The savanna monitor is a species of monitor lizard

Monitor lizard

Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...

 native to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. The species is known as Bosc's monitor in Europe, since French scientist Louis Bosc

Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc

Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc was a French botanist, invertebrate zoologist, and entomologist.-Biography:...

 first described the species. It belongs to the subgenus

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 Polydaedalus, along with the Nile

Nile monitor

The Nile Monitor, Water Leguaan, or River Leguaan is a large member of the monitor lizard family ....

, the ornate

Ornate Monitor

The Ornate Monitor is a species of Monitor lizard, native to West Africa. They live in lowland rainforests. It belongs to the subgenus Polydaedalus along with the Nile Monitor, the Savannah Monitor, and other monitors.-Description:...

 and other monitors.
The generic

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 name Varanus is derived from the Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

  , which translates as "monitor" in English. The specific

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 name exanthematicus is derived from two Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 words: exanthema meaning "eruption" and mata meaning "idle".