Nothing beats a hands on reptile show or reptile party in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Whether you live here or are passing through, the best reptile shows in Australia are here.
Learn more about kids reptile parties, adult reptile expos and more at http://www.reptileshows.com.au and make it a date.
Hoser, R. T. 2024. Sliding into scientific reality. Taxonomic changes to the Australian skink genus Lerista Bell, 1833 sensu lato, including the erection of 8 new genera, 19 new species and 5 new subspecies. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 70: 1-64.
Kids reptile parties can continue in Melbourne after a big court case result this week.
Snakeman Raymond Hoser was in an all or nothing legal battle with the State Government of Victoria who were seeking to ban all hands on wildlife displays in Victoria.
The government spent millions of dollars running their case through the courts and lost this round.
They must now pay Raymond Hoser his legal costs, but unfortunately the evil Wildlife Department who actually hate wildlife and prefer it dead, have zero remorse.
The battle for the rights of kids to be able to have live reptiles as pets or to enjoy a reptile party will continue.
Learn more at:
http://www.reptileparty.com.au/kp4.htm
Holotype: A preserved specimen at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, specimen number R21746 collected from the Tjaynera Falls Area, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Latitude -13.25 S., Longitude 130.733 E.
This government-owned facility allows access to its holdings.
Paratypes: Five preserved specimens at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, being 1/ Specimen number R21733 collected from the Tjaynera Falls Area, Litchfield National Park, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, Latitude -13.25 S., Longitude 130.733 E., 2/ Specimen numbers R12871 and R12888 both collected from Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Latitude -13.163 S., Longitude 130.685 E., 3/ Specimen number R12098 collected from Tolmer Falls, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Latitude -13.207 S., Longitude 130.713 E., 4/ Specimen number R12082 collected from Sandy Creek Falls, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, Latitude -13.25 S., Longitude 130.75 E.
Diagnosis: Fortitercarinata amax (Storr, 1974), until now known as Carlia amax, with a type locality of Mitchell Plateau, Northwest Kimberley District, Western Australia, has been treated by most authors as a single taxon occupying the tropical north of Australia from the Kimberley District, across the Northern Territory to the hilly areas on the south shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Divergent from this was Wells and Wellington (1985), who formally named a divergent form from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia (type locality of Koongarra, NT, Latitude -12.9384 S., Longitude 132.8051 E.) as Carlia instantanea and also Storr (1974) who named a taxon as Carlia johnstonei grandensis, from Groote Eylandt in the north east of the Northern Territory, which significantly Wells and Wellington (1985) also elevated to full species status.
Notwithstanding the fact that both “Carlia instantanea” and “Carlia grandensis” have been ignored by all publishing herpetologists in the 39 years since Wells and Wellington (1985) was first published, the molecular evidence of Potter et al. (2016) confirmed the taxonomy and nomenclature of Wells and Wellington (1985) to be correct in stark contrast to that of all other relevant publishing authors in the intervening period.
Herein, the three other unnamed forms identified by Potter et al. (2016) are formally named as new species.
Therefore, the Fortitercarinata amax (Storr, 1974) complex is as follows:
F. amax is effectively confined to the Kimberley District of Western Australia.
F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. is the taxon from the Western section of the Top End of the Northern Territory, generally in a line west of between Darwin and the Victoria River District, with the centre of the population in the Litchfield National Park and Daly River districts.
F. grandensis occupies most parts of the tropical north of the top end, including Kakadu National Park, areas to the south that are hilly and extending to the west side of the Gulf of Carpentaria and including Groote Eylandt, being the type locality for that species.
F. instantanea contrary to the assertion of Wells and Wellington (1985) is not widespread in the ranges of the top end of the Northern Territory but is in fact confined to a relatively small part of the Arnhem Land escarpment, this being generally near the type locality. It is F. grandensis that is the more invasive and wide-ranging taxon.
F. tasteslikesheet sp. nov. is a range restricted taxon, apparently confined to the English Company’s Islands and the adjacent Wessel Islands in the far north-east of the Northern Territory.
F. faark sp. nov. occurs in the hills of the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, extending to the Selwyn Ranges in north-west Queensland.
The six taxa are readily separated from one another by different sets of characters as follows:
F. amax is a brown coloured lizard all over, with no significant contrast between the head and body upper surfaces colour, or if there is a contrast, it is usually only slight.
That is the head may be slightly more brownish than the greyish body, although quite often any slight transition in colour may be half-way down the trunk rather than between head and upper body (on neck) as seen as a rule in the other species.
