Liopholis inornata

The Liopholis inornata, once known also as Egernia inornata, is a scindid of arid regions with rocks and scarce vegetation, present in all the central-southern part of the Australian continent. The body is tapered, pale fawn or reddish brown on the back with longitudinal stripes and dark patterns on the sides. The legs are short. If we add 14 cm of tail, it is a species that may reach the length of about 22 cm. Semi fossorial, of crepuscular and nocturnal habits, often digs various dens, sometimes very distant from each other, to shelter quickly in case of danger, where to spend the warmest hours of the day and protect itself from the cold, especially during the long period of winter quiescence. They are narrow tunnels, 2,6 cm broad, little more than the double of its body, shaped like a “U” with an almost completed emergency exit, easy to open in the case a snake should enter the same. It hunts all the insects that are within the range, mainly ants and termites, without missing some small vegetal input. It’s a solitary species which lives in couple during the reproductive period. The females, ovoviviparous, generate 1-4 newborns © G. Mazza