A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia

by Swan, Gerry; Wilson, Steve

• ISBN13: 9781760796457
• ISBN10: 176079645X
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-10-06
• Publisher: New Holland Publishers

Summary

A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia has been the most comprehensive field guide available on the subject since the first edition was published in 2003. As new species are discovered, known ranges extended and higher quality images become available, updated editions of the book have been written to reflect these changes. This 7th edition of the book includes images, descriptions and maps for over 1100 species of Australian reptiles.

Author Biography

Gerry kept geckos while at school and after moving to Australia from New Zealand in the 1960s a chance encounter with a blue tongue lizard rekindled his interest in reptiles. An Associate of the Australian Museum and past editor of the journal Herpetofauna, Gerry has written and co-authored more than 9 books about reptiles; including What Snake is That, What Lizard is That, and Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. He also works as a reptile consultant and has a particular interest in the reptiles of the arid and semi-arid regions of New South Wales. Steve lifelong love affair with reptiles has taken him to some of Australia most remote places. For the past 30 years he has been working to compile a comprehensive photographic documentation of Australia reptiles. He has authored/co-authored more than 5 books, including A Field Guide to Reptiles, What Snake is That, and What Lizard is That and has written many magazine articles on reptiles. For the past 20 years Steve has worked at the Queensland Museum, educating the public, identifying their specimens and (hopefully) instilling a desire to conserve our unique biological heritage. Gerry kept geckos while at school and after moving to Australia from New Zealand in the 1960s a chance encounter with a blue tongue lizard rekindled his interest in reptiles. An Associate of the Australian Museum and past editor of the journal Herpetofauna, Gerry has written and co-authored more than 9 books about reptiles; including What Snake is That, What Lizard is That, and Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. He also works as a reptile consultant and has a particular interest in the reptiles of the arid and semi-arid regions of New South Wales. Steve lifelong love affair with reptiles has taken him to some of Australia most remote places. For the past 30 years he has been working to compile a comprehensive photographic documentation of Australia reptiles. He has authored/co-authored more than 5 books, including A Field Guide to Reptiles, What Snake is That, and What Lizard is That and has written many magazine articles on reptiles. For the past 20 years Steve has worked at the Queensland Museum, educating the public, identifying their specimens and (hopefully) instilling a desire to conserve our unique biological heritage.

Table of Contents

7 Preface 9 Acknowledgements 11 How to Use this Book 14 Glossary and Illustrations 20 Introduction 26 Crocodiles 28 Hard-shelled Sea Turtles 34 Leatherback Turtle 36 Side-necked Freshwater Turtles 58 Pig-nosed Turtle 60 Red-eared Slider 62 Chameleon, Thick-tailed, Leaf-tailed and Knob-tailed Geckos 82 Austral Geckos 140 Cosmopolitan Geckos 182 Flap-footed Lizards 210 Skinks 448 Dragons 516 Monitors or Goannas 534 Blind Snakes 556 Pythons 570 File Snakes 572 Colubrid Snakes 580 Mangrove and Freshwater Snakes 586 Venomous Land Snakes 658 Sea Snakes 676 Sea Kraits 678 Indian Ocean Territories 686 Selected Reading 689 Index to scientific names 699 Index to common names