[citation needed] Adult Dumeril's monitors are largely dark brown, with occasional brighter indistinct crossbars.

Two subspecies have been historically described: In 1892, the species V. heteropholis was named by Boulenger on the basis of a taxidermied and possibly tanned specimen owned by Charles Hose, collected from Borneo's Mt.

[9] In 1993, Sprackland classified V. d. heteropholis as a synonym of V. d. dumerilii, after examining specimens including the holotypes of both putative subspecies.

[9] Dumeril's monitor is found in southern Burma and north of the Isthmus of Kra to Kanchanaburi Province in Thailand,[12] as well as in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, throughout Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Bangka–Belitung and other smaller islands of Indonesia.

[5] The preferred natural habitat of V. dumerilii is dense evergreen forests with high humidity [13] and mangrove swamps,[14] at altitudes from sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft).

[2] V. dumerilii is a crab specialist;[12][15] however, it has been observed eating snails, other molluscs, insects, fish, frogs, turtle eggs, birds, and smaller rodents.