Alecia and I drove down to New South Wales last night to have a bit of a poke around. Unfortunately, we found a lot of dead snakes, and only three live ones.
Critters found dead or dying on the road:
- Eastern small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens)
- Rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus)
- Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) x 2
- Common scaly-foot (Pygopus lepidopodus)
- Yellow-faced whipsnake (Demansia psammophis)
Critters seen alive but not photographed:
- Coastal carpet snake (Morelia spilota mcdowelli)
- Eastern small-eyed snake (Cryptophis nigrescens)
- Red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis)
Critters seen alive and (obviously) photographed:
Coastal carpet python (Morelia spilota mcdowelli).
Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis)
Pink-tongued skink (Cyclodomorphus gerrardii)
Wow great blog. Just came across it while googling on the Pink-tongued skink, Cyclodomorphus gerrardii. I think I will have a few hours of reading now. :o)
Perhaps you could help me? Is Cyclodomorphus the correct genus for the Pink-tongued skink? All across the internet they use Hemisphaeriodon for the ‘correct’ name, which Cogger (2000) also uses. I see that Shea (1990) uses Cyclodomorphus but I haven’t got a copy of that or the updated field guide to reptiles of New South Wales.
How do I find out the correct/current scientific names?
Your blog looks fantastic. I have bookmarked it to my desktop. I am looking forward to reading more and checking out your amazing photos.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the kind words!
Cyclodomorphus is the genus in which all recent texts place the pink-tongued skink. I have to admit that I don’t really pay much attention to the ‘whys’ of taxonomy, I just listen to people that are eminently more qualified that I to make those decisions. The most recent text for Australian reptiles is Wilson and Swan’s A complete guide to reptiles of Australia. That’s the book I refer to for my taxonomy questions.
I’ve just had a quick look at your Flickr site. I’ll check it out further later on this evening.
Stewart