used for membranes in traditional drums (called kundu), and these lizards are referred to as kundu palai or "drum lizard" in Tok Pisin, the main Papuan trade language. Monitor lizard skins are prized in making the resonant part of serjas (Bodo folk sarangis) and dotaras (native strummed string instruments of Assam, Bengal and other eastern states). The leather is also used in making a Carnatic music percussion instrument called the kanjira. Food The meat of monitor lizards is eaten by some tribes in India, Nepal, the Philippines, Australia, South Africa and West Africa as a supplemental meat source. Both meat and eggs are also eaten in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand as a delicacy. Conservation According to IUCN Red List of threatened species, most of the monitor lizards species fall in the categories of least concern, but the population is decreasing globally. All but five species of monitor lizards are classified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora under Appendix II, which is loosely defined as species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction but may become so unless trade in such species is subject to strict regulation to avoid use incompatible with the survival of the species in the wild. The remaining five species – V. bengalensis, V. flavescens, V. griseus, V. komodoensis, and V. nebulosus – are classified under CITES Appendix I, which outlaws international commercial trade in the species. The yellow monitor (V. flavescens) is protected in all countries in its range except Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In Tamil Nadu and all other parts of South India, catching or killing of monitor lizards is banned under the Protected Species Act. Taxonomy Genus Varanus Species marked with are extinct V. bolkayi V. darevskii V. emeritus (=V. salvadorii?) V. hooijeri V. hofmanni V. lungui V. marathonensis V. mokrensis V. pronini V. rusingensis V. semjonovi V. tyrasiensis (=V. hofmanni?) Subgenus Empagusia: V. bengalensis, Bengal monitor V. dumerilii, Dumeril's monitor, brown roughneck monitor V. flavescens, golden monitor, yellow monitor, short-toed monitor V. nebulosus, clouded monitor V. rudicollis, black roughneck monitor Subgenus Euprepiosaurus: V. bennetti, Bennett's long-tailed monitor V. caerulivirens, turquoise monitor V. cerambonensis, Ceram monitor V. colei Kei Islands monitor V. doreanus, blue-tailed monitor V. douarrha, New Ireland monitor V. finschi, Finsch's monitor V. indicus, mangrove monitor V. jobiensis, peach-throated monitor V. juxtindicus, Rennell Island monitor V. lirungensis, Talaud