Colour change in individual Egernia cunninghami

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Gundeman

Not so new Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
I'm just wondering if any keepers/biologists have observed seasonal colour change in individual Egernia cunninghami? I have a resident adult male "Scaleyback" (Northwest slopes form) Egernia cunninghami that I've been observing for the last four years and it definitely changes colour from rich dark brown to a much paler brown during the course of the year, sometimes over a matter of days. Has anyone else seen this in this species?
 
Hi Alex, I've observed this in various populations of Egernia spp. in the Central Tablelands of NSW.
Interestingly, as recently as last week, the larger "western" form of Egernia cunninghami were already becoming paler (as this form tends to do in summer), with the warm spell that the region had been experiencing lately. As you probably heard, last Friday the Blue Mountains/Central Tablelands (and beyond) experienced a freakish cold snap with rarely seen dumps of snow. I explored some of the snow covered areas to see what effects the change had on flora and fauna. Yesterday was still cool (as was the weekend) and I noticed that the Egernia spp.* seemed to be a shade darker. I wasn't sure if this was due to the animals being damp from the associated precipitation, so I checked again after they'd been basking (and therefore they'd dried out) and they still appeared to be a bit darker. I was surprised that such a relatively rapid change in tone can occur in response to such a severe weather event; especially in a group of lizards not known for colour change.

* i.e Egernia cunninghami and E. saxatilis intermedia.
 
Last edited:
Bit of an interesting topic here. Quite possibly a seasonal change to increase and decrease the rate of heat absorption and retention? It would make sense given Bushman has observed a darker colour during a cold snap versus a more pale colouration through the warmer months.
 
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one to notice this- the Cunninghams up here are closer to the "western form" and at the moment my "study animal" is as pale as I have ever seen him. I'll post some photos shortly.

- - - Updated - - -

Here are a couple of images of the same lizard showing variation. Ericdark_4761.jpgEriclight_5473.jpg
 
Very well illustrated Alex. That's quite a noticeable difference.
What I've observed is more subtle. Are you going to write something up about this phenomenon, as I've never read anything written about it before. In fact, I thought I was going to be the first but you've beaten me to it. :)

Bit of an interesting topic here. Quite possibly a seasonal change to increase and decrease the rate of heat absorption and retention? It would make sense given Bushman has observed a darker colour during a cold snap versus a more pale colouration through the warmer months.
I agree Blake. This is most likely a physiological response to seasonal and even extreme weather changes it seems.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top