# Lamington Plateau



## smacdonald (Feb 21, 2009)

Copied from my blog.

The other weekend I went up to the Lamington Plateau with a friend of mine. We were hoping to find a bunch of _Coeranoscincus reticulatus_ (after my extraordinary luck with them last time). Sadly, no coeranoscincids were to be found. But we did see a bunch of other stuff.





_Saproscincus rosei_






_Saproscincus rosei_​
We walked down to a creek/waterfall. We found a feisty Lamington spiny cray (_Euastacus sulcatus_) moving from a small pool to the main creek.





Lamington spiny cray (_Euastacus sulcatus_). We found her as she was moving from this small pool of water to the main creek.






Close up of her head. That's a Temnocephalan on her carapace.






She maintained this threat display the entire way...






...as she slowly backed towards the creek...






...over some rocks...






...and to the safety of the water.






_Eulamprus murrayi_​
We hung around at the creek until the Sun started to go down. This seems to be the best time to find _Coeranoscincus_. We then started walking back up the path, but failed to find any of our target skinks. In fact, we failed to find pretty much anything, until we came across a golden-crowned snake (_Cacophis squamulosus_) sitting on the path.





Golden-crowned snake (_Cacophis squamulosus_)​
We made it back to the car, cooked some food, then started driving back home. Along the way we found a Stephens' banded snake (_Hoplocephalus stephensii_), my first for the Lamington Region. We followed him as he moved off the road and into a tree.





Stephens' banded snake (_Hoplocephalus stephensii_)
























He started to gape at us, so we took the hint and left him alone. In this pic you can see the small fangs at the front of his mouth.






An angry Stephens' banded snake (_Hoplocephalus stephensii_).​
We left the snake alone, and continued on to some large trees either side of the road. This looked like great habitat for southern leaf-tailed geckos (_Saltuarius swaini_), so we got out to have a poke around. We soon found one. I also got up close and personal with another rainforest inhabitant.





Southern leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius swaini_)


















Southern leaf-tailed gecko (_Saltuarius swaini_)






Stinging tree. They don't sting, they friggin' KILL! I was looking for geckos on the large tree in the background. I noticed the stinging tree when I walked up to the tree, but I evidently have the memory of a goldfish because I walked straight into the stinger when I walked away. The guy I was with thought it was very amusing. After about 15 minutes of me hobbling around and muttering obsenities under my breath, the pain started to subside. Apparently I was let off quite easily, because the stings can be quite serious.​
As we continued down the mountain, we stopped at some ponds. We heard _Litoria revelata_ calling, but failed to see any of them. Back on the road we found another golden-crowned snake and an eastern small-eyed snake (_Cryptophis nigrescens_).


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## m.punja (Feb 21, 2009)

Fantastic pics as usual, again thanks for sharing.


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## kupper (Feb 21, 2009)

are the bandys and golden crowns vens? awesome photos of the swaini


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## seumas12345 (Feb 21, 2009)

What flash system are you using with your camera?


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## smacdonald (Feb 21, 2009)

kupper said:


> are the bandys and golden crowns vens?



Yep, they're both elapids.


Stewart


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## waruikazi (Feb 21, 2009)

kupper said:


> are the bandys and golden crowns vens? awesome photos of the swaini



But that's not a bandy bandy it's a Stephens banded snake, they are much much more dangerous than a bandy bandy.


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## smacdonald (Feb 21, 2009)

seumas12345 said:


> What flash system are you using with your camera?



The built-in flash, plus two external flashes on a bracket. There's a pic of my setup here:

http://www.reptilesdownunder.com/herping/photography/#Flashes


Stewart


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## jordo (Feb 21, 2009)

Top pics as always, look forward to the next one


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## kupper (Feb 21, 2009)

cool i think someone posted a thread on APS of them holding a golden crown in there bare hands... hence the confusion


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## smacdonald (Feb 21, 2009)

kupper said:


> cool i think someone posted a thread on APS of them holding a golden crown in there bare hands... hence the confusion



Golden-crowned snakes are venomous, but they're reluctant to bite and they're probably only mildly toxic. Stephens' banded snakes, on the other hand, are very toxic. I know of one bite in which the guy was unconscious with a few minutes. A few of the smaller elapids (e.g., ornamental, Stephens' banded, rough-scaled snakes) have been responsible for bites resulting in rapid loss of consciousness followed by spontaneous awakening. I assume the bite rapidly drops blood pressure, which is then slowly regained. After consciousness is regained, there are still serious venom effects to contend with.


Stewart


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## Bax155 (Feb 21, 2009)

Great pics as always Stewart!! Absolutly love that series of pics with the Lamington spiny cray!!


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## herpkeeper (Feb 21, 2009)

awsome pics, love the Stephens banded & the leafy


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## Den from Den Pythons (Feb 21, 2009)

A mate of mine was hit by a Stephen's. The end result was renal failure.... He's fine now, wouldn't have been a great experience though I'm sure. Great shots Stewart.


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