Long weekend herping on the west coast

[TH]

Spent the long weekend with a group of friends on the west coast concentrating on herps. We covered the area from a line between Clanwilliam and Lambert’s Bay in the south to close to the boundary of the Western Cape in the north. A large area to cover and only 3,5 days to do it in, but we had lots of fun. Thanks to those who assisted with some useful info.

We were probably a little too early for snakes as, despite intensive searching, we only encountered 8 individuals in the whole time we were there. Nevertheless, we found some other interesting species which kept us entertained...

I haven’t had a chance yet to work through all the photos and will post some once I get to them but, in the mean time, for those who might be interested, this is the full list of species we encountered on the weekend:

Reptiles:

Angulate Tortoise - Chersina angulata
Namaqua Tent Tortoise - Psammobates tentorius trimeni (single dead individual)
Southern Rock Agama - Agama atra
Southern Spiny Agama - Agama hispida
Western Dwarf Chameleon - Bradypodion occidentale
Bibron's Gecko - Chondrodactylus bibronii
Cedarberg Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko - Goggia hexapora
Striped Dwarf Leaf-toed Gecko - Goggia lineata
Weber's Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus weberi
Southern Rough Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus formosus
Western Cape Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus labialis
Ocellated Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus geitje
Austen's Thick-toed Gecko - Pachydactylus austeni
Karoo Girdled Lizard - Karusasaurus polyzonus
Large-scaled Girdled Lizard - Cordylus macropholis
Armadillo Girdled Lizard - Ouroborus cataphractus
Dwarf Plated Lizard - Cordylosaurus subtessellatus
Common Sand Lizard - Pedioplanis pulchella
Western Sandveld Lizard - Nucras tessellata
Knox's Desert Lizard - Meroles knoxii
Cape Legless Skink - Acontias meleagris
Coastal Dwarf Legless Skink - Acontias litoralis
Cuvier's Blind Legless Skink - Typhlosaurus caecus
Kasner's Dwarf Burrowing Skink - Scelotes kasneri
Gronovi's Dwarf Burrowing Skink - Scelotes gronovii
Cape Dwarf Burrowing Skink - Scelotes caffer
Striped Dwarf Burrowing Skink - Scelotes sexlineatus
Variegated Skink - Trachylepis variegata
Western Rock Skink - Trachylepis sulcata
Cape Skink - Trachylepis capensis
Karoo Sand Snake - Psammophis notostictus
Cross-marked Grass Snake - Psammophis crucifer
Namaqua Dwarf Adder - Bitis schneideri
Many-horned Adder - Bitis cornuta

Frogs:

Namaqua Rain Frog - Breviceps namaquensis
Namaqua Caco - Cacosternum namaquense

All in all, a lot of fun and great to be able to get out into the field again for some herping.

Kind regards
Trevor

[Lourance Klose]

Looks like it was a fantastic weekend. I look forward to the photo's.

[Bushviper]

Damn. That would be my list for a year. That must have been close to overload trying to note all of these species. I hope you get the photos sorted out soon.

[Fooble]

Trevor that's a mighty fine haul!

Im impressed at the numbers of Pachydactylus very jealous and all of the other Geckos in fact.

Good going on the schneideri too!

[Westley Price]

I cannot wait for the pics, especially of the fossorial herps.

[Durban Keeper]

Wow Trevor, I just know there are some mouth watering images to follow soon! What an incredible list for such a short timeframe! Very Nice!