Molecular phylogeography of Rosenberg's goanna (Reptilia:Varanidae: Varanus rosenbergi) and its conservation status in New South Wales

Abstract

Rosenberg's goanna, Varanus rosenbergi, is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in New South Wales, but it is not currently listed nationally in Australia as large populations exist on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. There are several significant morphological and behavioural differences between populations in NSW and those in the rest of Australia and some researchers believe these differences may be great enough to warrant separate taxonomic status. To investigate the magnitude and nature of these differences with an independent data set, we sequenced a 867 base pair DNA fragment of the mitochondrial genome that includes half of the ND4 gene and three tRNA genes. We obtained sequence data from 30 in..