The dorsum of F. amax has semi distinct dark spotting and more distinct scattered tiny white spots, which also run along most of the length of the tail. Other than the light spots and dull darker spotting, no lines run onto the tail from the body either on top or on the sides of the tail.
F. amax has white spotting separated from black spots on the dorsum, versus joined in all other species.
The belly is always whitish in this species, versus various configurations in the other five species, including whitish, greyish, with or without darker markings.
Upper surfaces of the limbs in F. amax are medium brown with dull blackish spots.
Most F. amax have contiguous prefrontals, versus generally not so in all the other species in the complex.
F. amax average 21 subdigital lamellae under the fourth toe, versus 23 in the other five species.
F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. is separated from all other species in the complex by having slightly larger spotting than all others in the group (except for, F. faark sp. nov. which has similarly larger spots and blotches) and also well contrasting rather than semi-distinct dark and light spotting.
F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. is separated from F. faark sp. nov. by having more dark spotting on the dorsum and especially the flanks in particular, versus F. faark sp. nov. which has a preponderance of white spotting, especially on the flanks and along the tail where they are prominent in that species alone there.
F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. is further separated from the other five species in the complex by the fact that above the white line that runs from the front of the eye, under the eye to neck is a well-defined dark upper edge and line (contrasting with the lighter brown above this line). In all other species this dark line is either absent, or at best poorly defined and not strongly contrasting with the brown on top of the head.
F. grandensis has a dorsum that is brownish in colour and with moderately numerous very small dark brown dots, formed at the distal parts of some scales, more-or-less arranged longitudinally. There are occasionally a smaller number of scattered tiny white spots as well. These are less distinct on the flanks, making them more-or-less unmarked. Head on top is light brown and body is darker and greyish brown above. Upper labials are whitish, with slight dark etching and similar for lower labials.
In all other species in this complex, there is a well-defined white line that runs from near the nostril, across the underside of the eye, across the ear and along the side of the neck to terminate just anterior of the front leg.
This is not present in F. grandensis. In F. grandensis under the eye is white, but there is no obvious line extending beyond and along the neck. Instead, this area is the same brownish or greyish colour of the rest of the neck region.
F. instantanea has a dorsum that is greyish on top, not brown. On the dorsum is a series of spots formed by black and white sections joined, the black often in the form of tiny triangles superimposed over a white spot, leaving white on the sides of the black. On the flanks these black bits are expanded to form squares of 2-3 scales in size, with the white spots moved away from the black to form flecks on the otherwise light grey flank.
The black on the flanks is in two rows, leaving a line along the mid flank without black. There are tiny white spots on this line as well as the rest of the flank.
Towards the hind limb and onto the tail, the density of the black on the flank increases to form a semi-well-defined band of black that extends halfway along the length of the tail, below which is a well-defined white line. The top of the tail is a medium grey.
Upper labials have thick, well-defined dark bars that terminate under the white line that runs below the eye.
Upper surfaces of limbs are light grey, but heavily marked with dark spots, blotches and bars giving them an overall mottled appearance.
There is a well-defined white line that runs from near the nostril, across the underside of the eye, across the ear and along the side of the neck to terminate just anterior of the front leg.
This is not present in F. grandensis as a species found in close proximity to this taxon and potentially sympatric with it.
F. tasteslikesheet sp. nov. is similar in most respects to F. instantanea but differs from that taxon by being a lighter sandy grey colour on top and with a generally washed-out appearance in terms of the dorsum. There is a greater preponderance of tiny white spots on top, versus the darker blackish ones, including when they are combined, but the white spots are not exceptionally numerous as seen in F. faark sp. nov.. Upper surfaces of the limbs in F. tasteslikesheet sp. nov. are generally light grey with scattered dark spots.
The head of F. tasteslikesheet sp. nov. is a light yellowish grey, rather than brownish as seen in F. grandensis or brown anteriorly and greyish brown at the back of the head as seen in F. instantanea.
F. faark sp. nov. is readily separated from the other five species by having a dull brown head, a dull grey body and an obvious preponderance of numerous scattered tiny white spots on the top of the body, the flanks and all over the tail. Any darker spotting is small in amount, very scattered, very dull and barely noticeable on close inspection.
Upper labials are white and with thin dark etching on the margins. There is no evidence of any dark line above the white line running under the eye. The upper sides of the head are the same colour as on top.
The upper surfaces of the limbs are brown with numerous scattered white spots and a lesser number of dull dark blackish ones.
No lines run along the sides of the tail.
