Atlas species information

Habitat

• Scree, outcrops, talus slopes and creviced bluffs (mostly among greywacke rock) and associated scrubby vegetation.
• Limited occurrence in creviced schist habitat (Wanaka, Hawea).
• Sparse records from beech and kanuka forests.
• Lowlands up to at 1800 m above sea level.
• Largely nocturnal, but sun-basks at entrance to retreat.
• Usually terrestrial but may climb shrubs and dense vines at night; some populations arboreal.

Description

• Typically grey, but in some areas often dark olive with dull pink shadings, or brown.
• Markings consist of bands or blotches (or rarely stripes) that are usually drab, and some animals in Canterbury are silver-streaked in appearance.
• Undersurface speckled, or in Otago sometimes uniform.
• Often with narrow, pale stripe running from nostril to eye.
• Mouth lining pink, tongue pink with grey tip.
• Eye greenish or brown, sometimes with a blue edge.
• Measures 50-65 mm from snout tip to vent (in high altitudes sometimes up to 73 mm snout-vent length).

Distribution

• Inland areas from northern Otago (Wanaka, Chain Hills, Hawkdun Range and Kye Burn) northwards through the mountainous and arid regions of Canterbury, to southern Marlborough.
• Occurs on all islands in Lakes Wanaka and Hawea except Ruby Island.

Notes

• Notes about 2012-14 cycle of NZ threat classification for Reptiles: (Hitchmough, et al.
• 2012): Poaching has occurred recently, but widespread and locally abundant in many habitats.
• 2020: Recircumscribed to split northern populations off as a separate taxon.