page_title: Excitable delma
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Excitable delma / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: An excitable delma juvenile photographed in Yarrigan National Park by Michael J. Murphy.
context_page_description: The excitable delma is a species of lizard in the Pygopodidae family endemic to Australia. The lizard gets its name from its active and jumpy defense mechanism. It will erratically jump multiple times in succession, each jump pivoting its body in a different direction. The D. tincta is a slender, long legless lizard that through evolution lost its limbs. It is found throughout Australia in a variety of habitats and spends most of its time hiding. Due to its nocturnal nature it is rare to spot in the wild. This legless lizard is small to moderate in size with a tail that is three to four times its body length. The typical size of the excitable delma is 250 - 300 mm. This legless lizard is an insectivore and feeds off insects it finds when travelling through grass, logs, surface soil and loose rocks. Like all pygopodids, the excitable delma is oviparous and only lays two eggs per clutch.
context_section_description: The excitable delma looks remarkably like a snake; this is because through evolution the species has completely lost its limbs. It has an extremely long and slender body with a tail that is nearly three to four times its body length. The excitable delma's snout is also rounded in shape. 
  The body size from snout to vent in an adult excitable delma is approximately 80 to 90 mm, with a tail that extends 240 mm. In juveniles their measurements can have a range of 40 mm for the body and 136 mm for the tail.  
  They are small and moderate in size compared to the rest of the Delma genus. 
  The body of the excitable delma is an olive green to grey-brown colour with a white cream under body, and consists of fourteen rows of mid-body scales, three subocular supralabial scales and one pair of supranasal scales. It has three distinct black markings across the upper section of the head and neck.  
  The black markings are intersected by four yellow bands, the first band on the muzzle, the second before the eye, the third behind the eye and the final across the back part of the head. The markings on the excitable delma's head and neck are more dominant on the juveniles.
caption: D. tincta juvenile photographed in Yarrington National Park by Michael J. Murphy
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