[Nephrurus]

G'day all,

I posted this on another reptile forum. There are non-geckos in there as well as a few geckos....

Cheers, Henry

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Recently I was "lucky" enough to pay a visit to the Onslow/Paraburdoo region for work.

"YES!" I thought (probably cried aloud) "A chance at a few new species...". It's an area I've not really herped (the pilbara in general) and an area that Jordan (urodacus_au) returns from with whole swags of balltearing photos. I at least hoped for a decent number of ticks. I was realistic... I knew it was summer and I knew that activity might be a bit low. Also, the work we were doing wasn't pitfalling so anything I found would have to be through active herping: difficult when you have other work to do. Still, I was hopeful...

Here is my story.

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Arriving in Paraburdoo airport, the first thing that strikes anyone there is the heat. It was hot.... HOT. Fortunately our rental car had air-conditioning, something that I was going to become well acquainted with over the next few days. The first site was about 200kms from Paraburdoo so we raced out, eager to get some work done (and for me, a little herping). I watched the road as we drove along, hoping for an errant dragon or whipsnake to cross... This was misplaced effort, for as we hit a rock my cheek bumped against the window, the red hot window signalling that anything that hazarded the road would be most likely dead from heat stress, not the cars.

I went to sleep instead.

We arrived at site and got to work. I immediately identified gecko poo around many of the rock faces. I rubbed my hands. A new tick is waiting!
Elsewhere Ctenophorus dragons were racing about between spinifex clumps... My heart jumped until I realised they were Ring-tailed Dragons Ctenophorus caudicinctus, a species I'd seen in SW Qld. Still a nice species, but nothing new... Still there was evidence of herps there and I was camping the night.

The first herp I came across was the mystery gecko species that crapped around all the rock faces. Gehyra punctata is quite a pretty little geckos and astoundingly fast when the air temp is about 35degrees. These hot nights were destined to become a recurring theme.

Unfortunately (very frustratingly) I was only able to manage this shot:



Still, a tick is a tick! So I kept on searching...
Other geckos were out. Lucasium stenodactylum, another species I'd seen in the eastern states were out and about.

This one is emerging from it's daytime retreat, a spider burrow.



There was also bynoes geckos that i didn't bother photographing.

The next morning I set off to work before the moon had disappeared (thats about 5:30am) and as well as a pair of striated grasswrens (a sub-species tick!) I managed to locate some more Ring-tailed Dragons Ctenophorus caudicinctus caudicinctus. Although I'd seen them before, my photos were crap so I tried for some more. I like to think I did ok with this guy! Being 7:30am it was sweltering so not surprising that a fast moving dragon was active.
I tihnk this one is a male...


and this one is also a male...



Both "in-situ" with the 90mm macro. The wouldn't let me close enough to grab them, but just close enough to photograph... fortunately.

We finished up and headed towards Onslow to visit some sandy sites. Not much around there but lighting fast military dragons...

That night I managed to find a few things including the sandplain gecko L. stenodactylum (pictured above) as well as the very cute fat-tailed gecko Diplodactylus conspicillatus.



Also active were knob tail geckos Nephrurus levis occidentalis.



And this rather spectacular Rosen's Snake Suta fasciata.


The Rosen's was a tick for me... I was overjoyed.

i went to bed happy, if not somewhat uncomfortable as it was still hot in my swag...
It didn't cool down either, it was still hot when I woke up the next day.

Here's what it feels like to wake up at 5:30am and it's still 35degrees:



Nasty...


At the caravan park we had star finches come it. They are lovely birds.



One final site at Onslow needed visiting. I saw a monster central netted dragon Ctenophorus nuchalis on the side of the road so we stopped for a look and some photos...




Further inland was the next site... lots of rocks and spinifex. I didn't hold out a
lot of hope for any life, let alone reptiles, as I drank my third litre of water for the day at 10am.

It was here I got my third tick for the trip. Wandering around the site, I noticed several middens of lizard poo on rocks. I crushed it an examined the contents... almost all ants.
Clearly a thorny devil had lost it's mind and was doing huge poos in middens on the tops of rocks.... think harder henry....

It wasn't until I found another midden and peered into the nearby crevices did I see the culprit. I had clearly forgotten that Egernia depressa included alot of ants in their diet, but the midden thing made it clear it was an egernia. I could see the stunning little orange and black blighter wedged in the back of the crevice. I was getting a first hand demonstration as to what those wonderful spiny scales are used for as he puffed himself up and wedged between the two massive pieces of rock. As I sat there in the baking sun trying to dislodge this lizard with bits of grass the futility of my actions dawned on me. Here I was trying to do what thousands of years of evolution was specifically trying to prevent.
I had one last look at the pair of skinks in the crevice and went on my way. Not without a photo though...



Yep... theres a pair of Pygmy Spiny-tail Skinks that live underneath the two uppermost boulders in that picture. TICK!

Military Dragons were racing around the sandy flats near the car and I was desperate to find out which species. There are 3 that were potentials, so I chased after the little dragon in the midday heat. I'd been told by my old lecturer at Uni that Military Dragons depend on a certain density of spinifex so as they can find shade quickly enough to prevent overheating. This lizard, after being chased to a few too many clumps did just that. After it failed to emerged from a clump I separated the clump, thinking I'd find a burrow. Instead I found a near-dead dragon. I immediately started the car and sat him by the air con with his mouth propped open. Within 30seconds he had started breathing and righting himself. Within a minute he was back to normal movements. I decided I could let him go, so n the shade of the car (which had now cooled the sand underneath) I set him up. I was allowed two photos before he disappeared at speed. After all that... it was a regular Military Dragon Ctenophorus isolepis isolepis. A new sub-species, but nothing I hadn't seen before.
After the near-death experience (it's, not mine) with the little dragon I felt terrible. I won't be chasing those little guys again.



Heading back towards Paraburdoo we stopped for lunch by a creek. Long-nosed Dragons [Amphibolurus longirostris[/i] raced around the thickets of paperbark trees. Although much too quick to catch, I think I got a much better photo of quietly stalking this lizard and getting an in-situ shot...




Finally, we did come across a python looking for a spot to camp that evening.
Stimson's Python Antaresia stimsoni stimsoni. It was good to see this sub-species, My only photos (and tick) was of the orientalis sub-species.



So, I kind of finished on a half-tick. For an area like the Pilbara, to visit and see three new species and largely species that range for thousands of kilometers (aside from the gehyra, the egernia and the rosens snake every species I saw could have been seen in western qld) was a disappointing result, considering the reptile diversity in the area. BUT taking into consideration the temperatures not dropping below 30degrees for most of the trip (and being above 40 for at least 40% of the time) I think I did fairly well.

I'm looking forward to heading back up there (who knows when) but I hope to god it's not in summer....

More shots if each species (except the gehyra) are on my pbase site under "recent". No point downloading 10 ring-tailed dragon photos unless you really want to see the species!


All the best,

Henry

[PassPort]

Great shots of the Ctenophorus! I especially like the nuchalis - a species I wish had made it's way into the US hobby back when the rest of the Aussies snuck in.

[Sybet]

Great trip

[Hannibal]

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

[Wanderer]

makes me remember my time(s) in the north of Oz... great photos!

maybe I WILL accept that contract in WA lol