# Not sure what this is...



## CaseyJames (Mar 8, 2019)

Can anyone please identify this tree snake for me please l. Found it today while prospecting . Found a little nugget near it too so its a lucky snake. The thing was so fast it was incredible.


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## Herpetology (Mar 8, 2019)

This my friend is a legless lizard who looks like it’s been in a war


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## BredliFreak (Mar 8, 2019)

Herptology said:


> This my friend is a legless lizard who looks like it’s been in a war


Actually it's a snake, has larger scales and the typical colubrid head w/ loreal scale. I don't know the location but it looks like a Dendrelaphis calligastra/ Northern tree snake at a glance.


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## GBWhite (Mar 8, 2019)

Herptology said:


> This my friend is a legless lizard who looks like it’s been in a war



It's pretty obvious that it's a snake and looks nothing like a legless lizard. BredliFreak is right identifying it as a Norther Tree Snake. The distinct black line from the snout, through the eye to the side of the neck and large eye confirms it.


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## Sdaji (Mar 9, 2019)

This is pretty cool, these are not often seen. I've actually never seen one. They look very similar to the familiar common treesnake, and are easily mistaken for them. What was the location?


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## CaseyJames (Mar 10, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> This is pretty cool, these are not often seen. I've actually never seen one. They look very similar to the familiar common treesnake, and are easily mistaken for them. What was the location?


Iv now seen 2 in the last week and will post more photos as i see them . The location is in goldsborough valley about 40min south of cairns the exact area of which im actually keeping quite secretive about as iv also found 3 rare frog species 2 of which i have no clue of what they are. 1 is the size of my fingernail and patchy gold and copper in colour.. i will add photos. I have posted better copies of these photos on google maps though the location is simply goldsborough valley. The gold frog is pretty spectacular and i watched it dive right into shallow very swift flowing water as if it was born in it . I think the spider is a type of flower spider as it had the same crab-like body . (Pretty cool under u.v huh)





















[doublepost=1552145607,1552144875][/doublepost]The northern tree snake is by far, the fastest snake iv ever seen. Its almost unbelievable how quick it moves. Im hoping to get some video of it. I wonder if the tiny frog is a discovered species yet..... Id like to name my own frog












[doublepost=1552146554][/doublepost]And a type of mottled scorpion that seems to live on the sides of very rough barked trees. Sorry ill get better photos as soon as this rain pisses off so i can spend some dry nights out in the jungle again. I really need to get more batteries for all my torches too lol






[doublepost=1552147127][/doublepost]Omg i just discovered these are sometimes blue.... If anyones in the area and wants me to show you where this is just let me know. I dont work and am always free.
[doublepost=1552170159][/doublepost],


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## Sdaji (Mar 10, 2019)

I doubt anyone is going to head to your spot for Northern Treesnakes, but hey, never put it past them! It doesn't hurt to keep your spot secret, and I was only after the general area. 40 min south of Cairns is great, I was guessing it would have been further north. It's really cool to see pictures as I don't often hear about them. The other Australian species is very common all across the north and east, and outside Australia there are many species of the same genus which are common all over Asia.

I haven't paid much attention to frog taxonomy for nearly 20 years so I have no idea what they are. The tiny one would no doubt be a baby, perhaps of the larger species you're already seeing.
[doublepost=1552204795,1552204732][/doublepost]Oh! And yeah, that's a pretty cool spider! I didn't actually know some spiders lit up under UV light like scorpions.


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## Herpetology (Mar 10, 2019)

Yikes my bad guys I have no idea how I came to legless lizard >.< I definitely knew better it wasn’t a LL


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## CaseyJames (Mar 10, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> I doubt anyone is going to head to your spot for Northern Treesnakes, but hey, never put it past them! It doesn't hurt to keep your spot secret, and I was only after the general area. 40 min south of Cairns is great, I was guessing it would have been further north. It's really cool to see pictures as I don't often hear about them. The other Australian species is very common all across the north and east, and outside Australia there are many species of the same genus which are common all over Asia.
> 
> I haven't paid much attention to frog taxonomy for nearly 20 years so I have no idea what they are. The tiny one would no doubt be a baby, perhaps of the larger species you're already seeing.
> [doublepost=1552204795,1552204732][/doublepost]Oh! And yeah, that's a pretty cool spider! I didn't actually know some spiders lit up under UV light like scorpions.



