moloch05
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My wife and I have just returned from a two-week holiday to Western Australia. I have visited Perth on a number of occasions over the years for work and also for birding/herping trips. This was my wife’s first visit and I wanted to show her a few of the highlights of the state. Western Australia is an immense place so a quick visit meant spending a fair amount of the time in the car. We drove about 4700 km and traveled as far north as Shark Bay (Monkey Mia) before heading south along the coast to Margaret River and finally the Stirling Ranges.
In most years, the weather in early November is warm and dry. This year, we unfortunately experienced a succession of fronts with cool temperatures, frequent rain and strong winds. These conditions were not ideal for reptiles so the final tally was much lower than I had anticipated. Flowers, however, were abundant and I will include a number of photos of these in this series of posts. The southwest corner of Western Australia is floristically one of the richest in the world with over 13000 species of flowering plants and several endemic plant families. Many of the plants are adapted to specific soil types and have small distributions. In places such as Kalbarri National Park, a number of soil types are found in close proximity and the result is an absolutely staggering diversity of plants. I spent most of my time looking for reptiles but it was impossible not to admire the colourful masses of flowers that were everywhere. Most of the flowering plants were shrubs rather than annuals.
In this first of several reports, I will begin with the herps that we observed near Perth. Angie and I spent the first two and final two days of the trip in this city. While there, we had the pleasure of meeting Jordan (urodacus_au) and Jen (tsidasa), a couple of enthusiastic and knowledgeable herpers that I met on one of the forums. Jordan is participating in a herpetological survey of a wetland and he kindly showed me his study site and some of the reptiles that I was unlikely to ever encounter on my own. I also went night driving with Jordan and Jen in the Darling Range (hills near Perth) and into the sands north of Perth near Lancelin. I am very grateful to Jordan and Jen for their assistance and company during our few days in the city.
Here are a few habitat shots from the Perth area. Grass Trees, Banksia, Eucalyptus and Kangaroo Paws were all numerous.
Heath country north of Perth near Lancelin:
The plants of the area were beautiful but often bizarre. Here are a couple of the odd Petrophile species, members of the Proteaceae family (same family as Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea, …). I have no idea of what is a petal, sepal, stamen or pistol in these flowers.
Dryandra. This genus has now been merged into Banksia. It is or was a WA endemic genus.
Red-and-Green Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthus manglessii). These lovely plants were abundant in the natural bush land of King’s Park in central Perth. They are members of an endemic family.
Black Kangaroo Paw (Macropida fuligosa)
Conostylis sp.. A member of another WA endemic family related to Kangaroo Paws.
I am not certain about this plant but it looks like it would be a relative of the mulla mullas from further north.
Common Scalyfoot (Pygopodus lepidopodus). Jordan showed me this pygopod that would rear and flick its tongue but unfortunately I could never capture this in a photo. We also found a DOR striped phased near Lancelin.
Keeled Legless Lizard (Pletholax gracilis). For me, this tiny pygopod was one of the highlights of the trip. These macro shots do not really give an indication of the size of the animal. It was not much thicker than a stem of grass and it was only about 20cm in length. After the photos, it raced into a grass thicket and then froze where it was almost impossible to detect. Jordan has found these several times at his study site.
Gray's Legless Lizard (Delma grayii). A nicely marked pygopod from Jordan’s study site.
Fraser's Legless Lizard (Delma fraseri). Another pygopod from Jordan’s study site.
Burton's Snake Lizard (Lialis burtonis). These vary greatly in colour and pattern. One that I observed in the sands near Cervantes was nearly white.
Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus). This gravid animal was warming itself on the road near Lancelin.
Speckled Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus polyophthalmus). This one was found in the Jarrah Forest of the Darling Range near Perth.
Soft Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus spinigerus). This was by far the most abundant reptile that I observed on the trip. On one night drive, I saw 7 of these at the same time in my headlights. Driving on some of the roads through sandy heath was a bit like a gecko slalom … I often had to swerve around these. Most, like this animal, were gravid females that were soaking up the warmth from the road.
Western Heath Dragon (Ctenophorus adelaidensis). This species was formerly placed in the genus Rankinia. This little dragon was a nicely marked animal from Jordan’s study site. They are much more colourful but smaller than the Heath Dragons (C. diemensis) from southeastern Australia.
Shingleback or Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa). These animals were abundant in the Perth area. As usual in the spring, I often saw these in pairs as they crossed the road.
Southwestern Cool Skink (Acritoscincus trilineatus). This animal was found at Jordan’s study site. It looks much like its congener, Red-throated Skink (A. platynotum) from the Wollongong area on the east coast of Australia but it lacks the red-throat.
Cryptoblepharus sp. This was a common skink in the Perth area. I saw many of these in King’s Park. They often occurred in small colonies with a number of animals sunning on the same fallen log.
Two-toed Earless Skink (Hemiergis quadrilineata). This was one of three Hemiergis that I saw for the first time. These all were similar in pattern and colour but identification was simple. H. quadralineata has two toes, H. peronii tridactyla has three toes and H. initialis has four toes.
The strange, two-toe configuration is visible in this photo of a juvenile.
adult
West Coast Ctenotus (Ctenotus fallens). This species along with C. australis, was common at Jordan’s study site. This animal was found in the Lancelin area.
Jordan and Jen took me to an area in the Darling Range where they find a number of interesting frogs. We heard the appropriately named Quacking Froglet (Crinia georgiana) as well as Granite Froglets (Crinia pseudinsignifera) but could not locate the animals in the reeds. We did see large numbers of Motorbike Frogs (Litoria moorei) and several of these Slender Tree Frogs (Litoria adelaidensis).
