Something different - a Western brown snake, Myall snakes and more

 

I was working in a remote mining town in outback NSW for the last couple of weeks, and encountered this beautiful Western brown snake sunning itself by the side of the road late in the afternoon.     

Until recently this species was known as the Western Brown snake, Pseudonaja nuchalis but has now been reclassified as the "Strap-snouted Brown Snake" Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha.  Reclassifying old familiar species seems to be happening ever more frequently, and I'm not sure it's always warranted.  The common name bestowed on this majestic species just doesn't seem fitting to me.  Regardless of what you call them, these are a dangerously venomous species and are extremely fast, defensive and most definitely not to be molested.      

Speaking of interesting snakes, I noticed that Myall snakes, Suta suta were also quite common in the area.  While these inoffensive snakes are venomous, as long as you don't try to pick them up, they are inoffensive and harmless.  If you do pick them up, you had better know what you are doing because they will readily bite, and allegedly they pack a wallop.  

An inoffensive Myall snake alongside my size 14 boot for scale.  The snake ignored me completely, allowing me to take a couple of photos before I moved on, leaving it to its road basking.  The area is so remote that there was little risk from traffic to the snake.  

I also observed several Green tree frogs, numerous Tessellated geckos, several road killed Bearded dragons (sadly, one was a gravid female that left eggs all over the road) and a blind snake on the same night.  I didn't bother to identify the blind snake as you have to handle them to count scales to identify them properly, and they pack a decent defensive stink excretion.