Id Required: Brown Snake with Legs ?

[keithj]

Hiya,

Just came across a lizard about 25cm long that looked like & moved like a brown snake in Upper Blue Mountains, NSW.

All brown with no pattern, and scales v. similar to a brown snake. It was slightly lighter than the local brown snakes. No distinct tail - the body merged into the tail to make it look like a snake. No distinct head - it too merged into body like a snake.

We were less than 1m away, it flicked it's tongue for 20s secs and raised it's head slightly, tucked in it's legs & slithered away into undergrowth. The behavior/movement was similar to a snake.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera handy . It's a scorcher up here - sunny and probably low 30's. We were in dry eucalypt forest.

Any ideas on what it is ?

Thanks Keith

 

[salebrosus]

http://kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/skinks/skinks.htm

http://kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/legless/legless.htm

 

[saratoga]

Possibly a Scaly Foot

"It was slightly lighter than the local brown snakes"....interesting........the local snakes then must be Masters or White lipped snakes

 

[keithj]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

This looks most like it regarding colouration.... and we are just across the valley from Mt Tomah.

It definitely had legs it used to turn itself around, before tucking them in and moving away in an 'S' movement - so a Scaly Foot is unlikely ?

And this most resembles the general body shape.

So Northern She-oak Skink (Cyclodomorphus michaeli) seems likely ?

And I've always assumed the local snakes are Eastern Browns.

 

[moosenoose]

Hiya,

Just came across a lizard about 25cm long that looked like & moved like a brown snake in Upper Blue Mountains, NSW.

I dare say Keith, it's a brown snake that has mated with a lizard! :shock:

 

[redbellybite]

I dare say Keith, it's a brown snake that has mated with a lizard! :shock:

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

[keithj]

I dare say Keith, it's a brown snake that has mated with a lizard! :shock:

:lol:Yeah... that was my son's first thought... but he's only 8.

 

[natrix]

:lol:Yeah... that was my son's first thought... but he's only 8.

 

[saratoga]

Well if it definatwly had legs then that rules out the Scalyfoot and the photos you supplied look nothing whatsoever like a brown snake to me.........if it looks like a She Oak Skink.....like the photos...then it most probably is.

 

[JasonL]

If you noticed limbs, I'd say it was a She-Oak.