Spring

[alexander]

Went upt to Springbok and Kamieskroon over the long weekend. Got a slender thread snake (Leptotypholps gracilior), crossed-marked sand snake (Psammorphis crucifer), Bibrons thick toed gecko, some more different geckos (weber's thick toed gecko ect), legless skinks, angulate tortoise, striped skink, girdled lizards, 2 dwarf plated lizards which i failed to catch, as always, spotted sand lizard, a couple toads, ja thats about it. Please feel free to id them properly, i'm not in the mood to look them all up.







what do you think this is?

[Mongoose]

Very nice Alex!

[Pythonodipsas]

Nice finds Alexander. The Leptotyphlops is great. I am always fascinated by Typhlopoid snakes from arid areas. Is L. gracilior not out of range here? I think you would only find L. occidentalis (spelling) in Springbok/Kamieskroon area?

I think that gecko you are asking about is a Goggia sp. Possibly Goggia rupicola or gemmula?

Regarding Dwarf Plated Lizards: It is so funny how I have seen several and always tried to catch but never could. They're always so fast and dissapear so quickly. I thought that because I had caught a few desert lizards (Meroles (got the scars too)), that no lizard could escape my grasp! I was wrong with Dwarf plated lizards!

Is that lizard in the last pic a Cordylus polyzonus? It is nice and dark. Reminds me of C. niger from Cape town.

Other than that I think the first pic of a legless skink is Acontias lineatus tristus (spelling)? but the second one I am unsure of.

[Leos r gr8]

Some excelent pics, you are very lucky-it must have been a great weekend!

[alexander]

thanks, i'm not sure about the leptotyphlops, but it was found on the way there, about 2 thirds of the way to springbok. The plated lizards aren't really that fast, but they are hard to predict there next move, and then they just disapear, its happened to me 3 times! If it is C. polyzonus, it is a juvenile, i found ones before and they were over twice the size-i left it unnamed as there are a few different species occuring in that area. when i got the one legless skink i thought it was a dwarf burrowing skink, but it seems to be a legless skink?

[armata]

Hi Alex

Don't suppose you got a sample from the Acontias? rubida is looking for samples.
That Scolopendra centipede is amazing, be careful with them, they hurt!!
What were the flowers like, was your dad with you?

[alexander]

no, sorry. How do you get a sample from them?
The flowers were ok, but we were a bit early for some of the prettier flowers.