The six preceding species, being F. amax, F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov., F. grandensis, F. instantanea, F. tasteslikesheet sp. nov. and F. faark sp. nov. are separated from all other species in the two genera, Carlia Gray, 1845 type species Mocoa melanopogon Gray, 1845 and Lygisaurus De Vis, 1884, type species Lygisaurus foliorum De Vis, 1884 as defined by Cogger (2014) by the following suite of characters:
Interparietal distinct (as in not fused to the frontoparietals); prefrontals in contact or narrowly separated; 5-8 (usually 6) supraciliaries; 26-35 midbody rows; dorsal scales are 6-sided, each usually with an angular posterior or free edge, mostly bicarinate and strongly keeled, the keels not being well aligned with the following scales; ear opening horizontally elliptical, much smaller than the palpebral disc and with only one small lobule on the anterior edge; 19-28 lamellae under the fourth toe. Colouration is mainly uniform above (more brownish on the head and ending greyish on the lower end of the body but varying with species). Distinct or semi-distinct spots and blotches on the body, all tiny in size and generally not distracting from the more-or-less uniform appearance of the lizard. Venter is white, whitish, whitish grey, with or without darker markings.
F. amax is depicted in life in Storr et al. (1981) in plate 1, photo 6, second from bottom on right and online at:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/177476229
and
Bauxite Rainbow Skink from Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges WA 6728, Australia on September 17, 2012 at 09:26 AM by Pål A. Olsvik
F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. is depicted in life in
Bauxite Rainbow Skink from Litchfield National Park, Litchfield Park, NT, AU on July 8, 2023 at 04:00 PM by Iris Hickman
and
Bauxite Rainbow Skink from Tolmer Falls, Litchfield National Park Rd, Litchfield Park NT 0822, Australia on September 22, 2023 at 08:52 AM b
F. grandensis is depicted in life online at:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100485324
F. instantanea is depicted in life in Wilson and Knowles (1988) on page 253 middle left and online at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nieminski/5315225943/
and
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195641586
and
F. faark sp. nov. is depicted in life online at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smacdonald/4539877222/
and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zimny_anders/32492490820/
and
and
Bauxite Rainbow Skink from McArthur NT 0852, Australia on August 2, 2018 at 06:03 PM by Steve Dew
and
Bauxite Rainbow Skink from Southern Lost City Campground, Limmen NT 0852, Australia on July 21, 2022 by dianadavey
Distribution: F. tastywhencrispy sp. nov. occurs in the region of the Western section of the Top End of the Northern Territory, generally in a line west of between Darwin and the Victoria River District, with the centre of the population in the Litchfield National Park and Daly River districts.
Etymology: In early 2012, I sat at a campfire with an Aboriginal elder from the Marranunggu tribe in the bushland off the road about 2 hours drive south-west of Darwin.
It was a large corroboree with Aboriginals from all across the top end of Australia.
I asked the man about the skink we had just caught and he replied that when you put some seasoning on the dead lizard and cook it up on the hot coals of a campfire that it becomes “tasty when crispy”. Hence the etymology. The words are adjectives in apposition.
Crocodile parties are the ultimate reptile party.
Whether it is a kids birthday party, an adult event or big organised festival, reptile parties have you sorted.
The inevitable split-up. Carlia sensu-lato (Scincidae), from Australia and New Guinea formally divided, including 15 new genera, 35 new species and 4 new subspecies.
LSIDurn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:730C934D-C3F1-412A-AADF-BF7AFCF960B7
Raymond t. Hoser
Received 18 January 2024, Accepted 28 May 2024, Published 12 June 2024.
ABSTRACT
An ongoing audit of the Australian and New Guinean herpetofauna revisited the genus Carlia sensu lato in light of several recent morphological and molecular studies combined with my own in-depth genus-wide study.
15 obvious genus-level assemblages that are unnamed are identified and formally named.
35 previously unnamed species and 4 previously unnamed subspecies are also formally named for the first time.
A number of the newly identified and named species are range restricted and in the face of increased and exploding human populations in the relevant areas, may be under long term threat of extinction.
It is important that these taxa are formally recognized and named rather than letting them expire through benign neglect.
Naming of species is the critically important first step to ensuring their ultimate conservation as identified by Hoser (1998, 2007, 2019a, 2019b), McKinney (1999) and Liu et al. (2022).
If you have recently obtained a puppy and you want to keep them safe from snakes, the winter months are the most important time of the year.
Canine snake avoidance works to protect your pet. Dog snake aversion training needs to use vet certified surgically devenomized snakes to work. Do not bother with unsafe imitators as their training does not work.
See http://www.dogsnakeavoidancetraining.com.au
Teaching your dog to be safe from snakes ....
Snake Avoidance training works.
Learn more about canine snake avoidance at
http://www.dogsnakeavoidancetraining.com.au
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