# Herping SA: Pernatty and the Peninsula



## GeckPhotographer (Feb 18, 2013)

So a couple of weeks back, I was sitting around bored. I don't like sitting around bored. Fortunately for me one of my friends wasn't sitting around bored, he was hatching plans to go herping in SA. Booking my ticket a couple days in advance I flew to South Australia ready to see some geckos. 

My friend picked me up at about 9 in the morning and after picking up another herper we were headed north. About 3 hours later we pulled into a Roadhouse near Port Augusta, the road hadn't held any herps yet and our spirits needed revitalizing with a tasty pie/pasty. Heading further North we realized we were way ahead of schedule, being the gecko interested people we didn't need to get to our destination till dark. With time on our hands we pulled over on the edge of the road and had a look around for what reptiles we could find, many small Ctenotus scurried into nearby bushes, I'm not sure what species they were and all were far to fast for me. With little luck at that place we decided to continue north to our destination arriving there (after going past and turning around and coming back) as it started to cool for the evening. Deciding to have another poke around we quickly found this Gillens Monitor and spent plenty of time photographing it. 



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Varanus gilleni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Not long after this we headed to the area around Pernatty Lagoon we'd been told to aim for our target. Those of you who are as gecko obsessed as me will recognize Pernatty Lagoon as the only place on can find a very special gecko. 
As the dusk settled we walked around on the dune, spotting only spiders, my headtorch batteries failed me and cursing all the way to the car I had to go back to get new ones. By the time I had replaced them and gotten back on the dune proper dark had properly fallen and many Lucasium damaeum (unphotographed) and Rhynchoedura eyrensis were covering the dune. 



Rhynchoedura eyrensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

After searching for 10 minutes skipping around joyously from gecko to gecko I approached a gecko that seemed bigger than the other, my heart started to race, and as I got close enough to verify I shouted out to the others I had found our target, the Pernatty Knob-tailed Gecko. We ended up seeing Males, Females and Juveniles of the species. 



Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr







Nephrurus deleani by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Happy that we'd found our target and achieved getting good photos of it we packed up and headed to the Eyre Peninsula, arriving at about 3am we were all completely zonked and collapsed into sleep. 

Awaking the next day we decided to use our morning hours road cruising to look for Molochs, we didn't find one, I didn't expect to. This added at least an extra couple hundred kilometers of Moloch habitat to my total (greater than 10 000kms) I've driven through without seeing one, I'm pretty sure Moloch actually don't exist but are a giant herp conspiracy. 
Luckily we DID see some other cool and interesting things. 
The Crested Dragons may have been duller than they would be in spring but they were still a very nice looking dragon and none the less impressive. 

Females were the dullest of the lot. 



Ctenophorus cristatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

This is pretty dull compared to spring males I've seen in WA. 



Ctenophorus cristatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Ctenophorus cristatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Ctenophorus cristatus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

We managed to find several Peninsula Dragons, I was slightly disappointed all were drab females but pleased to see the species anyway. 



Ctenophorus fionni by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Heading back towards Adelaide we still had plenty of daylight and we used it tracking down several species of skink I hadn't seen before. 

Centralian Ranges Rock Skinks are perhaps one of the prettiest large skinks I've had the pleasure of meeting. 



Liopholis margaretae by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Liopholis margaretae by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Tawny Rock Dragons were found in the same habitat. 



Ctenophorus decresii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Along with these awesome and highly underrated skinks.



Cryptoblepharus pannosus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Cryptoblepharus pannosus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Cryptoblepharus pannosus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A different site yielded two small brown skinks which were new for me. 

These Southern Sliders were extremely common.



Lerista dorsalis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

However it was probably a bit dry for these Saltbush Morethia as we only found this one juvenile. 



Morethia adelaidensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And so ended my trip to Adelaide. Only one thing was left to fly back to NSW and go home to a long awaited res.... oh wait my friend called me and hijacked me into catching Bell Frogs for their study at Sydney Olympic Park.

Having seen everything at SOP before I dind't photograph much, but I did take a quick picture of this Bleating Tree Frog, Enjoy!




Litoria dentata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And so my herping threads end for another few months while I go out there and build up the necessary pictures to post another one. I have big plans for South Australia this year, two days worth of herping there was far too good to ignore the state for any longer.


----------



## richoman_3 (Feb 18, 2013)

nice pics!

deleanii are boring .. to many photos of them


----------



## Dendrobates (Feb 19, 2013)

The highlight for me was the Lerista.


----------



## Rocket (Feb 19, 2013)

That friend of yours that did all the driving and arranged the entire trip sounds like such a top bloke!!!


----------



## Radar (Feb 19, 2013)

Nice shots, I love red sand country, so different from what I'm used to around here.

They do exist. If it makes you feel any better, it took me 6 weeks in the desert to find my first, but then we found 4 others inside 100m :lol:


----------



## GeckPhotographer (Feb 19, 2013)

> They do exist. If it makes you feel any better, it took me 6 weeks in the desert to find my first, but then we found 4 others inside 100m :lol:



That's nice photoshop there. Sad they don't exist.  



> That friend of yours that did all the driving and arranged the entire trip sounds like such a top bloke!!!



Yeah he was pretty good, mighta been better if he stayed awake long enough for stellatus. 



> The highlight for me was the Lerista.



I may be a gecko person but I enjoyed the Lerista plenty too.


----------



## Radar (Feb 19, 2013)

You think that's good? Check out how I added all the footprints in on this one, you wouldn't believe how long it took..


----------



## Rocket (Feb 19, 2013)

Yeah, I suppose. It's not like he had been driving for around 12 hours that day or anything...


----------



## sharky (Feb 19, 2013)

wow! They are gorgeous  NO reptiles are boring in my eyes, they are all terrific pictures and finds


----------



## butters (Feb 19, 2013)

Sounds a bit girlie but I do like his avatar.


----------



## Barrett (Feb 19, 2013)

Awesome photos, I'd love to do a trip into the S.A desert. That decresii is awesome and love the big eyes on the deleanii.


----------



## Rocket (Feb 19, 2013)

butters said:


> Sounds a bit girlie but I do like his avatar.



Who sounds a bit girlie mate?


----------



## butters (Feb 19, 2013)

Driving 12hours and being too tired to herp.

Where's your dedication?


----------



## Dendrobates (Feb 20, 2013)

Driving 12 hours and then herping all night should be a standard herp trip.


----------



## jordanmulder (Feb 22, 2013)

Wicked finds there stephen!


----------



## buckziggy (Jun 14, 2013)

good pics like the crested dragon


----------



## NickGeee (Jun 15, 2013)

Beautiful pics!


----------

