Genetics

All monitor lizards studied have a diploid chromosome number of 40, consisting of 8 large and 12 small pairs. Females appear to be the heterogametic sex (King & King 1975, King etl al 1982) but there are suggestions that environmental conditions of incubation may have some bearing on sex determination.

Attribution / Courtesy: Daniel Bennett. 1995. A Little Book of Monitor Lizards. Viper Press U.K.