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Abstract. Three recent sightings of Varanus giganteus increase its recorded geographical distribution in a southwesterly direction. These sightings may represent previously unrecorded populations, indicate a range extension, or in one instance a translocation. If these are disjunct populations from the published distribution to the north-east, then there may be a strong case for affording special protection to their habitat to protect these populations.
Keywords: Varanus giganteus, Perentie, geographic range, Western Australia
Introduction
The habitat of the Perentie, Varanus giganteus, is described by Cogger (1992) as the ?arid interior of Australia from far western Queensland through central Australia to the coast of WA? (p 362), where it inhabits deep crevices and burrows in rocky outcrops, and forages widely on adjacent sandy desert areas. King et al. (1989) reported that most of the V. giganteus they observed on Barrow Island were on the beach. In the Cape Range National Park, where Perenties are relatively abundant, they inhabit the coastal dunes, sand plains and rocky inland range (Heger 2000). Pianka (1994) recorded V. giganteus in the red sand-ridges of the Great Victoria Desert in areas predominantly vegetated with spinifex far away from rock outcrops.
Distribution maps for V. giganteus typically include the sandy desert areas of central Western Australia stretching from the west coast to the eastern north-south South Australian and Northern Territory borders and into the western edge of Queensland (Storr et al. 1983; Cogger 1992; Wilson & Knowles 1992; Western Australian Museum FaunaBase http:// www.museum.wa.gov.au/faunabase/prod/index.htm). We report here three recent sightings that are outside the published geographical distribution for this goanna. We also summarise other sightings that increase its published distribution.
Observations
On 3rd October 2001, about 1400 hr, we observed a Perentie foraging about 2 km north-west of the Aurora Range, Western Australia (30? 19'S, 119? 43'E) in a eucalypt woodland with a chenopod shrub understorey (Fig. 1). We estimated the specimen to be about 1.4 m in total length (it was not caught). Mr T. Trent of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture observed a Perentie on the road 10 km east of Kununoppin (31? 08'S, 117? 59'E) that was in the process of consuming an adult Western Bluetongue, Tiliqua occipitalis, on 17th October 2001, at 1408 hr. This Perentie was about...