Gravel Dragon

A hard-to-spot Gravel Dragon (Cryptogama aurita)

A few days ago we were photographing up at Carey Downs Station. As I was getting out of the car to open a gate, a small movement caught my eye. It took a moment to see what had moved as it was so well camouflaged. It moved like a lizard - close to the ground and fast scuttling, but had legs like a frog although not the webbed feet, and it had a long skinny tail. We’d never seen anything like it before!

Alys from the Station sent the photo to Don Bradshaw at UWA who replied:

“That is a terrific photo of a lizard known as the Gravel Dragon (Cryptogama aurita). It’s not often seen and can easily be mistaken for a piece of gravel rock. Only known from a small area of the Kimberley running into the NT – so your pic is very important as you are miles away from that area (guessing that you are not far from Gascoyne Junction?). With your permission I’ll send the pic onto to the WA Museum as they will be very interested in such a large range extension.”

How very cool to see one of these little critters!