Largest terrestrial lizard ever

Largest terrestrial lizard ever
Who
giant monitor lizard Megalania prisca
What
7 metre(s)
Where
Australia
When
14 December 2014
The largest terrestrial species of lizard known to have existed on Earth is the aptly named giant monitor lizard Megalania prisca, a gigantic species of varanid native to southern Australia during the Pleistocene epoch, vanishing 40,000–30,000 years ago. Since the formal documentation more than 150 years ago of its first discovered fossilised remains, there have been several different estimates of its likely total length (no complete skeleton has so far been uncovered). The most recent authoritative estimates are those of Australian fossil reptile specialist Dr Ralph Molnar, who offered two alternatives in 2004. If it was a slender, lighter form, with much of its length being taken up by a long thin tail, Molnar estimated a total length for it of 7.9 m. If, however, it was of much heavier build and with a proportionately shorter tail (i.e. like the Komodo dragon), he estimated a total length of 7 m for it. If the heavier, shorter-tailed form were correct for this species, Molnar then estimated for it a maximum weight of 1,940 kg, but with a leaner 320 kg being average.