In 1988, the tree monitors that now form the subgenus
Hapturosaurus were instead placed within
Euprepriosaurus alongside the mangrove monitors. Nevertheless, there was a distinction between mangrove and tree monitors that was clear even then, so
Euprepriosaurus was commonly considered to consist of two
species complexes, i.e., the
V. indicus complex and the
V. prasinus complex. In 2016, Yannick Bucklitsch, Wolfgang Böhme, and André Koch found the two species complexes sufficiently morphologically, ecologically, and biologically distinct, and so all species within the
V. prasinus complex were moved under a newly erected subgenus, i.e.,
Hapturosaurus.
Euprepriosaurus and
Hapturosaurus diverged from each other during the late
Miocene.
Species complexes Euprepiosaurus consists of three species complexes: •
V. indicus species complex (
V. indicus,
V. cerambonensis,
V. caerulivirens,
V. colei,
V. obor,
V. lirugensis,
V. rainerguentheri,
V. zugorum) •
V. doreanus species complex (
V. doreanus,
V. finschi,
V. semotus,
V. yuwonoi) •
V. jobiensis species complex (
V. jobiensis) == Species ==