COMMON SCALY-FOOT
Significance to Humans:
Harmless
General description:
Rounded snout. Head not distinguishable from neck. Has prominent ear openings. The scales are strongly keeled (raised) and the body is heavily built, with vestigial hind limb flaps present. Reddish-brown to grey in colouration with weak to no markings. Scales have a glossy texture.
Distinguished from snake by:
• Presence of movable eyelids
• Fleshy tongue (not forked)
• Vestigial hind limb flaps present
• Ear openings
Average length:
120mm up to 275mm snout-vent length. Tail can be about 3 times length of body.
Habitat in SE Qld:
Inhabitant of long grasses, heaths, and woodlands.
General habits:
Shelters beneath low vegetation and in dense grasses. Encountered foraging in open low vegetation on warm sunny mornings, fleeing quickly when disturbed. Nocturnal in hot weather. When threatened, the scaly-foot flashes its thick, fleshy tongue, in an apparent mimicry of snakes.
Diet:
Its diet includes a variety of invertebrates such as burrowing spiders.
Local distribution:
Successful in all Sunshine Coast suburbs and frequently seen on mt Coolum. Expected to be widespread in suburbs with preferred dry vegetative structure.
NON-VENOMOUS
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