1 day's herping...

1 day's herping...

Postby BushSnake » Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:05 am

We (Mongoose, MV and myself) had a great weekend's herping and got a number of very special species. We spent Friday evening looking for frogs, and Saturday we went after the reptile species. In total, we got 17 species of reptiles on Saturday, of which 5 (inc 2 subspecies) were new for me. These included:

Sceloted mirus - Montane dwarf burrowing skink
Bitis atropos - Berg adder
Bradypodion transvaalense - Transvaal dwarf chameleon
Pseudocordylus melanotus melanotus - Common Crag lizard
Platysaurus intermedius wilhemi - Wilhelm's flat lizard

And then the non-new species:
Chamaeleo dilepis - Flap necked chameleon
Psammophylax rhombeatus - Rhombic skaapsteker
Lycodonoporphus rufulus - Brown Water Snake (my first live one from the ex-Transvaal provinces)
Cordylus vittifer - Transvaal Girdle lizard
Lygodactylus ocellatus - Spotted Dwarf Gecko
Panaspis wahlbergii - Wahlberg's Snake-eyed skink
Trachylepis varia - Variable skink
Trachylepis punctatissima - Montane speckled skink
Gherrosaurus flavigularis - Yellow-throated plated lizard
Psammophis brevirostris - Short snouted grass snake DOR
Dasypeltis scabra - Rhombic egg-eater DOR
Lamprophis capensis - BHS DOR

And as always, all of the photos were taken in the field and the animals were left where they belong!

Hadromorphryne natalensis - Cascade frog or something like that (ex-Natal ghost frog)
Image
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Bitis atropos
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Bradypodion transvaalense
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Chamaeleo dilepis
Image

Lycodonomorphus rufulus
Image
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Fooble » Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:21 am

Sounds like a great trip nice accounts of species.
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Rob » Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:37 am

Great stuff. Lovely atropos. What sex was it and did you only get the one?
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby BushSnake » Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:46 am

Yip we only got one juvenile, and if I had to guess I'd say it was a male. But then again, I suck at determining the sex of snakes, unless its a boomslang :)
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Rob » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:11 pm

BushSnake wrote:Yip we only got one juvenile, and if I had to guess I'd say it was a male. But then again, I suck at determining the sex of snakes, unless its a boomslang :)


Thats what I used to think ... viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10176&hilit=+boomslang

Those Cascade frogs are awesome things.
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby MV » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:59 pm

Yea, it was a great trip.

The search for Hadromorphryne natalensis - (Natal Cascade Frog) was pretty fun. Difficult and scary at some stages, but worth all the falling down (not saying who).

I have to add, Mongoose, I was a bit skeptic about the whole Bitis atropos idea.

Great trip and good fun. Only wish the weekend was a bit longer...

Great photo's Bushsnake, but I've got a feeling you're holding out on us...

Cheers
MV
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Durban Keeper » Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:34 pm

well done boys! that pic of the waterfall is amaizing bushsnake & nice finds!
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby mgiddings » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:13 pm

Seems like you guys had a great day. The atropos is a real beauty.
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Mitton » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:23 pm

Very nice finds, finally you found a Brown Water Snake.
Great pics
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Scavenger » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:31 pm

Wow that's a great species count, the atropos is nice a lot lighter than the ones you find here in KZN :)
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby BushSnake » Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:00 pm

Thanks. Mitton, yes at last I got another live BWS again. Now to find its green cousin...

I actually think 17 species in 1 day is close to my record. Few places can produce that many in a short space of time. As for colour variations of B.atropos, well I'd be keen to go and find on in KZN sometime in the future ;)
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Pythonodipsas » Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:27 am

Looks like you guys did really well. Congrats! The pics are great too!
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby Scavenger » Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:33 pm

B. atropos are awesome, I've only ever found one as well. I didn't really herp the area proper so would very much like to herp it again ;)
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Re: 1 day's herping...

Postby BOOGY » Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:26 am

AAAAAAAHHHHH and I missed out again?
Congrats guys!
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