Varanus sivalensis

Varanus sivalensis is an extinct species of monitor lizard that originally lived in India in the Pinjor Formation during the Pliocene through the late Pleistocene. As its name implies, it was broadly comparable in size to the extant Komodo dragon.

Varanus sivalensis

Scott A. Hocknull, Philip J. Piper, Gert D. van den Bergh, Rokus Awe Due, Michael J. Morwood, Iwan Kurniawan · CC BY 1.0 · 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 most 2.9 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 3.6 Mya and 774 ka, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Pliocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePleistocene3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.7–1.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.0–912 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences912 ka–784 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences784 ka–657 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1 Mya274 ka

1 occurrence of Varanus sivalensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

1 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

Pinjor — 30.73°N, 76.78°E

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The named rock units Varanus sivalensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Varanus sivalensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Varanus sivalensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

23 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Varanus sivalensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Varanus sivalensis

Credit
Scott A. Hocknull, Philip J. Piper, Gert D. van den Bergh, Rokus Awe Due, Michael J. Morwood, Iwan Kurniawan
Licence
CC BY 1.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Falconer 1868