Hey, finally a field forum on the site. These are some photos from a fairly recent herp trip around western Queensland. The habitat is mostly semi-arid. We spent 6 days on this trip, travelling 6500km, leaving from and returning to Sydney. A total of 55 herp species were found.
The first herp seen on this trip was this juvenile western brown snake Pseudonaja nuchalis.
The Curl Snake (Suta suta)
And of course, there are many many species of gecko out there. Below is a Box-patterned Gecko (Diplodactylus steindachneri)
A Beaked Gecko (Rhynchoedura ornata)
A Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus ciliaris)
An Eastern Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus williamsi)
and a Robust Dtella (Gehyra robusta)
Varanids are also a very common site out there. Below is a Yellow-spoted Monitor (Varanus panoptes) after foraging through the mud.
A Sand Monitor (Varanus gouldii).
And a Ridge-tailed Monitor (Varanus acanthurus).
Just a few of the Agamids we came across.
Below is one you would all be familiar with. This is a juvenile Central Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps).
A Burns' Dragon (Amphibolurus burnsi)
A Pebble Dragon (Tympanocryptis cephalus), so named by its ability to camoulflage amongst the gibber pebbles.
A Black-soil Plains Bearded Dragon (or whatever common name you know it by) (Pogona henrylawsoni).
Skinks were the most diverse family found on the trip. Here a few photo of the larger species. Below is a shot of an adult and a juvneile Shingleback Skink (Tiliqua rugosa).
A fairly ordinary looking Centralian Blue-tongued Skink (Tiliqua multifasciata).
A Yakka Skink (Egernia rugosa).
And a Panther Ctenotus (Ctenotus pantherinus)
A small species of legless lizard (Delma nasuta) who didn't want to sit still for a photo.
Below are a few varied habitat shots on the trip.
And lastly for the snake lover, a red-phase Common Death Adder who greeted us on the road back into Sydney.
Cheers,
Michael
