Eastern Spiny Tailed Gecko

[Mark Newton]

Strophurus williamsi
Found this fella amongst rotting mallee roots on my last trip to the SA mallee.

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[RedEyeGirl]

Wow he is a lovely specimin Congrats

 

[Rocket]

Quite a nice female Mark. Do you do frequent trips out to the SA mallee and scrub?

 

[Mark Newton]

Quite a nice female Mark. Do you do frequent trips out to the SA mallee and scrub?

Very good.....How do you know its female? Yes..quite frequent, its my main scorpion research region.

 

[Renagade]

great eyball shot.

 

[Rocket]

Just from the side body shot, it appears to have only a slight enlargement in the hemipenal area. Thats just what I used but the males in the species can apparently shrink in the bulge area in the cooler months.

Do you see many gecko or pygopodid species when you go out?

 

[Bax155]

Just looking at my copy of Stephen Swansons Field Guide to Australian Reptile's and quote me if Im wrong as im no expert but wouldnt it be a intermedius not a williamsi as williamsi region only just enter's SA and intermedius nearly covers the whole state???? i could be wrong as I know Mallee is close to the Vic border, just thought this would be a good question!!!

 

[Mark Newton]

Just looking at my copy of Stephen Swansons Field Guide to Australian Reptile's and quote me if Im wrong as im no expert but wouldnt it be a intermedius not a williamsi as williamsi region only just enter's SA and intermedius nearly covers the whole state???? i could be wrong as I know Mallee is close to the Vic border, just thought this would be a good question!!!

As far as I know both species occur in the region. This one has 4 rows of spines across the tail which is why I considered it williamsi.

 

[Mark Newton]

Just from the side body shot, it appears to have only a slight enlargement in the hemipenal area. Thats just what I used but the males in the species can apparently shrink in the bulge area in the cooler months.

Do you see many gecko or pygopodid species when you go out?

Very few legless, I have seen Burtons and a couple of others, possibly Pygopus, but didnt manage to catch them for photographs. Geckos include The beaded gecko (very common), the jeweled gecko (rare), tree dtella (relatively common) and the spiny tail.....hmmm, seem to recall there might have been one more, but remember exactly. All these occur syntopically.

 

[Mark Newton]

A couple of elderi images from the same region.

 

[Rocket]

Stunning photos Mark. The S.elderi must have been a treat to find. How often do you go out there for your Scorpion research?

 

[sockbat]

That eye is just trippi. Great shot

 

[Mark Newton]

Stunning photos Mark. The S.elderi must have been a treat to find. How often do you go out there for your Scorpion research?

I'd say 6-8 times in the warmer months and a couple of times or more over the cooler months, its a very species diverse region with 8 or 9 species of scorpion occuring syntopically.