Lizards of the Mount Lofty Ranges

The Tawny Dragon is easily spotted along trails in rocky areas of Adelaide Hills given its habit of perching conspicuously to bask or chase away other intruding dragons!  In spring the males develop wonderful bright blue breeding colours on their throats and lips. 

C.decresii is the most cold-tolerant memeber of the genus - all the others are found in warmer, drier habitats, such as semi-arid mallee.  You can see some other species in the Reptiles of the Eyre Peninsula section of the site.

Very young juvenile, Morialta CP, Adelaide Hills

Female, South Para River, Adelaide Hills

White's Skink is a common species in south-eastern Australia.  The Mount Lofty Ranges population is disjunct, along with isolated populations on Kangaroo Island, and smaller islands of the Eyre Peninsula.  Oddly, there is also a very isolated population in Mutawintji NP in far north-western NSW (along with an endangered population of C. decresii). 

White's Skink was recently transferred from Egernia to the resurrected genus Lipholis.  As with other Egernia / Liopholis skinks, pattern and colouration can vary, even within local populations, as the photos below illustrate.

L. whitii cautiously looking out from burrow, Black Hill CP

This species is the most cold-tolerant Ctenotus - most of the hundred or so species are arid desert-dwellers or species of the monsoonal eucalypt woodlands of the tropical north. 

C. robustus is the only Ctenotus found in the Adelaide Hills.


Morialta CP

A fellow walker pointed this one out to me in Morialta CP in the Adelaide Hills.  It allowed a very close approach, perhaps hoping I'd be too terrified by its threat display to come any closer!

Like other geckos, they can change the tone of their colouraton to adapt to different light levels.  The tiny juvenile was discovered under a garden rock and changed from very dark grey to pale grey in around 20 minutes once exposed to the light.

Juvenile, showing dark colouration

Adult, hunting at night on the wall of my house

Tiny baby discovered at night - note the translucent head and body

On the Adelaide Plains and along the sandy coast H. decresiensis is replaced by the equally common H. peronii (see below). 

There are four subspecies of H. decresiensis; only continentis occurs in mainland SA, and ssp. decresiensis is endemic to Kangaroo Island.




tail detail, Black Hill CP

Shingleback feeding on Grevillea lavandulacea flowers, Sandy Creek CP

Sandy Creek CP, Adelaide Hills

These specimens were all photographed at one of my favourite haunts, the South Para River, just north of Para Wirra RP in the Adelaide Hills. 

The Mount Lofty Ranges respresent the western limit of this species' distribution (although it does extend slightly onto the Eyre Peninsula), where they favour dry rocky habitats - you can see photos of the species from the Flinders Ranges here.  The Tree Skink is a common species in much of eastern Australia.

Juvenile E. striolata exploring its territory

The Barking Gecko is common across southern continental Australia, and does live up to its common name, although this individual had taken a vow of silence! 

Mark Hutchinson uncovered it for me under a rock slab in Onkaparinga River NP.

This population in the Torrens Gorge lives in a idyllic spot, with little cascades, beautiful rock boulders and towering hillsides.  I loved going to see them, although it was always a shame to see their home 'decorated' with new pieces of graffiti from local vandals.  As implied by their common name, the lizards are happy in water, and will jump in to swim away from threats.

I uncovered it under a rock in Warren Conservation Park in the Adelaide Hills, where presumably these lizards are common, but their fossorial lifestyle means they are rarely seen.   It's a poor photo, but illustrates well the temperament of these feisty little skinks.  So far, this is the only reptile I have ever been bitten by! 

There are many Lerista species, all with the same basic body layout, but with differing numbers of toes, fingers and head scales.  Most Leristas are lizards of warmer parts of Australia, and this is the only member of the genus that can live as far south as Tasmania.

I uncovered this one under a stone, and after checking it wasn't a baby Brown Snake (longitudinal lines instantly prove this), I grabbed it before it dashed off down an ant tunnel.

Thanks to Mark Hutchinson for the identification.

Acritoscincus is a very small genus, with only three species - this one, which is widespread in southern SA, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania, A. platynotum, which found on the east coast of Australia, and A. trilineatus, which has the most restricted range of the three, in south-western WA, with a small disjunct population on the Eyre Peninsula. 

Thanks to Mark Hutchinson for the identification.

The Burra lizards were filmed for an episode of BBC TV's 'Life in Cold Blood' with David Attenborough.  These lizards were once much more widespread, as the Latin name suggests.  Sadly they have been extinct in the Adelaide area for a long time.  Indeed, the species was thought to be totally extinct until 1992, when a population was rediscovered near Burra.

Legless lizards can usually be quickly distinguished visually, however, by their short bodies and long, thinner tails (snakes have long bodies and short tails).  On closer inspection, features such as external ear openings, a rounder lizard-like head, different belly scalation, and a non-forked tongue will make a legless lizard obvious, but to a beginner like me it took a bit of courage to make a grab for a small fleeing brown 'snake / lizard' without being certain of what you would get!

On account of its limited distribution in a fairly intensively-farmed region it is classed as a Vulnerable species, and is on the IUCN Red List.

There are two subspecies of H. peronii, with tridactyla being found only on the south-west coast of WA.  The more common ssp. peroniii can be found along the southern coast of WA all the way to far south-western Victoria, although it is absent from the Nullarbor Plain.

I found the one in the first photo under a discarded sheet of tin in Innes National Park.

In areas south-east of Adelaide where this lizard was photographed, the only other species are M. adelaidensis and M. boulengeri, which are both more distinctively marked, but to be certain, close examination of the supraciliary scales is necessary.