Herpetological trip to Oman: 4. to 17. Februar 2009 |
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trip report by Thomas Bader, Gerald Ochsenhofer and Christoph Riegler |
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Day 13 (16-Feb-2009): The Highlights at the East Coast 
It was our last full day and we still missed some important species. So we decided to search again at the sandy patches along the east coast, which were quite productive during our last search. We had to drive about 60 km north from Ras al Hadd before the sandy areas begin. This time we decided to drive a bit farther away from the main road into less disturbed areas in order to maybe find some bigger species.
Varanus griseus
Firstly we again found the common eastern species Pristurus carteri and P. minimus, but Gerald also found another of the rarely observed Stenodactylus arabicus. This filigree (it easily loses its tail) little nocturnal gecko has webbed toes and therefore is able to swim in the sand. When we crossed the sparsely grown sand dunes, suddenly Thomas shouted thorough the walkie-talkie something about a monitor lizard and so we all went directly to him to look what was the matter. He told us that a monitor had looked out of a hole and so we started slowly to dig into this burrow. Shortly later on a second adjacent hole we saw its tail appearing. Now he was trapped and shortly later Thomas could grip him on its neck, but the monitor was tenacious and strong and so it lasted quite a while until we could safely dig him out. It was a semiadult yellowish black colored Varanus griseus with a slightly pink flank and tail. Our beauty measured about one meter in length. Its speed soon ran out and so we could take some good pictures before we released him from his torture. Monitors are a delicacy in Oman and regularly eaten by locals.
After a meal in a small village, we decided to go to one of our already known sites from the previous day, where Christoph observed a strange lizard, which Werner assumed to be a different Acanthodactylus species. Firstly we again found all the already previously observed species like A. schmidti, P. arabicus and the common geckos. After a long time of intense search Gerald and Christoph could catch an Acanthodactylus haasi, a very rare and hardly known endemic species of the central Oman. This little lizard flees in case of danger into a bush where it climbs up the bush in order to seek shelter, while other lizards dig themselves in.
On our way back to the south we decided to follow a dirt track farther inland with the hope to find another big reptile like the monitor from the morning. However, Gerald suddenly shouted to stop, because he had seen a spiny tailed lizard disappearing in its burrow. We knew that these lizards are active during the hotter parts of the day and as it was already late afternoon it was maybe our last chance for finding this highly favored agama. Shortly we found a big hole in the surroundings of the observation and after waiting in vain for quite a while we started to dig. As the soil was very hard and time went by, the chance for success faded away. Additionally Thomas couldn’t dig because he had a swollen and aching finger and Hannes was sick after lunch. So Gerald and Christoph dug in the heat of the afternoon for about two hours, while Werner was telling them how point this was. But haste makes waste and after digging a pit of about 6 m length in extremely hard substrate with a small shovel we finally dug a big Uromastyx leptieni with about 75 cm of length out. U. leptieni was recently described and belongs to the U. aegyptius complex. When caught, it didn’t move at all and was really shy and lethargic. Suddenly a local farmer approached and we hid the agama because also spiny tailed agamas are a delicacy in Oman. When he saw our tunnel he asked us where the Dhabb was gone. We told him that it ran away, but he didn’t really believe us. After he had left us, we took some photos and then we released him free near one of the many surrounded burrows.
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 Day 14 (17-Feb-2009): Turtle Watching and the Last Day
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