Sydney to Cairns Frogging Trip

[froggyboy86]

Hi all,

Just got back from a rather long drive from Sydney to Cairns looking for rainforest frogs of the wet tropics. Also saw lots of other herps, mammals and birds along the way.

Frogs recorded:

Austrochaperina fryi
Austrochaperina pluvialis
Bufo marinus
Cophixalus infacetus
Cophixalus ornatus
Crinia signifera
Crinia parinsignifera
Crinia tinnula
Hylarana daemeli
Limnodynastes peroni
Limnodynastes terraereginae
Litoria bicolor
Litoria caerulea
Litoria chloris
Litoria cooloolensis
Litoria fallax
Litoria freycineti
Litoria genimaculata (serrata)
Litoria gracilenta
Litoria inermis
Litoria infrafrenata
Litoria jungguy
Litoria myola
Litoria nannotis
Litoria nasuta
Litoria olongburensis
Litoria peroni
Litoria pearsoniana
Litoria rheocola
Litoria rothi
Litoria tyleri
Litoria wilcoxi
Litoria xanthomera
Mixophyes coggeri
Mixophyes fasciolatus
Mixophyes schevilli
Nyctimystes dayi
Opisthodon ornatus
Taudactylus liemi

Now some frog pics to start off...

Wallum Sedge Frog (Litoria olongburensis)

Waterfall Frog (Litoria nannotis)

Australian Wood Frog (Hylarana daemeli)

Orange-thighed Frog (Litoria xanthomera)

Northern Barred Frog (Mixophyes schevilli)

I'll post some herp photos once they are all on photobucket. I have a few skinks I haven't been able to ID.

Aaron

 

[froggyboy86]

Now the herps...

I didn't take many reptile photos as they were either DOR, annoying or too fast.

Herp List:

Skink spp.
Gecko spp.
Pogona barbata
Physignathus lesueuri
+ other agamids
Boiga irregularis
Dendrelaphis punctulata (very common)
Caretta caretta
Elseya latisternum
Chelodina longicollis
Antaresia spp. (probably stimsoni?)
Tropidonophis mairii
Pseudechis porphyriacus
Morelia amethistina
Liasis fuscus
etc etc.

I am not certain of the identity of this skink from Eungella NP west of Mackay

Or this skink from the Paluma Range north of Townsville

This one reminded me of Saproscincus spp. from NE NSW. It was commonly found in vegetation at night on the Atherton Tableland

Another Atherton skink, but much larger and nicely marked.

And quite aggressive too...

This gecko I found west of Townsville in the Hervey Range, not sure of the ID. Is it an Asian House Gecko?

Saw this large python at one of the frog spots north of Townsville, really beautiful snake. I am pretty sure its a Water Python (Liasis fuscus)

Walking in the rainforest in Atherton I spotted this large python in the root buttress of a tree...

And closer inspection lead me to think it was a Amythyst Python (Morelia amethistina)

Lots of loggerhead turtle nests were hatching as we drove back towards Sydney

And Saw Shells (Elseya latisternum) were common in creeks and pools of the far north.

Aaron

 

[lizardsNturtles]

arent they all little cuties

 

[W.T.BUY]

This gecko I found west of Townsville in the Hervey Range, not sure of the ID. Is it an Asian House Gecko?

Nah thats a Dtellas either a dubious or a variegata

 

[W.T.BUY]

GREAT PICS btw

 

[channi]

Wow sounds like a dream trip for a lot of us. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[ryanharvey1993]

wow that is queit a list, nice pics by the way, how about a few more

 

[froggyboy86]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm thinking the Eungella skink is Eulamprus amplus but will wait for someone more knowledgeable to confirm. Don't have much in the way of reptile photos, most snakes I was busy hauling off the highway before the next cars would kill them.

Everyone loves Water Dragons...

Rather optimistic gecko

Cryptoblepharus spp. from Fraser Island

Some more frogs...

