# Pics from South Australia Trip 1 -- Kimba region



## moloch05 (Jan 26, 2009)

I have just returned from an eight day trip to South Australia. As usual, I clocked up many kilometers (over 6000) so spent hours in the car. This was my first herping trip to this part of Australia and there were many beautiful dragons in the genus _Ctenophorus_ that I hoped to photograph. Unfortunately, my trip and sightings were curtailed somewhat by car problems ... the outback of SA is not a good place to break down ... but I found a few of my targets.

I will begin with Kimba area. Kimba is a small town located at the northern end of the Eyre Peninsula and it is the half-way point when driving from the east coast to the west coast. Kimba was a 22 hour drive from Wollongong.







I spent most of my time about 20km east of the little town in the Lake Gillies Conservation Park. The habitat here was mallee (a shrubby eucalpytus) with spinifex and bluebush (a chenopod) understorey.











Lake Gillies is one of the many salt lakes of South Australia.











I also examined shrublands further east (80km) between Kimba and Port Augusta.





... a remote station:






In the mallee of Lake Gillies, I soon found one of the dragons on my wish list. It was the fairly large, Crested Dragon (_Ctenophorus cristatus_). Males of this species are strikingly marked lizards that will bipedal when scurrying away.











... I assume that this is a female due to the drab colouration:











I also saw a few Painted Dragons (_Ctenophorus pictus_). These lizards tended to live in shrubs near the edge of the salt lake.











... this one was sunning at the top of a shrub. While I watched it, it spotted an insect on the ground a couple of meters away. It leapt from the shrub and then raced over to the insect that attempted to fly away. The dragon jumped up, snatched it out the air and did a flip before landing again on the sand. It was an agile creature!











Central Bearded Dragons (_Pogona vitticeps_) lived in the mallee woodland. This highly cropped photo shows a male that appears to be advertising its presence from the top of a dead clump of spinifex. The yellow made the lizard conspicuous even from a fair distance. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the lizard dropped a little into the grass and instantly turned off its "bright lights". It then blended well and allowed me to closely approach it.
















This bearded dragon ran from the road and hid in a thicket. It blended well and was easy to loose even though it was a large lizard.






Central Bearded Dragons from the shrublands east of Kimba looked quite different to those from the mallee. I saw many as they sunned themselves from the tops of bluebush one morning. All were about the same size and were much smaller than their mallee-inhabiting relatives. Their colouration was also different with an orange stripe on the face. I have never read of different races of this dragon occurring on the Eyre Peninsula so I suppose that the differences are just habitat related adaptations. Dwarf Bearded Dragons (_Pogona minor_) also occur in the western half of South Australia but the field guide indicates that they do not have spines across the throat.

















Skinks included this Southern Mallee Ctenotus (_Ctenotus atlas_), a lifer to me. _Ctenotus_ skinks are often hard to identify but this species has a distinctive pattern of stripes without spots.






I saw my first Desert Skink (_Egernia inornata_) on the road at night. It appeared to be a very fast "gecko" that allowed me to approach it but then it raced off before I could take a photo. Desert Skinks are crepuscular/nocturnal skinks.

This Edward's Slider (_Lerista edwardsae_) is one of the endemics of the Eyre Peninsula. This species lacks front legs and it is one of the sand swimmers. I was lucky to see it on the road at night.











Shingelbacks (Tiliqua rugosa) were common on the road in the mornings and then again late in the day when the temperatures were a little cooler.











I strangely did not see any geckos on the road near Kimba on either of my two night drives. Temperatures/moon phase were good but they just were not out. I had hoped to find Starred Knob-tailed Geckos (_Nephrurus stellatus_), a species with most of its range in South Australia.

I did see a few snakes. These included two Jan's Banded Snakes (_Simoselaps bertholdii_). Aussie elapids in general are a sombre lot but the little _Simoselaps_ are one of the few exceptions and are flamboyantly patterned. They also have an interesting life style. They spend much of their time beneath the surface of the sand where they hunt skinks such as the _Lerista_ included in the above photos. _Simoselaps_ are far more interesting to me than their bigger and more venomous relatives.

