Varanus marathonensis

Varanus marathonensis, the Samos dragon, is an extinct species of monitor lizard from the middle to late Miocene of Greece and Spain, known from several specimens. A specimen consisting of a partial skull and several vertebrae was named Varanus amnhophilis in 2012 and placed in its own subgenus, Varaneades, but a 2018 study found it to be a junior synonym of Varanus marathonensis. Comparisons with other species of monitor lizards put its size between 60 and 80 cm in length, excluding the tail. The fossil was found in the Turolian-age Mytilini Formation on the island of Samos and is currently housed in the American Museum of Natural History.

Varanus marathonensis

Jack L. Conrad, Ana M. Balcarcel, Carl M. Mehling · CC BY 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
VaranusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Varanidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Varanidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Varanidae

Time the record covers

At least 6.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 5.09 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 3.55 Mya.

Miocene — about 8 of 10 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 10 occurrencesPliocene16–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.9–8.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.4–8.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.0–7.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.5–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.6–6.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.2–5.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–4.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.8–4.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.4–3.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.9–3.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11.63 Mya5.09 Mya16.5 Mya3 Mya

10 occurrences of Varanus marathonensis on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

10 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Gonia — 40.50°N, 22.82°E

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The named rock units Varanus marathonensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Varanus marathonensis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Varanus marathonensis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

108 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Varanus marathonensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 10 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Varanus marathonensis

Credit
Jack L. Conrad, Ana M. Balcarcel, Carl M. Mehling
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Varanus cf. marathonensis · LGPUT:MVL:1

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVaranus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Weithofer 1888