TIMOR-LESTE REPTILE & AMPHIBIAN SURVEY
PHASE IV: TILOMAR FOREST RESERVE cont.

On the same tree, we also saw two Flat-tailed geckos (Hemidactylus platyurus) and while up above, Laca managed to dislodge them to fall to the people below.

Brown phase Emerald tree skink Lamprolepis cf. smaragdina	Flat-tailed gecko Hemidactylus platyurus

On trees further on we captured a brown-phase Emerald tree skink and two females and a male Timor flying lizards. At almost 1000 m we stopped to photograph the panorama across the border into Indonesian West Timor and then began the journey back down, stopping to search roadside rock piles for altitudinal Night skinks (Eremiascincus sp.) but finding only ants, large scolopendrid centipedes and the buthid Bark scorpions (Lychas mucronatus) we had painfully encountered in the past. Our luck changed when Scott found a blindsnake (Ramphotyphlops sp.), which we originally thought was the parthenogenetic introduced Brahminy blindsnake (R. braminus) but its scale count and longitudinal stripes suggest otherwise. It is either a first record for Timor or a new species. We also found a Striped treefrog (Polypedates cf. leucomystax) and an Orb-weaving spider (Argiope sp.).

The river separates Timor-Leste from Indonesian West Timor. Our vehicles are on the road to the left of the border. Click on the image to enlarge

Bark scorpion Lychas mucronatus	Blindsnake Ramphotyphlops sp.
Striped treefrog Polypedates cf. leucomystax	Orb-weaving spider Argiope sp.