Wildlife of the Month

Illustration by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, sourced from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission

Striped Legless Lizard (Delma impar)

The Striped Legless Lizard is a pale grey-brown colour with a dark head and yellow face, and has a pattern of light and dark parallel lines down the length of its body. Adults grow to about 30 centimetres, of which at least a quarter is tail.

Striped Legless Lizards looks like snakes but differs from them in a number of ways. The lizards have a long tail, which they can shed if attacked, moveable eyelids, and two small, rudimentary back legs. They also have ear openings on the outside of the head and a tongue that is broad and flat and not forked. Unusually, these lizards have a voice box and can emit a high-pitched squeak when picked up or frightened. This 'voice' may also be used to startle predators, or as a form of communication during courtship, mating or fighting.

The Striped Legless Lizard lives in grassland areas from Canberra to South Australia, including the native grasslands west of Melbourne.

Legless lizards are active during the day but they are hard to see because they hide in dense tussocks of grass, cracks in the soil and under rocks for shelter and protection.

Striped Legless Lizards eat invertebrates including cockroaches, grasshoppers, caterpillars, flies, beetles, ants, crickets, moth larvae and spiders.

They are thought to lay 2-3 eggs per clutch in mid summer. The eggs are elongated, soft shelled and approximately 2cm long. They grow to about 3cm long during incubation. The eggs take five to eight weeks to hatch. Unlike the adults, the hatchlings do not have any body stripes. However, they do have a characteristic dark brown or black head, which fades with age. It is possible that this colouration is intended to make them look like baby brown snakes and therefore frighten off predators.

The Striped Legless Lizard was once widespread, but has declined over the past century. The species is now considered to be Vulnerable because of loss of habitat. Other threats include fire, ploughing, chemical fertilisers, grazing, cropping and the invasion of exotic plant and animal species. Power lines and poles provide perches for birds of prey, and urban development introduces cats which disturb, catch and kill the lizards, as well as other animals and birds.