Order Squamata
Suborder Anguinomorpha
Superfamily Varanoidea
Family Lanthanotidae (Earless Monitors)
Only one species, the earless monitor (Lanthanotus borneensis).
Lanthanotus borneensis,
Appearance: Slender, elongated lizard with short limbs and heterogenous scalation with underlying osteoderms; nostrils are moved back and upwards as an adaption to its semiaquatic lifestyle. Tiny eyes with moveable lids (lower lid transparent). No ear opening (name!).
Distribution: Endemic to Borneo (Indonesia).
Habitat: In and near small forest streams and swamps.
Size: 30-43 cm total length.
Food: Natural food mostly unknown; probably fish and invertebrates.
Reproduction: Oviparous.
Behaviour: Appears to be nocturnal, spending its diumal hours in burrows. At night, it forages on land and in the water, moving via undulatory locomotion in both habitats.
Name: From the Greek "lanthano" = hidden and "ous, otos" = ear.
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