Tiliqua rugosa

Shingleback Lizard at Hawker, ACT

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Identification history

	Tiliqua rugosa	18 Feb 2018	WillO
	Tiliqua rugosa	18 Feb 2018	sangio7

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Shingleback

7 comments

WillO wrote:

18 Feb 2018

A good record for the Pinnacle Reserve.

sangio7 wrote:

19 Feb 2018

Thanks Will. It wasn't on Joe McAuliffe's 2009 (?) list "Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pinnacle Nature Reserve", so I thought it was well worth recording. It's the only one I've seen in hundreds of hours criss-crossing the PNR spraying weeds and looking carefully where I'm putting my feet, so it can't be too common, although I've only ever seen a couple of blue tongues too, compared with 2 or 3 dozen eastern browns and a dozen red-bellied blacks.

WillO wrote:

19 Feb 2018

I was thinking the same thing - I have walked in the Pinnacle reserve each year for about 30 years (I guess about ten times a year) and never observed a Shingle back in the reserve in that time. There is a chance it was released by someone but my guess is it most likely is a local. The taller grass at the Pinnacle does make it harder to see lizards. WillO.

AlisonMilton wrote:

19 Feb 2018

I've also never seen a shingleback in the reserve over the last 30 years but some years ago a young boy put up a notice about an escaped shingleback near the horse paddock where the track turns back down along Kingsford-Smith Drive. Probably not the same one, but interesting.

CathB wrote:

19 Feb 2018

I had also wondered if the shingleback that appeared in Cook recently (http://canberra.naturemapr.org/Community/Sightings/Details/3386780) was an escapee, as I have never seen one in either Mt Painter or Aranda Bushland.

WillO wrote:

19 Feb 2018

Hi all - given those observations it does appear likely that the shingleback at the Pinnacle is an escapee or one that has been released. It is the dark (melanic) form so it is at least from this cooler part of Australia. I have only ever seen one shingleback south of the Molonglo River in the ACT and that was at Mt Taylor (a single sighting) but there may be other records south of the river on CNM (I havent looked yet) . It is an ideal species for recording (easy to see and id) and hopefully over the years the CNM records will allow us to map out its ACT region distribution. WillO.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

20 Feb 2018

Something like 95% of ACT's Shingle-back records come from the Mt Ainslie -Mulligans flat woodland complex. On the other hand we have put a look of money and effort in enhancing connectivity from the Murrumbidgee across the Belconnen Hills to Black Mountain, including lots of fallen timber and shrub planting at key locations - so perhaps we may be seeing a benefit of that restoration work.

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