Critically Endangered
Mitchell's water monitor
Varanus mitchelli
Mitchell's water monitor is a lizard or snake in the family Varanidae — Varanus mitchelli, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Australia.
Appearance
It is generally dark brown or black and has small yellow and white spots covering the limbs and head, and ocelli with dark centers as well as yellow stripes along its side. Its underside is a light cream color. It can be distinguished by the orange or yellow stripes along its neck and dark spots along its back.
Mitchell's water monitor reaches a total length (tail included) of up to 70 cm (28 in).
Range and habitat
Mitchell's water monitor lives along all northern river systems in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. There is no data to suggest that it lives on any islands surrounding Australia. Mitchell's water monitor inhabits swamps, lagoons, inland rivers, and other bodies of water and is often found on trees near the water.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Mitchell's water monitor preys on smaller animals of both terrestrial and aquatic origin. Its prey includes smaller lizards, small mammals, nestling birds, reptile eggs, and terrestrial invertebrates (orthopterans, arachnids, beetles, etc.).
Aquatic prey include fish, crabs and frogs. Its diet changes seasonally according to flooding during the wet season. It breeds during the dry season, with the females laying eggs between April and June.
In crisis
It is on the IUCN Red List as a "Critically Endangered" species. The current most significant threat to Mitchell's water monitor is the spread of cane toads across the Northern Territory in Australia. Cane toads have become an invasive species in Australia since their introduction to the area in 1935. Because of that, Australia is said to be currently facing an overpopulation of cane toads, that presents a problem for monitor lizards that mistake the poisonous amphibians for endemic toads native to Australia that make up the lizards' usual diet.
Other threats to Mitchell's water monitor include habitat loss due to land clearing, habitat degradation and change due to climate change and deaths occurring from contact with humans (such as death on roads).
Mitchell's water monitor is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Mitchell's water monitor, Wikidata item Q2710727. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
