamata
Suborder Anguinomorpha
Superfamily Varanoidea

Family Lanthanotidae (Earless Monitors)

Only one species, the earless monitor (Lanthanotus borneensis).

Appearance: Slender, elongated lizard with short limbs and heterogenous scalation with underlying osteoderms; nostrils are moved back and upwards as an adaption to its semiaquatic lifestyle. Tiny eyes with moveable lids (lower lid transparent). No ear opening (name!). Distribution: Endemic to Borneo (Indonesia). Habitat: In and near small forest streams and swamps. Size: 30-43 cm total length. Food: Natural food mostly unknown; probably fish and invertebrates. Reproduction: Oviparous.

Lanthanotus borneensis, © Alain Compost, by permission.

Behaviour: Appears to be nocturnal, spending its diumal hours in burrows. At night, it forages on land and in the water, moving via undulatory locomotion in both habitats.

Name: From the Greek "lanthano" = hidden and "ous, otos" = ear.

• Lanthanotus

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References:

McDowell, Samuel Booker, Jr. & Bogert, Charles M. (1954)
The systematic position of Lanthanotus and the affinities of the anguinomorphan lizards.
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 105 (1): 1-142

Mertens, Robert (1961)
Lanthanotus: an important lizard in evolution.
Sarawak Museum Journal 10 (17-18, new ser.): 283-285

Sprackland, Robert G. (1976)
A summary of observations of the earless monitor, Lanthanotus borneensis.
Sarawak Museum Journal 24 (40-41 (new ser.)): 323-32x

Underwood, G. (1957)
Lanthanotus and the anguinomorphan lizards: a critical review.
Copeia (1): 20-30.

Zug,G.R.; Vitt, L.J. & Caldwell, J.P. (2001)
Herpetology, 2nd ed.
Academic Press San Diego, London, [...]XIV + 630 pp.

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