Varanus telenesetes, the mysterious tree monitor, is an enigmatic monitor lizard that may actually represent a colour faded specimen of the green tree monitor. The species was described based on a single specimen supposedly collected on Rossel Island in the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. However, later searches of this island have failed to turn up any specimens and native islanders deny ever seeing it. It is now believed that the original collection data was in error and that the species occurs on some other, currently unknown, island east of New Guinea.

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