NOTE ON TYMPANOCRYPTIS LINEATA MACRA (LACERTILIA AGAMIDAE)

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

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In 1982 I separated T. l. macra of eastern and central Kimberley from T. l. centralis of southern Kimberley and Central Australia. T. l. macra was characterised mainly by its longer legs and tail. Other differences are apparent in material recently collected in the Kimberley by G. Harold and D. Mead-Hunter, viz. five specimens of T r centralis from the upper Margaret River drainage between Lamboo and Louisa Downs, and three specimens of T. l. macra from north of Kununurra.

In T. l. centralis the dorsal ground colour is reddish and the colour pattern is strongly developed, including a white vertebral stripe which is twice as wide as a dorsolateral stripe. In T. l. macra the dorsum is greyish, the pattern weakly developed and the vertebral stripe no wider than a dosolateral stripe. These differences in ground colour reflect differences in habitat: T. l. centralis prefers red soils in the vicinity of rocks and stony hills: T. l. macra prefers black-soil plains.

Another difference is that T. l. macra is more strongly keeled above and below, especially in the north-easternmost part of its range. Here the head scales, especially those on the occiput, are rugose as well as sharply keeled.

I am grateful to Mr and Mrs W.H. Butler, whose grant to the Museum financed Harokl and Mead-Hunter's trip to the Kimberley in February 1984.

Author(s) STORR, G.M. : Part 3
Page Number
317