Olive Legless-lizard at Monash, ACT
Identification history
| Delma inornata | 4 Nov 2023 | WillO | ||
| Delma inornata | 27 Oct 2023 | AndyRoo |
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User's notes
GPSed. Shed skin - estimate length of skin to be at least 215mm based on measured dimensions of clutch pencil (length 88mm, max diameter 8mm) in first picture. For best resolution on head scales zoom in on 3rd pic. Didn't get a pic of preanal scales. Estimate 18 rows of mid body scales. My colleague Marg Ning, an ACT Herpetological Association member, sighted three live D. inornata, each at distinctly different locations on the site, during same site visit. Also an urban ecologist with the ACT Govt EPSDD, in a private communication to Marg, has indicated presence of D. inornata found at this site in their recent surveys.
3 comments
WillO
wrote:
4 Nov 2023
Thanks for the record. The two specie are usually not present at the same site, but there are enough records from sites where both occur very close to each other that care needs to be taken in using other reports of D. inornata from the site as being support for calling it D. inornata. It can be difficult identifying to species from a photograph of a skin slough but the photos are good. The total length estimate in this case doesn't help to separate D. impar and D. inornata because D. impar can grow to about 300mm and D. inornata to over 400mm. I cannot see the head shields clearly enough to check if postnasal scales are present (present in D. inornata but absent in D. impar). However the number of mid body scale rows (18) would confirm it as D. inornata (13-16 in D. impar). Based only on the fact it is a Delma and has 18 mb scale rows I suggest (given the site is in the ACT) we accept the record as Delma inornata.
AndyRoo
wrote:
4 Nov 2023
Thanks Will. Agree photos of the live animal would have been best but with the warmth at the time of day of our site visit they would have been way too quick off the mark to photograph. As far as we are aware CUBS haven't found any D . impar at this site to date.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.080967-35.420743
- Altitude 596.1m
- Maps Monash Grassland Isabella Pond Tuggeranong Creek to Monash Grassland
- Places Monash, ACT
Sighting information
- 3 Abundance
- 13 Oct 2023 11:13 AM Recorded on
- AndyRoo Recorded by
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Collections
Reptiles and Frogs Legless Lizards AndyRoo
Additional information
- Unknown Gender
- Alive / healthy Animal health
Species information
- Delma inornata Scientific name
- Olive Legless-lizard Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 656.7m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
