North Borneo (Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak) is the richest area in the world for dipterocarp species.
This species has been found in areas dominated by trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae in the rain forests of the Philippines.
The Gray's monitor (Varanus olivaceus) is a large (180 cm, >9 kg) monitor lizard known only from lowland dipterocarp forest in southern Luzon, Catanduanes, and Polillo Island, all islands in the Philippines.
There have been very few field sightings of the species, and these have been mainly from lower montane forest and mature mixed dipterocarp forest.
The species is named after W. Burck, (1848–1910), a botanist that worked on the Dipterocarpaceae and the Sapotaceae.
In the US timber trade, it is often applied to wood of the genus Shorea in the dipterocarp family Dipterocarpaceae; however, it is not a mahogany.
Recent DNA studies indicate that the Sarcolaenaceae are a sibling taxon to the family Dipterocarpaceae of Africa, South America, India, Southeast Asia and Malesia.