Butler’s Legless Lizard

Look what we found whilst weeding! It's a Butler's Legless Lizard (Delma butleri).

When disturbed these lizards do a "forward-leap" to escape. I'm sure they think this behaviour would terrify a predator but it just looks pretty funny.

We had to get the books out to identify it. Well developed hind limb flaps-yep, conspicuous ear openings- check, a uniform brown- mmm, and posterior nasal scale in contact with nostril- seriously? Ummm, yep I can just see that in the photo.

It's not considered threatened, but we've sent this observation in to the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas to be verified so it will contribute to our conservation body of knowledge.