... snake 1
















... snake 2











I also found two Southern Shovel-nosed Snakes (_Brachyurophis semiannulata_). They also were coloured differently to those that I have seen at Kalbarri, WA. Here in SA, they seem to be brick red whereas those from the west were yellow. This species has a very specialized diet that consists of reptile eggs.

... snake 1
















... snake 2












I encountered two live and one DOR blind snakes. I think that these were _Ramphotyphlops bituberculatus_ due to the trilobed snout. This species is one of the smaller blind snakes.

... snake 1











... snake 2






Regards,
David


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## Kirby (Jan 26, 2009)

NICE

once again totally jealous.


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## ryanharvey1993 (Jan 26, 2009)

brilliant pics once again david, looks like a great trip.


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## moloch05 (Jan 26, 2009)

Thanks Kirby and Ryan.

... I forgot to include photos of a friendly Gould's Monitor (_Varanus gouldii_). This goanna was not worried by my presence and it allowed me to get quite close for photos. When I finished, I moved to the shade of a nearby tree to review the pics that I had just taken. As I stood up to leave, I found that the monitor had walked over to me and was watching me as I sat there ... kind of odd to have the roles reversed. 











Regards,
David


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## moloch05 (Jan 26, 2009)

... correction:

"Brachyurophis semiannulata" should read "Brachyurophis semifasciatus"


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## jordo (Jan 26, 2009)

Top pics David - the snakes are stunning. I just got back from SA today, they have some great herps.


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## wizz (Jan 26, 2009)

great pics mate.....will have to go down there one day ........im off to the Kimberly's in 7 months....maybe next year


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## dansocks (Jan 26, 2009)

Amazing pic's mate. Was there in dec and was much less fortunate than yourself. am green with envy. keep the pics coming.


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## OzGecko (Jan 26, 2009)

David,
That Bearded Draogn that ran off the road into the thicket, was that positively Id as a vitticeps? How large was it? I only ask as the animal pictured does look similar to Pogona minor I have seen further west. P. minor are found at Pinkawillini (? on spelling) which is just west of Kimba. If it were a minor it would probably have to be the most easterly record.

Daniel


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## ad (Jan 26, 2009)

Loved the vitticeps, great pics Moloch, 
Cheers
Adam


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## moloch05 (Jan 27, 2009)

Thanks, everyone.

Daniel,
I looked back at my pics and unfortunately do not have a throat shot of the dragon. I cannot say positively that it was vitticeps or minor. The lizard was about 30km west of Kimba along the dirt road to Darkes Peak.


Regards,
David


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## moloch05 (Jan 27, 2009)

By the way, Daniel, did you take photos of Ctenophorus fioni? I read that they vary greatly in appearance from one mountain range to another.

Regards,
David


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## OzGecko (Jan 28, 2009)

David,
I'd put money on that being a minor.
As for Peninsula Dragons, I'm pretty average when it comes to photography, so I dont have any pics, but there is quite some variation in the dragons I have seen.
If you head up to Woomera they have red bars along the sides of their body, the ones around Pt Lincoln are dark with white dots across their back and orange "lips". Then as you go west the Mt Finke animals are blue/grey with lighter dots acreoss their back and a bright orange head. These are of course the male colourations, the females tend to be brown animals.

Daniel


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## moloch05 (Jan 28, 2009)

Thanks, all, for the feedback.

Here are a few more pics from this area:

... another couple of shots of the beautiful _Simoselaps_:











... another Crested Dragon:






... another Painted Dragon:






... another Central Bearded Dragon from the shrublands 80km east of Kimba:






... in addition to Bluebush (_Maireana astrotricha_), saltbush (_Atriplex sp_.) also grows in the shrublands. 






Regards,
David


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## murrayanddig (Feb 9, 2009)

that last pic isn't a blue bush, it's a smoke bush, ptilotis obovata. just a guess at the spelling. same genus as the mulla mulla in one of your other pics.


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## aspidito (Feb 9, 2009)

All stunning pictures, yes the Simoselaps are very striking animals, thanks for sharing what must have been a great trip.


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