AUSTRALIAN BIODIVERSITY RECORD - Calodema

Australian Biodiversity Record, 2009 (3): 1-96
Distribution: Known from northern and north-western Australia, from the East Kimberley
Division in far northern Western Australia and across much of the adjacent Northern Territory
and into western and northern Queensland.
Habitat: Inhabits well-vegetated mesic tropical woodland and monsoon forest refuges with
deep ground litter, along the verges of water courses with and without rock outcrops. The
Type Locality of Forrest River (north of Wyndham) enters Cambridge Gulf and represents a
tropical savannah habitat with numerous monsoon forest refuges and rocky hills - habitats
which also occur widely across the far north of the Northern Territory.
Biology/Ecology: A terrestrial and largely crepuscular and nocturnal species that forages
amongst heavily shaded, thick ground litter on sandy or loamy soil usually within a few metres
of a watercourse of some sort or near shaded rocky outcrops. This species may be found
active during the day beneath the cover of ground vegetation and leaf-litter, usually emerges
late afternoon and early evening to forage on the surface. It prefers refuges that provide a
fairly humid microclimate, and shelters in abandoned burrows, under rocks, in crevices,
beneath deep ground litter or under rotting logs, but its habitat is usually drier and more
exposed than that of its close relative M. douglasi with which it is broadly sympatric in the far
north of the Northern Territory.
Survival Status: Protected under the WA Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 (as amended), the
Qld Nature Conservation Act (1992) [see also the Qld Nature Conservation (Wildlife)
Regulation Act (1994)] and the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (2007).
Regarded as common.
Etymology: The name ‘foresti’ refers to the Type Locality - the Forrest River, East Kimberleys,
Western Australia.
Mawsoniascincus harwoodi (Wells and Wellington, 1985) comb. nov.
Glaphyromorphus harwoodi Wells and Wellington, 1985 - Classif. Amph. Rept. Aust. Aust. J.
Herp. Suppl. Ser. 1: 1-61 [30] [March 1985 on title page, but not published until September,
1985]. Type data: Holotype NTM R3465. Type Locality: Brunette Downs Station, Barkly
Tablelands, NT.
Sphenomorphus isolepis Ehmann, 1992 - Encycl. Austr. Anim. Reptiles. [p. 331]
Glaphyromorphus isolepis Cogger, 2000 - Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia [Pp. 496-498]
Glaphyromorphus isolepis Wilson and Swan, 2003 - Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia
[p. 226-227]
Glaphyromorphus isolepis Wilson, 2005 - Field Guide Rept. Qld [Pp.128-129]
Glaphyromorphus isolepis Wilson and Swan, 2008 - Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia
2 nd Edition [p. 242-243]
Description: An elongate member of the Mawsoniascincus isolepis group readily identified by
its mostly unpatterned uniform pale brown colouration, and very long tail - which is about 3
times the SVL.
Distribution: Known only from the Barkly Tablelands of the Northern Territory.
Habitat: Tropical savanna grasslands and sparse shrubland on black cracking soil plains.
Biology/Ecology: An inhabitant of leaf-litter and humus beneath shrubs over deep cracking
soils. Believed to be oviparous. Feeds on small invertebrates.
Survival Status: Protected under the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act
(2007).
Etymology: The name 'harwoodi' honours Australo-English naturalist Mr Stephen Harwood, at
the time of description, a resident of Perth, Western Australia.
Mawsoniascincus isolepis (Boulenger, 1887)
Lygosoma isolepis Boulenger, G.A. (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum
(Natural History). 3. London: British Museum xii 575 pp. 40 pls [234, pl. 15 fig. 1]. Type data:
Syntypes BMNH 1946.8.3.45-46, BMNH 1946.8.17.14, whereabouts unknown. Type Locality:
Nickol Bay and Swan River, WA (the latter in error, see Storr, G.M. (1967). The genus
Sphenomorphus (Lacertilia: Scincidae) in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. J. R.
Soc. West. Aust. 50: 10-20) [Lectotype designated by Wells and Wellington (1985) as BMNH
1946.8.17.14 - from Nickol Bay, WA]
Sphenomorphus isolepis Swanson, 1976 - Lizards of Australia [p. 27]
Glaphyromorphus isolepis Wells and Wellington, 1984 - Synopsis Cl. Rept. Austr. [p. 95].
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