Australian Lizards in Cape York
Australian
lizards is a huge group of animals.
Nowhere else in the world is there as many lizards in one country as there is in Australia.
They particularly like dry outback habitat.
They also like warm places, because like most other reptiles, they need warmth to keep their own body temperature up.
And in Cape York and northern Australia, there is plenty of heat and plenty of the outback - excellent lizard habitat.
We don't have some of the more famous ones such as perenties or thorny devils, but we have other beauties like frilled lizards, lace monitors, blue tongue skinks and many others.
Skinks
The ones you see lots of, the small ones that run around in the leaf litter on the ground, are skinks - the largest group of Australian lizards with 370 species.
Some are legless, most have legs, and many are only known by Latin names. Some of the most famous ones are the larger ones, such as Blue Tongue Skinks. One species of them - Tlilqua scincoides - is found in Cape York.
Others that we have include Garden Skink Lampropholis delicata, Prickly Forest Skink Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae, Major Skink Egernia frerei, Eastern Striped Skink Ctenotus robustus, Eastern Water Skink Eulamprus quoyii, Lively Rainbow Skink Carlia Vivax, Black Mountain Skink Carlia scirtetis, and many other species that only have Latin names.
Gecko Lizards
Geckos belong to a fairly large group of small nocturnal reptiles. The best known ones to us locals are house geckos that live in our homes. Unfortunately nowadays the introduced Asian House Gecko has overtaken the niche and forced the original native house geckos (Eastern Dtella Gehyra dubia) back to the bush.
But there are heaps more species that live in the bush, and the ones we have in Cape York include Ring-tailed Gecko Cyrtodactylus louisiadensis, Black Mountain Gecko Nactus galgajuga, Pelagic Gecko Nactus pelagicus, Mourning Gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris, Box Patterned Gecko Diplodactylus steindachneri, Bynoe's Gecko Heteronotia binoei, Giant Tree Gecko Pseudothecadactylus australis, Northern Velvet Gecko Oedura castelnaui, Zigzag Velvet Gecko Oedura rhombifer, McIllwraith Leaf Tailed Gecko Orraya occultus and Pickly Knob Tailed Gecko Nephrurus asper.
Dragon Lizards
Dragons are larger than skinks and geckos, and although not quite as large as monitors and goannas, they are quite impressive animals, and some of them are quite easy to come across.
The most famous ones are the Frilled Lizards Chlamydosaurus kingii. In moister areas such as the coast and rainforests, there are Water Dragon Physignathus lesueurii and Boyd's Forest Dragon Hypsilurus boydii. Others we have in Cape York include Nobbi Dragons Amphibolurus nobbi, Two Lined Dragons Diporiphora bilineata, Ta-Ta Lizard Amphibolurus gilberti and Tommy Roundhead Diporiphora australia.
Monitors and Goannas
The largest and most impressive of our lizards are monitors and goannas. We don't have perentie - Australia's largest one, but we have the second largest - Lace Monitor Varanus varius.
Others that we have include Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes, Sand Goanna Varanus gouldii, Mangrove Monitor Varanus indicus, Canopy Goanna Varanus keithhornei, Black Headed Monitor Varanus tristis, Rusty Monitor Varanus semiremex and Spotted Tree Monitor Varanus scalaris.
Legless Lizards
And finally there is the group of legless lizards - the strangest ones as they really look like snakes. At a closer look though, they have a head of a lizard and not a snake. Also unlike snakes, they have ear openings, unforked tongues and they can make a (gecko-like) noise. They are all harmless.
The ones we have in Cape York include the Common Scaly Foot Lizard Pygopus lepidopodus, Northern Hooded Scaly Foot Lizard Pygopus steelescotti and Burton's Snake-lizard Lialis burtonis.
Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide
Get this 50 pages guide totally for FREE. It contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip. You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you should take, how to get there and get around, where to stay (general info), what will it cost.. and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.Plan and Bring
to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide
If you liked the books or this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the right thing and letting others know :-)
Custom Search
Get the FREE Pocket Guide:
Get the Big Destination Guide
Available
with the Big Destination Guide:
This site uses British English, which is the English we use in Australia.
Disclaimer : Although best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information
on this website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.
TM & © Copyright 2009 - 2023 Katrin Holmsten ALL RIGHTS RESERVED