This is the view of Perth from King's Park. King's Park is a great place. It is amazing to see a big patch of natural bushland just a little beyond the centre of the city.
Regards,
David
In most years, the weather in early November is warm and dry. This year, we unfortunately experienced a succession of fronts with cool temperatures, frequent rain and strong winds. These conditions were not ideal for reptiles so the final tally was much lower than I had anticipated. Flowers, however, were abundant and I will include a number of photos of these in this series of posts. The southwest corner of Western Australia is floristically one of the richest in the world with over 13000 species of flowering plants and several endemic plant families. Many of the plants are adapted to specific soil types and have small distributions. In places such as Kalbarri National Park, a number of soil types are found in close proximity and the result is an absolutely staggering diversity of plants. I spent most of my time looking for reptiles but it was impossible not to admire the colourful masses of flowers that were everywhere. Most of the flowering plants were shrubs rather than annuals.
In this first of several reports, I will begin with the herps that we observed near Perth. Angie and I spent the first two and final two days of the trip in this city. While there, we had the pleasure of meeting Jordan (urodacus_au) and Jen (tsidasa), a couple of enthusiastic and knowledgeable herpers that I met on one of the forums. Jordan is participating in a herpetological survey of a wetland and he kindly showed me his study site and some of the reptiles that I was unlikely to ever encounter on my own. I also went night driving with Jordan and Jen in the Darling Range (hills near Perth) and into the sands north of Perth near Lancelin. I am very grateful to Jordan and Jen for their assistance and company during our few days in the city.
Here are a few habitat shots from the Perth area. Grass Trees, Banksia, Eucalyptus and Kangaroo Paws were all numerous.
Heath country north of Perth near Lancelin:
The plants of the area were beautiful but often bizarre. Here are a couple of the odd Petrophile species, members of the Proteaceae family (same family as Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea, …). I have no idea of what is a petal, sepal, stamen or pistol in these flowers.
Dryandra. This genus has now been merged into Banksia. It is or was a WA endemic genus.
Red-and-Green Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthus manglessii). These lovely plants were abundant in the natural bush land of King’s Park in central Perth. They are members of an endemic family.
Black Kangaroo Paw (Macropida fuligosa)
Conostylis sp.. A member of another WA endemic family related to Kangaroo Paws.
I am not certain about this plant but it looks like it would be a relative of the mulla mullas from further north.
Common Scalyfoot (Pygopodus lepidopodus). Jordan showed me this pygopod that would rear and flick its tongue but unfortunately I could never capture this in a photo. We also found a DOR striped phased near Lancelin.
Keeled Legless Lizard (Pletholax gracilis). For me, this tiny pygopod was one of the highlights of the trip. These macro shots do not really give an indication of the size of the animal. It was not much thicker than a stem of grass and it was only about 20cm in length. After the photos, it raced into a grass thicket and then froze where it was almost impossible to detect. Jordan has found these several times at his study site.
Gray's Legless Lizard (Delma grayii). A nicely marked pygopod from Jordan’s study site.
Fraser's Legless Lizard (Delma fraseri). Another pygopod from Jordan’s study site.
Burton's Snake Lizard (Lialis burtonis). These vary greatly in colour and pattern. One that I observed in the sands near Cervantes was nearly white.
Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus). This gravid animal was warming itself on the road near Lancelin.
Speckled Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus polyophthalmus). This one was found in the Jarrah Forest of the Darling Range near Perth.
Soft Spiny-tailed Gecko (Strophurus spinigerus). This was by far the most abundant reptile that I observed on the trip. On one night drive, I saw 7 of these at the same time in my headlights. Driving on some of the roads through sandy heath was a bit like a gecko slalom … I often had to swerve around these. Most, like this animal, were gravid females that were soaking up the warmth from the road.
Western Heath Dragon (Ctenophorus adelaidensis). This species was formerly placed in the genus Rankinia. This little dragon was a nicely marked animal from Jordan’s study site. They are much more colourful but smaller than the Heath Dragons (C. diemensis) from southeastern Australia.
Shingleback or Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa). These animals were abundant in the Perth area. As usual in the spring, I often saw these in pairs as they crossed the road.
Southwestern Cool Skink (Acritoscincus trilineatus). This animal was found at Jordan’s study site. It looks much like its congener, Red-throated Skink (A. platynotum) from the Wollongong area on the east coast of Australia but it lacks the red-throat.
Cryptoblepharus sp. This was a common skink in the Perth area. I saw many of these in King’s Park. They often occurred in small colonies with a number of animals sunning on the same fallen log.
Two-toed Earless Skink (Hemiergis quadrilineata). This was one of three Hemiergis that I saw for the first time. These all were similar in pattern and colour but identification was simple. H. quadralineata has two toes, H. peronii tridactyla has three toes and H. initialis has four toes.
The strange, two-toe configuration is visible in this photo of a juvenile.
adult
West Coast Ctenotus (Ctenotus fallens). This species along with C. australis, was common at Jordan’s study site. This animal was found in the Lancelin area.
Jordan and Jen took me to an area in the Darling Range where they find a number of interesting frogs. We heard the appropriately named Quacking Froglet (Crinia georgiana) as well as Granite Froglets (Crinia pseudinsignifera) but could not locate the animals in the reeds. We did see large numbers of Motorbike Frogs (Litoria moorei) and several of these Slender Tree Frogs (Litoria adelaidensis).
This is the view of Perth from King's Park. King's Park is a great place. It is amazing to see a big patch of natural bushland just a little beyond the centre of the city.
Regards,
David