Scrub and paralysis ticks also glow.
[doublepost=1552220312][/doublepost]


Herptology said:


> Yikes my bad guys I have no idea how I came to legless lizard >.< I definitely knew better it wasn’t a LL


From a certain point of view I reckon your correct.....from a certain point of view


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## BredliFreak (Mar 12, 2019)

CaseyJames said:


> Iv now seen 2 in the last week and will post more photos as i see them . The location is in goldsborough valley about 40min south of cairns the exact area of which im actually keeping quite secretive about as iv also found 3 rare frog species 2 of which i have no clue of what they are. 1 is the size of my fingernail and patchy gold and copper in colour.. i will add photos. I have posted better copies of these photos on google maps though the location is simply goldsborough valley. The gold frog is pretty spectacular and i watched it dive right into shallow very swift flowing water as if it was born in it . I think the spider is a type of flower spider as it had the same crab-like body . (Pretty cool under u.v huh)
> 
> 
> View attachment 326707



If i've got the quoting sorted out correctly this pic is a Litoria serrata I think.


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## Bluetongue1 (Mar 12, 2019)

CaseyJames said:


> Iv now seen 2 in the last week and….
> 
> Omg i just discovered these are sometimes blue.... If anyones in the area and wants me to show you where this is just let me know. I dont work and am always free.


Your spider is _Poecilothomisus speciosus_, known as the Beautiful Crab Spider – ref: http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2555

This spider belongs to the Family Thomisidae, collectively known as Crab Spiders, of which Flower Spiders are a sub-group. So you were bang-on there.

The first two frog photos were of the Torrent Tree-frog _Litoria nannotis_. The remaining frogs were all of the Green-eyed Tree-frog _Litoria serrata_. @BredliFreak, well picked. Even the small ones are this species as you can see the fringes along the limbs. Dorsal colour and pattern does vary in this species and it is not unusual for frog metamorphs to be quite differently coloured and patterned compared to adults.

Don’t know much about northern scorpions, sorry.

The blue coloured tree snake you saw would have been the rather uncommon blue form of the Common Tree Snake _D. punctulatus_. There are also black ones of this species found in that general region.


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## CaseyJames (Mar 13, 2019)

Bluetongue1 said:


> Your spider is _Poecilothomisus speciosus_, known as the Beautiful Crab Spider – ref: http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2555
> 
> This spider belongs to the Family Thomisidae, collectively known as Crab Spiders, of which Flower Spiders are a sub-group. So you were bang-on there.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for this information you have made my day!


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## Sdaji (Mar 13, 2019)

CaseyJames said:


> Thanks so much for this information you have made my day!



Haha, sometimes you come across some very knowledgeable people on these forums. Pretty cool, huh? It's just a shame they're outnumbered by idiots who act like they are cool, knowledgeable people, and sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference!  Everything in this thread has been spot on though... the bizarre legless lizard call aside! :O


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## CaseyJames (Mar 15, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Haha, sometimes you come across some very knowledgeable people on these forums. Pretty cool, huh? It's just a shame they're outnumbered by idiots who act like they are cool, knowledgeable people, and sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference!  Everything in this thread has been spot on though... the bizarre legless lizard call aside! :O



It really looks like a different frog to me after iv gone over my photos more.



[doublepost=1552533814,1552533656][/doublepost]C



[doublepost=1552575337][/doublepost]


CaseyJames said:


> It really looks like a different frog to me after iv gone over my photos more.
> 
> 
> 
> [doublepost=1552533814,1552533656][/doublepost]C


Yep its a green eyed allright you guys are spot on wow i had no idea the amounts of colours they can have. Incredible. I feel like a fool for my doubts. Guess I was dreaming of finding my own species.... Let the search... Continue! ,,


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## Ryan-James (Apr 14, 2019)

Cool post and thread, really liked reading through this and @Herptology don't feel bad about the legless call, if you squint your eyes and hold your device on an angle.....yeah nah still looks like a tree snake (I tried lol).
As soon as I seen the frog pic I thought torrent frog. Last to be indentified, the scorpion is a lychas species, these guys are found Aus wide but imho are absolutely insane how little to no variation there is in specimens collected thousands of KMs apart, I've had a colony of these going here for over 7 years and injected new ones into it from all over Aus and still are all indentical, see how they fare in another 7 years. They do reproduce via parthenogenesis but still, Australia's a big place with lots of natural barriers.


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