It was described in 1958 by Leo Daniël Brongersma on the island of Flores in
Indonesia.[1] In 2021 two
maxilla bones from each having four teeth from Liang Lawuala on Sumba, were assigned to V. cf. hooijeri, suggesting that it inhabited Sumba as well.[2]
Description
Varanus hooijeri is a medium-sized varanid, at around 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long,[3] around the size of a living
Nile monitor.[4] The teeth are blunt and wide (
bunodont), unlike the sharp, curved teeth typically seen in other
monitor lizards.[2] This has been assessed as adapted for a
frugivore diet supplemented by small mammals and insects.[2]
Paleoecology
Varanus hooijeri lived with another, much larger, monitor lizard, the modern day
Komodo dragon. Due to its frugivore diet it would have
niche partitioned with the larger animal, although it may have been prey for the latter.
The youngest remains of the species date to the Holocene.[2][9]
References
^Brongersma, L. D. (1958). "On an extinct species of the genus Varanus (Reptilia, Sauria) from the island of Flores". Zoologische Mededelingen.
S2CID86301714.