Snake? Lizard?
 

We have just moved to the Illawarra.

There is a strange type of Lizard in our front yard & as yet it has been too quick to get a photo, but am still trying. Every time we think it’s gone & we give up looking for it, it turns up again.

It is around 30cm, mottled light grey, quite slim, moves like a snake, has very tiny legs that it only seems to use when climbing, has a forked tongue that flicks in & out. I thought only snakes had forked tongues?

Any ideas?

There are legless lizards though not always without something that looks like legs.. They are very quick.

http://southcoastreptiles.com.au/?page_id=21 this is better http://southcoastreptiles.com.au/?page_id=411

Hmm neither of those links were helpful. This is one species it could be: Delma impar Striped legless lizard

Legless lizards all have fleshy tongues. Similar to gekoes.

Goannas have forked tongues.

Anything with legs, no matter how small they are, is a lizard.

The only lizard with a forked tongue is are monitors.

Monitors generally have large prominent sturdy legs.

From this I suggest ... you might want to get a picture of the animal because it either is a lizard with a tongue deformity or a monitor with a leg deformity. Either way, it sounds interesting.

tongue deformity is a possibility.

Burtons Legless lizard showing fleshy tongue. http://www.whatsnakeisthat.com.au/im...ortonis2df.jpg

Hi Jenna
exactly, the little beast will eventually get caught on camera ( I hope). Cannot be everywhere when it decides to show itself (sigh).
The first time we saw it we watched it for quite a while as we had disturbed it's habitat so we left it be, but watched it for a few minutes, maybe I imagnined it had a forked tongue, but I can see it my my minds eye as we watched it when we decided to go and start on another area of the yard.
We thought if we left it alone it would go somewhere else..well it did but still in our front yard, we found it under a pile of grass clippings, but it was oo quick once again!

Cheers

Sorry forgot to mention. The tongue appeared to be black at the back & a bit bluish in the front ,near the tip.

I'm guessing the forked tongue was an illusion and like rb suggested you have a legless lizard

Maybe, well I hope I was seeing things & not a forked tongue. I'll come back when I have a pic of it's tongue (hopefully)
But it has legs, although tiny ones...so why a legless lizard?

# Tongue - Snakes have forked tongues which they use to 'taste' the air for scent particles. All species of legless lizards have a fleshy tongue.
# Eyes - Most species of lizards have moveable eyelids. Snakes have fixed transparent scales that cover their eyes which are known as the brille or spectacle.
# External ear openings - All species of legless lizards have external ear openings. Snakes do not have ears, and as a result are unable to hear air borne sound using an ear. Snakes are very sensitive to vibrations and actually have some remnant bones of the ear attached to the lower jawbone.



why a legless lizard? why a blind snake? perhaps that's just life .. the design doesn't always look intelligent.

A lot of skinks have very small legs and are almost serpentine in their movement.

True. I recall a time when we had a family visiting. The adults were chatting while the kidlets roamed the jungle I call a backyard.. One of them came in insistent that he'd seen a snake.. I asked him to show me where, because I enjoy interacting with children re: nature. He said; "it went down there.. pointing to a hole in an edging sleeper". I said, "come for a little walk around the garden with me and I'll show you hundreds more. They are skinks".

This will probably drive you potty, but the Australian Reptile Online Database has loads of pictures of different types of Aussie skinks (and other reptiles, of course). If you've got a bit of spare time, it might be worth having a browse through the pics and associated maps. The direct link to the skink page is here.

Edited to add: Here's an example of a skink with weeny legs.

Thanks Helix
I had already checked all these websites, but no match unfortunately.

Ah, well, worth a try. You'll have to leap into action with the camera next time you see the little critter!

Yep Helix, how many hours must I spend wating for the litle monster!!
It has evaded us more times than I can count..but I am the eternal optimist & it will happen!

weren't there two B.C.'s? one was bushcat.. He was always working on setting up remote cameras to catch things like Thylacines.. All it takes is for you to use an electronic eye that senses movement.

more times than you can count. Well, if you count off each identifying feature each time you see it.. ie: look for the tongue to see if that was an illusion or not.. second time look for visible ears.. and stuff like that.. by the tenth time you may know how many stripes it does or doesn't have..

Tiny legs and forked tongue is not a match.

From memory some legless lizards have remnant hind legs.

Legless lizards are lizards that used to have legs (many many generations ago) and have evolved to go without them (or are in the process of evolving that way)

The link below shows the tiny remnants of a legless lizards hind legs.

http://esperancewildlife.blogspot.co...pidopodus.html