[mod.L., said to have been coined by Lamarck, perh. f. TUPI.] A genus of South American lizards.
Misapplied by Geoffrey to the Egyptian Monitor (Varanus Niloticus), whence app. Lytton’s use, quot. 1863.
1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 332/1. Cuvier divides them [the Monitors] into two groups, and Fitzinger into three, under the names of Tupinambis, Varanus, and Psammosaurus.
1863. Ld. Lytton, Ring Amasis, II. II. i. The museum … presented a very respectable arrangement of gems, scarabaei, sphinxes, stuffed crocodiles, and tupinambes.
