[7] A description of the species was presented to the Royal Society of Victoria in 1895 by Arthur H. S. Lucas and Charles Frost.

[3] The colouration of this monitor lizard on the upper side is light to dark reddish-brown with numerous, irregularly distributed, black or deep-brown spots.

[3] Stomach contents indicate the diet by volume of the rusty desert monitor consists mainly of other lizards (76%), especially Ctenotus.

[10] The remainder of animals eaten by this monitor include large grasshoppers and occasional scorpions, centipedes, cockroaches and caterpillars.

[11][12] As a result of a diet of primarily lizard prey, which are hosts for physalopteran nematodes, this species in the wild has a higher prevalence and intensity of larval cysts in the stomach tissue and body cavity than any other species of monitor lizard.