page_title: Scottsdale Reserve
section_title: Striped legless lizard (Delma impar)
hierarchical_section_title: Scottsdale Reserve / Biology and ecology / Fauna / Striped legless lizard (Delma impar)
caption_attribution_description: English: Striped legless lizard (Delma impar) photographed at Crace, Canberra, ACT, 9 Sep 1977
context_page_description: Scottsdale Reserve is a 1,328-hectare nature reserve on the Murrumbidgee River in south-central New South Wales, Australia. It is 79 kilometres south of Canberra, and 4 kilometres north of Bredbo. It is owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia, which purchased it in 2006. The purchase was supportive of projects aiming to connect existing fragmented remnant habitat such as K2C. Since the 1870s up until 2006, the land was used for agriculture – primarily sheep grazing with some minor cropping. A significant component of the Reserve has been cleared of native vegetation.
  The reserve is within lands historically attributed to the Ngunawal people. Aboriginal presence in the area was likely due to the availability of resources such as the Bogong moth and the daisy yam. The Murrumbidgee River would have been a good source of fish including the trout cod – currently listed as endangered under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The river would have provided water for many species of terrestrial fauna the Aborigines are known to have utilised for food including the brushtail possum, eastern grey kangaroo and the swamp wallaby.
context_section_description: The striped legless lizard prefers undisturbed primary native grasslands with dense cover of tussock grasses such as kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra). Suburban development leading to habitat fragmentation and extensive agricultural impact on both native vegetation and soils have contributed to the decline of suitable habitat for Delma impar. Only around 3% of undisturbed temperate grasslands (suitable habitat for Delma impar) are estimated to remain in south eastern Australia. Delma impar seeks cover from tussock grasses to help maintain its body temperature and moisture requirements. Habitat selection is also driven by predator avoidance (such as raptors) and the abundance of invertebrate food sources. A key conservation challenge in managing populations of this threatened lizard has been maintaining genetic diversity, as the habitat is highly fragmented and populations are relatively small.
  One of the management actions at Scottsdale is supporting the relocation of a number of vulnerable striped legless lizards (Delmar impar) from development sites in Canberra. Trial areas were fenced prior to relocating the lizards whose original habitat prior to the advent of agriculture was natural treeless grasslands. Following human disturbance, the threatened lizard has a restricted range existing in fragmented secondary grasslands (where trees have been removed) in temperate areas of south eastern Australia.
caption: CSIRO ScienceImage 6661 Striped legless lizard
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