'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the forest.

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Serpentes
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'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the forest.

Post by Serpentes »

Many creatures were stirring, albeit not a mouse...

I've just returned from a few days in the Collinsville region of northern Queensland, Australia. The herps were out and about despite very hot, dry weather.

The country around Collinsville, while only 100km from the Wet Tropics of Queensland, is very dry. The vegetation changes very abruptly from rainforest to dry forest near the coast, and as you head further away from the coast it gets drier and drier until you're in the outback proper. There are quite a few creeks which feed into the dry country from the wet rainforests and these provide refugia for a number of species which would otherwise not survive the dry conditions.

One such creek:
Image
2011-12-20_08-49-37_184 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

A billabong adjacent to one of the creeks:
Image
2011-12-17_11-05-44_653 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Around the billabong pictured above were numerous fruiting native fig trees. These figs are quite delicious, and the native mammals share my opinion:
Image
2011-12-20_09-35-00_933 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

A little red flying fox near the figs at night:
Image
IMG_4302 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Of course, all this activity does not go unnoticed by predators, including a particularly large carpet python, Morelia spilotes macdowelli, which had curled up for the day at the base of this tree:
Image
2011-12-17_11-13-04_526 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Image
2011-12-17_11-21-36_27 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr
Image
2011-12-17_11-18-58_31 - Copy by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Skinks were abundant in the dry forests, particularly the genus Carlia, which are around 10cm long as adults:
Image
IMG_4430 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Carlia schmeltzii sexy male:
Image
IMG_4465 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Carlia vivax sexy male:
Image
IMG_4488 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Carlia vivax female:
Image
2011-12-15_17-30-38_203 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Carlia munda sexy male:
Image
2011-12-16_16-47-09_707 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Hatchling Morethia taeniopleura:
Image
2011-12-14_09-24-37_93 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Ctenotus taeniolatus, a particularly fast lizard:
Image
2011-12-15_17-34-41_899 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

A fully-grown male Menetia timlowi, one of Australia's smallest reptiles:
Image
2011-12-16_16-52-15_741 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr
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Serpentes
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Serpentes »

These little guys are pretty cool - Liburnascincus mundivensis. They bounce around on rocky boulders and are readily approachable and surprisingly inquisitive, often coming up to the camera to check it out:
Image
2011-12-13_07-57-04_39 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

A final skink, Eulamprus brachysoma:
Image
IMG_4086 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

There were a few agamids around as well as the skinks, including the omnipresent and highly variable Diporiphora australis:
Image
IMG_4181 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Image
IMG_4164 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

And a bearded dragon that decided I was offensive:
Image
IMG_4207 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

And a few freshwater crocs, Crocodylus johnsoni, which I didn't get decent pictures of as they always fled into the water:
Image
2011-12-18_09-00-54_693 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

All these lizards provide a link in the food chain that supports numerous snakes. While not all these snake species are lizard specialists, they will all happily take reptiles when the chance avails:

A bandy-bandy, Vermicella annulata:
Image
IMG_4394 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Bandy-bandys have a cool defensive display whereby they loop some of their body up off the ground. I don't find it particularly menacing myself, but clearly it works in some situations:
Image
IMG_4422 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

A brown tree snake Boiga irregularis:
Image
IMG_4276 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Keelback, Tropidonophis mairii:
Image
IMG_4627 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Common tree snake, Dendrelaphis punctulata:
Image
IMG_4146 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Black whip snake, Demansia vestigiata, a very beautiful specimen. These are among Australia's fastest and most alert elapid snakes. They are diurnal and readily chase down very agile and speedy skinks in the heat of the day:
Image
IMG_4539 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

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IMG_4556 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Image
IMG_4511 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

And it's smaller cousin the collared whip snake, Demansia torquata:
Image
2011-12-20_09-22-13_603 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

That's all for the herpetofauna, but for good measure here is an unadorned rock wallaby Petrogale inornata, and a barking owl. I'll leave it up to you to guess which is which :beer:
Image
IMG_4048 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr

Image
IMG_4601 by Ssscott.vb, on Flickr
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Cole Grover
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Cole Grover »

Nice set of photos! Agamids always catch my eye in Aussie posts. That fruiting Ficus is pretty cool, too. Do many of the streams hold populations of Rainbow Fish or Blue-eyes, or are they restricted to the larger bodies of water? I've always been fascinated by that group.
mikemike
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by mikemike »

Awesome post. Looks like some good times!
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Serpentes
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Serpentes »

Thanks guys. Cole, there were both rainbow fish (I assume M. s. splendida but am not sure) and blue-eyes swimming around in the creeks. It was lovely to see the male blue-eyes displaying in a few inches of crystal clear water. There were also plenty of introduced cichlids, mostly tilapia - the scourge of Aussie tropical watercourses.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Nice!!
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Cole Grover
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Cole Grover »

Thanks for the reply! Pretty cool clade, the Melanotaenioidei. They seem to have taken over the role of Cypriniformes and Cyprinodontifomes over there. I assume the Tilapia were brought in as food/game?
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Serpentes
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Serpentes »

Cole, the Tilapia were introduced via the aquarium trade. There are a bunch of cichlids in Australia that have been released after outgrowing their owner's interests and/or fishtank which have then proliferated in natural waterways. Tilapia are a particular threat to biodiversity here.
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walk-about
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by walk-about »

I did not know bandy-bandys defended is such a manner. Very interesting. Is there venom highly toxic? Awsome post!

RocK ON!

Dave
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Serpentes
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Serpentes »

Dave, Bandy bandys don't have very toxic venom for humans (or at least they don't inject enough of it for anyone to suffer problems). Indeed they do have a rather funky defensive display, it would be great to know why this display has evolved!
hellihooks
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by hellihooks »

Nice to know it's warm somewhere... :) Cool post... I really like the Black whip.. thx for posting... :thumb: jim
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moloch
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by moloch »

This was an excellent post. It looks like you are having a great season up there.

Rainbowfish are beautiful and always interesting to see. It would be fun to try to photograph these with an underwater camera someday. Some of the species are so colourful and have ornate fins.

Regards,
David
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Serpentes
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Serpentes »

Thanks Jim and David. It's been great to get out in the field and actually have a camera even if it's only a 40mm lens. I actually took most of the photos above with my mobile phone because the real camera was back in the car :) One day I'll learn and carry the camera, and get a macro lens!!
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Rags
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by Rags »

Thanks for posting this, a really interesting thread.

Enjoyed seeing the bandy-bandy, (Vermicella annulata), what a great name.
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DaveR
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Re: 'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the for

Post by DaveR »

Very nice. Carpet pythons are one of my favorites. I've never seen some of the lizards you displayed. Thanks.
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