The Pilbara rock monitor (Varanus pilbarensis) is a small member of the family Varanidae endemic to the Chichester Range in North West Australia.

The characteristics of this species, which originally included several specimens to the south of the Fortescue River, were redefined to distinguish it from those in the Hamersley Range.

An arrangement of spiny and comb-like scales near the tail base distinguishes this species from its near relations, as does the high position of the nostrils on the snout.

A similar species Varanus kingorum occurs to the north, in the Kimberley region, in a non-overlapping distribution range.

Like other rock dwelling varanids in the Pilbara region, one of around ten species in the herpetological "hotspot", the population has become geographically isolated and diverged as a distinguishable genetic lineage.