Strophurus intermedius
—
Southern Spiny-tailed Gecko
At the time I took this photo, I assumed that this was Strophurus ciliaris, the same spiny-tailed gecko species that I had seen east of Alice Springs and near Yulara. But when I looked at my photos in detail later, I realized that the color and arrangement of spiny scales down the back and tail meant that this one was S. intermedius instead.
A caveat here is that the range map in Cogger shows S. intermedius reaching this part of the Northern Territory, but the very different range map in Wilson and Swan shows S. intermedius only south of the Northern Territory. The Australian Reptile Online Database says "While generally not shown in field guides, this species is well-known from Alice Springs, Northern Territory", so I'm sticking with this ID.
Printed references:
- Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles & Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition
- Wilson, S. and Swan, G. 2017. A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Fifth Edition