I recognized these tiny speed demons right away as close kin to the tidepool-dwelling Cryptoblepharus burdeni I had seen a few years earlier on Komodo island in Indonesia. I saw at least two dozen of them racing about on boulders and logs, but struggled to get any halfway decent pictures. Later I discovered that they are quite common up and down the coast of Queensland at least, which seems to have earned them a large collection of common names.

Here is a complete list of the reptiles and frogs I saw on this trip to Australia.

While we were in Wynnum hoping to spot dugongs, I managed to find one of these skinks that was much less nervous than the ones in Mareeba.