Description
English: Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus), Lake Manyara Park, Tanzania
Date 30 June 2009
Author D. Gordon E. Robertson https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Dger
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nile_Monitor,_Lake_Manyara.jpg

The Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) is a large member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae) found throughout much of Africa but absent from the west where it is replaced by Varanus stellatus. Other common names include the African small-grain lizard, water leguaan or river leguaan (leguan, leguaan, and likkewaan mean monitor lizard in South African English, and can be used interchangeably). Order: Squamata, Suborder: Lacertilia, Family: Varanidae, Genus: Varanus, Subgenus: Polydaedalus, Species: Varanus niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758).
Synonyms:
Lacerta monitor Linnaeus, 1758
Lacertus tupinambis Lacépède 1788
Lacerta capensis Sparrman 1783
Lacerta nilotica Linnaeus, 1766
Tupinambis elegans Daudin 1802
Tupinambus ornatus Daudin 1803
Monitor niloticus Lichtenstein 1818
Monitor pulcher Leach 1819
Stellio saurus Laurenti 1768
Varanus niloticus Mertens 1942
Varanus (Polydaedalus) niloticus ornatus Mertens 1942
Varanus (Polydaedalus) ornatus BÖHME & ZIEGLER, 1997