Casterton Fire Project

[Cheesecake]

Thought I'd add my bit...

This little guy (Striped worm-lizard) was found while sand raking at a study site in the wimmera near Casterton, VIC. The project involving pitfall, funnel and Elliott trapping is being undertaken by Melbourne and La Trobe Uni students to look into the impacts of ecological burning on animals and their heathy woodland habitat.

Not much in the way of other herps on this trip. Most have gone into hiding with the cooler weather although Bassiana dupereyi and Eulamprus tympanum were still out and about.

Cheers,
David.

 

[jordo]

Nice find Dave, I better get myself out that way over summer!
jordan

 

[moloch05]

Great find, David. I can't recall seeing a pic of one of these little pygopods posted before. I suppose that they are hard to find.

Regards,
David

 

[Cheesecake]

Thanks Jordo and David.

Surprisingly they've been one of the most frequently caught herps although not often seen as they stay buried most of the time. Sand raking seemed to be the most effective method of finding them.

 

[ryanharvey1993]

wow nice find, have you got any pictures of the other species you saw?

 

[Cheesecake]

Unfortunately there wasn't much else out and about. I figured the Bassiana and Eulamprus were common enough so didn't bother getting pics of them... and because my camera was still slowly being cleaned of sand from mallee herping 4 months ago!

Will hopefully post some more pics from upcoming uni herp trips soon.

 

[Nephrurus]

Nice to see a photo of a seldomly seen species. I've not seen any of the Aprasia species. I can imagine they'd be a pain to find.

-H

 

[eipper]

Henry,

They aren't to bad if know where and how to look.

Some live in ant galleries under rocks, some you need to find by raking others you see crossing roads around dusk.

Cheers,
Scott