Megalania - Australia's lizard king

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus) was a very large goanna or monitor lizard, now extinct. It was part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene.

Megalania is believed to have disappeared around 40,000 years ago, but not before the first Aboriginal settlers of Australia may have encountered them.

Wikipedia recently uploaded some interesting images of Megalania, which we're sharing with you this week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

Is Megalania still roaming the Australian outback? Some Australians think so...

Megalania puts in appearance at Vic exhibition

A skeleton of prehistoric reptile Megalania was on display at the recent Sci-Spy! event held at Monash University Gippsland to celebrate National Science Week in the region.

Megalania was a six-metre long lizard similar to the komodo dragon which roamed central Australia about 40,000 years ago, which scientists believed claimed victims as an ambush predator.

Monash Science Centre scientist Dr Corrie Williams described Megalania as “big, impressive and heavy” and said the lizard had a tendency to provoke a response in children.

In addition to Megalania, the skeleton of the prehistoric bird Bullockornis will also be on display, which was about 2.5 metres tall and weighed about 500 kilograms.

Philippines lizard has distinctive trait

There is a phrase that is frequently expressed in the less couth parts of town that conveys a speaker's sense of unparalleled elation: "I'm as happy as a dog with two dicks."

Well, we didn't say it was a nice phrase, but it comes to mind as we contemplate the discovery of a new species of lizard in the Philippines that boasts not one, but two penises.

We did actually blog about this last year, but there seems to be a bit more information floating around about this scaly discovery.

We can't vouch for the lizard's happiness or otherwise, but the hefty reptile - reputedly as big as a human (the lizard that is, not his appendage) - had, until two years ago, gone unknown in the West by living high in the trees.

The giant lizard, Varanus bitatawa, is related to the Komodo dragon but differs in a few ways: scale pattern, size, vegetarian diet. And its penises. Did we mention the two penises already?

Double-ended penises are common among snakes and lizards. The Komodo dragon has one (or two). Same with rattlesnakes and other reptiles. But one way scientists were able to differentiate V. bitatawa from the related Gray’s monitor lizard was by its hemipenis, the shape of which is unique to each species, National Geographic reports.

New species of giant monitor lizard discovered

A giant species of monitor lizard that lives in trees has been discovered in the forests of the Northern Philippines, scientists have revealed.

The 6ft 6in-long brightly-coloured lizard is a secretive, fruit-eating species which was found in the forests of the heavily populated and largely deforested Luzon Island.

The discovery of the monitor lizard was described as an 'unprecedented surprise' by scientists.

The species (Varanus bitatawa) is restricted to the forests of the central and northern Sierra Madre range, where biologists have conducted relatively few surveys of reptiles and amphibians.

Read more: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1264010/New-species-giant-lizard-discovered-Philippine- forests.html#ixzz0knj1x2io