Varanoid Lizards of the World, livre ebook

The most comprehensive reference on varanoid lizards ever published.

The large and impressive monitor lizard (genus Varanus) has attracted a great deal of interest. Despite being wary and difficult to observe, monitors have received an extraordinary amount of attention from devoted students. Varanoid Lizards of the World is a comprehensive account of virtually everything important that is known about monitor lizards, beginning with detailed species accounts and proceeding to various modern comparative analyses. Where possible, people who have had detailed field experience with a particular species have assembled the species accounts. In the process of reporting what is known, the book also identifies what remains to be learned about these lizards. This volume stands as a model for showing how such a diverse monophyletic group can be exploited both to identify and to understand the actual course of evolution.

Contents
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Part I.
1. Introduction by Eric R. Pianka and Dennis R. King
2. The Long and Honorable History of Monitors, and Their Kin by Ralph E. Molnar
3. Biogeography and Phylogeny of Varanoids by Ralph E. Molnar and Eric R. Pianka
4. Tempo and Timing of the Australian Varanus Radiation by W. Bryan Jennings and Eric R. Pianka
Part II
Introduction to Part II: Species Accounts.
5. African Varanid Species by Daniel Bennett, Wolfgang Böhme, Sigrid Lenz, John ("Andy") Phillips, Michael Stanner, and Thomas Ziegler
6. Asian Varanid Species by Daniel Bennett, Wolfgang Böhme, Claudio Ciofi, Gil Dryden, Maren Gaulke, Harry W. Greene, Hans-George Horn, Hans J. Jacobs, Dennis R. King, Kai M. Philipp, Eric R. Pianka, Lawrence A. Smith, Gerard Visser, and Thomas Ziegler
7. Australian Varanid Species by Gavin S. Bedford, Keith Christian, Sean Doody, Gil Dryden, Bernd Eidenmüller, Hans-Georg Horn, Grant Husband, Steve Irwin, Dennis R. King, Max King, Ruth Allen King, Jeffrey M. Lemm, Eric R. Pianka, Tim Schultz, Lawrence A. Smith, Samuel S. Sweet, Graham Thompson, and Brian Weavers
8. Other Varanoids by Daniel D. Beck, Mark A. Norell, and Eric R. Pianka
Part III.
9. Evolution of Body Size and Reproductive Tactics by Eric R. Pianka
10. Keeping Monitors in Captivity: A Biological, Technical, and Legislative Problem by Hans-Georg Horn
Glossary
Index