timorensis species complex (V. timorensis, V. auffenbergi, V. scalaris, V. similis, V. tristis) V. niloticus species complex (V. niloticus, V. stellatus) V. salvator species complex (V. salvator, V. cumingi, V. nuchalis, V. togianus, V. marmoratus) The tree monitors of the V. prasinus species complex (V. prasinus, V. beccarii, V. boehmei, V. bogerti, V. keithhornei, V. kordensis, V. macraei, V. reisingeri, V. telenesetes) were once in the subgenus Euprepriosaurus, but as of 2016, form their own subgenus Hapturosaurus. V. jobiensis was once considered to be a member of the V. indicus species complex, but is now considered to represent its own species complex. Etymology The generic name Varanus is derived from the Arabic word waral [Standard Arabic] / warar [Colloquially] / waran [Colloquially], from a common Semitic root ouran, waran, warar or waral, meaning "lizard beast". In English, they are known as "monitors" or "monitor lizards". The earlier term "monitory lizard" became rare by about 1920. The name may have been suggested by the occasional habit of varanids to stand on their two hind legs and to appear to "monitor", or perhaps from their supposed habit of "warning people of the approach of venomous animals". But all of these explanations for the name "monitor" postdate Linnaeus giving the scientific name Lacerta monitor to the Nile monitor in 1758, which may have been based on a mistaken idea by Linnaeus that the German word Waran (borrowed from Arabic) was connected to warnen (to warn), leading him to incorrectly Latinize it as monitor ('warner', 'adviser'). Austronesian languages spoken across Southeast Asia, where varanids are common, have a large number of slightly related local names for them. They are usually known as biawak (Malay, including Indonesian standard variety), bayawak (Filipino), binjawak or minjawak or nyambik (Javanese), or variations thereof. Other names include hokai (Solomon Islands); bwo, puo, or soa (Maluku); halo (Cebu); galuf or kaluf (Micronesia and the Caroline Islands); batua or butaan (Luzon); alu (Bali); hora or ghora (Komodo group of islands); phut (Burmese); and guibang (Manobo). In South Asia, they are known as in Meitei, mwpou in Boro, घोरपड in Marathi, உடும்பு in Tamil and Malayalam, in Bhojpuri, gohi (गोहि) in Maithili, in Sinhala as තලගොයා / කබරගොයා (), in Telugu as uḍumu (ఉడుము), in Kannada as (ಉಡ), in Punjabi and Magahi as गोह (goh), in Assamese as gui xaap, in Odia as ଗୋଧି (godhi), and in Bengali as গোসাপ () or