A very focussed Roth's Tree Frog (Litoria rothi)

Australian Lace-lid (Nyctimystes dayi) living life on the edge

Australia's largest tree frog the White-lipped Tree Frog (Litoria infrafrenata)

Aaron

 

[LauraM]

WoW awesome pics yeh that would be a DREAM trip for me.

 

[krusty]

cool pics mate,love the one of the scrubby that is the one python i would love to see in the wild.

 

[JasonL]

Your mystery skink looks like Eulamprus amplus to me. Sounds like a great trip.

 

[smacdonald]

Hi Aaron,

Wow! What a haul! How long were you away for?

Here are my thoughts, bearing in mind it can be hard to ID animals from photos.

Your Eungella skink is Eulamprus amplus. Was it on rocks next to a creek?

Your Paluma Range skink looks like Carlia rostralis.

Your Saproscincus sp. could be S. basiliscus. I found lots of them in that position when I was up in the Tablelands late last year.

Your "much larger and nicely marked" skink looks like Eulamprus tigrinus.

Your water python is a water python. Your amythyst python is indeed a scrub python.

Your "Rather optimistic gecko" is cute! And is probably an Asian house gecko.

Your "Cryptoblepharus spp. from Fraser Island" is upside down! And should be C. pulcher pulcher.

I think your Nyctimystes dayi is just a very surprised Litoria rubella.

Again, a very impressive series of finds.


Stewart

 

[JasonL]

I'd agree with you Stewart, but I'd say the N. dayi is def a N. dayi, eyes far to big and overall too lean for rubella.

 

[froggyboy86]

Thanks for that Stewart. I'm always happy for people to question my ID's but I'm confident it is Nyctimystes dayi in that photo. Your reptile ID's are much appreciated, I can generally get them down to a genus level at least but beyond that I am lost! Yes the Eulamprus amplus was resting on a boulder at night near the creek.

I was away for three weeks but only spent one week in the wet tropics proper. Problem with travelling long distances is you invariably have to stop and visit friends and keep up appearances.

I saw a really small skink near Mareeba on the Tablelands, similar I guess to Morethia spp. but it had a bright red tail I tried getting a photo but they were very fast and darted into crevices.

Cheers

Aaron

 

[smacdonald]

Err, my N. dayi-L. rubella comment was a joke. I was making fun of his massive eyes. I'm cruel, I know.

Stewart

 

[BenReyn]

Love your scrub pics
Thanks for posting them all.

 

[JasonL]

Err, my N. dayi-L. rubella comment was a joke. I was making fun of his massive eyes. I'm cruel, I know.

Stewart

I was hoping you were joking..I couldn't see how you could mistake the two

 

[MrsDragonLady]

Congratulations on what appears to have been a successful Field Trip with awesome photos. I am sure others who were not members when you posted this thread will enjoy viewing it now too.
I found this thread when I Googled to ID the little frog I photograhed (below).
I thought it was the Wallum Sedge Frog but it doesn't have the same colours as yours and ones I found on Google.
Still haven't identified him/her and was hoping you or someone else could help me

 

[moloch05]

Fantastic shots, Aaron. You certainly found lots and take the best amphibian photos that I have seen. I always have trouble with glare. Do you use a filter on the lens or a flash diffuser?

Regards,
David

 

[Waterrat]

Hi Aaron,

Wow! What a haul! How long were you away for?

Here are my thoughts, bearing in mind it can be hard to ID animals from photos.

Your Eungella skink is Eulamprus amplus. Was it on rocks next to a creek?

Your Paluma Range skink looks like Carlia rostralis.

Your Saproscincus sp. could be S. basiliscus. I found lots of them in that position when I was up in the Tablelands late last year.

Your "much larger and nicely marked" skink looks like Eulamprus tigrinus.

Your water python is a water python. Your amythyst python is indeed a scrub python.

Your "Rather optimistic gecko" is cute! And is probably an Asian house gecko.

Your "Cryptoblepharus spp. from Fraser Island" is upside down! And should be C. pulcher pulcher.

I think your Nyctimystes dayi is just a very surprised Litoria rubella. It's positively N. dayi.

Again, a very impressive series of finds.


Stewart

just a correction.