THE MYSTERY OF THE LAGUNA MONITORS

Iremember the time when our varanid fauna was understood to be composed only of two species, Varanus olivaceus and V. salvator, along with three subspecies, V. s. marmoratus from Luzon, Mindoro, Palawan, and the Sulu Islands, V. s. nuchalis from the Visayas, and V. s. cumingi, from Mindanao. The supposedly widespread

Varanus marmoratus (as Monitor marmoratus) was described by Georges Cuvier in 1829, but in 1942, Robert Mertens placed

V. marmoratus as a subspecies of V. salvator. In 2007, Koch et al reinstated V. marmoratus as a distinct species with a disjunct range covering Luzon and its satellite islands of Catanduanes and Polillo; Mindoro; Palawan and the offshore islands of Balabac and the Calamianes; and the island groups of Tawitawi and Jolo.

Much has changed beginning in 2010 when a clearer understanding of the species as a whole brought about the recognition of V. palawanensis, V. rasmusseni, and V. cumingi samarensis, resulting in V. marmoratus being confined only to Luzon and Mindoro. Drawing from inferences by Luke Welton et al in 2013 providing suspicion that V. marmoratus from southern Luzon and Mindoro might be distinct species, Luke Welton, Scott L. Travers, Rafe Brown, and Cameron Siler in 2014 took steps further and concluded that the populations from southern Luzon, and Mindoro and Semirara belong to distinct lineages, leading to the establishment of two taxa, V. dalubhasa and V. bangonorum, respectively. Despite their close resemblance to V. marmoratus, the two species were said to be genetically related to V. nuchalis and V. palawanensis, respectively.