Since my big trip to Alice Springs (13 repticks) and Melbourne (5 repticks) earlier this year, the only beast hunting I’d done was an accidental trip to Sydney (one reptick) and a quick dash out to the Brigalow Belt (one reptick). I decided that it must be time to smash out some new critters, so April saw me flying back to Alice Springs and heading up to the Tanami Desert for two weeks. I got to poke around in a variety of habitats, included that perennial favourite: red sand and spinifex.
Spinifex sand plain
Spinifex sand plain
Saltbush flat
Desert mesa, home to the fat-tailed false-antechinus (Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis)
Northern spiny-tailed gecko (Strophurus ciliaris aberrans)
Beaked gecko (Rhynchoedura ornata)
Sandplain gecko (Lucasium stenodactylum)
Sharp-snouted delma (Delma nasuta)
Sharp-snouted delma (Delma nasuta)
Sharp-snouted delma (Delma nasuta)
Banded delma (Delma desmosa) – reptick!
Western hooded scaly-foot (Pygopus nigriceps)
Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonis)
Leonhard’s ctenotus (Ctenotus leonhardii)
Grand ctenotus (Ctenotus grandis) – reptick!
Narrow-lined ctenotus (Ctenotus dux)
Fourteen-lined ctenotus (Ctenotus quattuordecimlineatus) – reptick!
Clay-soil ctenotus (Ctenotus helenae)
Spotted-necked ctenotus (Ctenotus greeri) – reptick!
Nimble ctenotus (Ctenotus hanloni) – reptick!
Coarse sands ctenotus (Ctenotus piankai)
Lined fire-tailed skink (Morethia ruficauda ruficauda)
Ornate soil-crevice skink (Notoscincus ornatus ornatus)
Desert rainbow-skink (Carlia triacantha)
Northwestern sandslider (Lerista bipes)
Common dwarf skink (Menetia greyii)
Thorny devil (Moloch horridus)
Central military dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis)
Short-tailed goanna (Varanus brevicauda)
Pygmy desert monitor (Varanus eremius)
Ridge-tailed monitor (Varanus acanthurus)
Sand goanna (Varanus gouldii)
Northern blind snake (Ramphotyphlops diversus)
Desert banded snake (Simoselaps anomalus) – reptick!
Desert banded snake (Simoselaps anomalus)
Desert banded snake (Simoselaps anomalus)
Desert banded snake (Simoselaps anomalus)
Yellow-faced whipsnake (Demansia psammophis cupreiceps)
Ringed brown snake (Pseudonaja modesta) – reptick!
Ringed brown snake (Pseudonaja modesta)
Ringed brown snake (Pseudonaja modesta)
Stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura)
Stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) foot
Ooldean dunnart (Sminthopsis ooldea) – mammal tick!
Ooldean dunnart (Sminthopsis ooldea) foot
Lesser hairy-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis youngsoni) foot
Brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus blythi)
An angry brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus blythi) – mammal tick!
Brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus blythi) caught on a camera trap
Camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)
A funky grasshopper
Repticks:
Ctenotus greeri
Ctenotus grandis
Ctenotus hanloni
Ctenotus quattuordecimlineatus
Delma desmosa
Pseudonaja modesta
Simoselaps anomalus
Lifetime total: 329 Australian reptile species
Mammal ticks:
Fat-tailed false-antechinus (Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis)
Ooldean dunnart (Sminthopsis ooldea)
Long-haired rat (Rattus villosissimus)
Brush-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus blythi)
Bird ticks:
Bourke’s parrot
Rufous-crowned emu-wren
Not seen:
Grey falcon
