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McIvor River Slider (Lerista ingrami)

The McIvor River Slider is a very small, day-active, carnivorous skink that lives on and below the ground surface. It is listed as Vulnerable in Queensland, so clearing, ground disturbance and fragmentation require careful management where the species may occur.

Conservation status

Queensland, Nature Conservation Act 1992: Vulnerable.

Breeding season

No species-specific breeding months are recorded for the McIvor River Slider. The species is oviparous and fossorial, so plan supervised, staged clearing in every month rather than relying on a seasonal clearance window.

Reproductive mode: Oviparous

Clutch size: Not recorded

Incubation: Not recorded

Size at hatching: Not recorded

Age at maturity: Not recorded

Nest or egg sites: Not recorded

Breeding frequency: Not recorded

Confirm timing locally before works, particularly against rainfall and temperature triggers that may influence dry-season breeding and surface activity.

  • Mating: Mating months are not recorded for this species. Related and other Lerista evidence indicates seasonal breeding may occur, but no reliable months can be assigned to the McIvor River Slider.
  • Gravid females: The presence and timing of gravid females are not recorded. Treat females carrying eggs as a possible risk in any month during supervised clearing.
  • Egg laying: The species lays eggs, but egg-laying months and sites are not recorded. Related Lerista evidence suggests breeding can be seasonal, including spring or the dry season, but no species-specific months are available.
  • Incubation: Incubation duration and the months when eggs remain in soil are not recorded. Treat undisturbed soil and ground cover as potential incubation habitat throughout the year.
  • Hatchlings: Hatching and juvenile emergence months are not recorded. Small young may be present in any month, and no peak can be identified.
  • Active period: The species is largely diurnal, but its active season is not recorded. Do not assume that winter or another month provides a low-risk clearance period.
  • Highest clearing risk: Treat clearing risk as year round because breeding, hatching and seasonal shelter use are unresolved, and the species is fossorial and terrestrial. Excavation, grading, compaction and removal of ground cover may harm animals in soil refuges in any month.

Identification

The McIvor River Slider is a minute skink with reduced limbs and a fossorial, terrestrial lifestyle. It is likely to be overlooked during broad fauna searches because of its size and association with soil and ground cover.

Adults reach a maximum recorded snout to vent length of 36 mm. A calculated maximum body mass is approximately 0.44 g, although this is not a measured typical adult mass.

The species is day-active and carnivorous. It has reduced limbs, no venom and no fangs.

Maximum snout to vent length: 36 mm

Calculated maximum body mass: Approximately 0.44 g

Activity: Diurnal

Limbs: Reduced

Identification: Similar species and sex

The supplied material does not provide diagnostic colour, pattern, pupil, tail, scale or sex-specific characters. It also does not provide reliable measurements for adult males, adult females or hatchlings.

Do not assign a very small skink to this species from size alone. Use an experienced herpetologist or approved identification key, and retain clear photographs and locality data for verification.

  • Treat any unidentified, very small fossorial skink found during clearing as a potential McIvor River Slider until it has been checked by a suitably experienced person.
  • Record the exact location, substrate, vegetation, disturbance context and photographs of the dorsal, lateral and ventral surfaces where safe to do so.

Identification: Field signs

No species-specific records are supplied for tracks, scats, calls, nests, sloughs or eyeshine. The species is fossorial, so direct observation, excavation of shallow soil, lifting suitable ground cover and targeted searches during clearing are more likely to detect it than searches for conspicuous surface signs.

  • Avoid relying on tracks, scats or calls to clear habitat, because none is documented as a dependable field sign for this species.
  • Use fauna spotter catcher procedures for any live animal found in soil, litter or low ground cover.

Distribution: Known range information

The supplied information places the species in Australia and records a very small range. It does not provide a mapped national distribution, Queensland bioregion, locality list, subpopulation structure or abundance estimate.

The type locality is recorded as Australia. The reported range size is 237 km², but the supplied material does not identify the boundary, constituent localities or the Queensland bioregions in which it occurs.

The species is listed as Vulnerable in Queensland in the project information. The dataset extract records stable population trend and Data Deficient international assessment, dated 2017.

Australian state listing: Queensland, Vulnerable

Reported range size: 237 km²

Population trend in supplied dataset: Stable

International assessment in supplied dataset: Data Deficient, assessed in 2017

  • Confirm occurrence against the most recent Queensland spatial wildlife data before planning clearing.
  • Treat suitable habitat within or near the recorded range as potentially occupied until field assessment and agency advice indicate otherwise.

Distribution: Strongholds and subpopulations

No strongholds, population size, density, subpopulation boundaries or confirmed population estimates are provided. The available habitat record includes heathlands, but it does not establish that all heathland records are occupied habitat.

  • Do not infer local abundance from the absence of records or from a single negative survey.
  • Map all records and suitable habitat patches separately, including patches that are isolated by roads, cleared land or development.

Habitat: Habitat types

The available records associate the species with tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands, with a habitat entry of heathlands in the Queensland dataset. It is fossorial and terrestrial, so soil, litter and low ground structure are likely to be more relevant during site assessment than canopy cover.

The broad biome classification is Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands. The Queensland dataset row records heathlands for this species.

The material does not identify a particular plant association, soil type, drainage class, fire age or canopy structure.

Broad biome: Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands

Habitat entry in Queensland dataset: Heathlands

Lifestyle relevant to habitat assessment: Fossorial and terrestrial

  • Assess heathland and other low, open or shrubby ground habitat within the known range.
  • Include both surface vegetation and the condition of the soil profile, litter and ground cover in habitat mapping.

Habitat: Elevation and site structure

The recorded elevation range is 0 to 10 m above sea level. No upper climatic limit, temperature preference, rainfall threshold or detailed vegetation structure is supplied.

Because the species is fossorial, retain soil and ground-cover features during site design where practicable. Avoid treating apparently vacant bare ground as unsuitable without targeted assessment.

Recorded elevation: 0 to 10 m above sea level

  • Record elevation and ground conditions for each fauna observation and each habitat patch.
  • Identify areas where clearing, grading, trenching or vehicle traffic will remove or compact the upper soil and ground-cover layer.

Foraging habitat: Diet and feeding

The McIvor River Slider eats insects and other arthropods and is active during the day. The supplied material does not identify particular prey taxa, food plants, hunting distances or home-range size.

Diet is recorded as carnivorous insects and arthropods. No vertebrate or plant diet is documented.

The species is diurnal and fossorial or terrestrial. It may therefore forage within or beneath ground cover and soil, but the supplied documents do not describe its hunting method.

Recorded food: Insects and other arthropods

Recorded activity period: Daytime

Foraging range: Not documented

  • Retain leaf litter, low vegetation and undisturbed soil where these occur in potential habitat.
  • Avoid applying pesticides or other soil-active chemicals in potential habitat unless the need, timing and off-target risks have been assessed.

Foraging habitat: Survey and clearing implications

No foraging range or density estimate is available. A small project footprint can still remove part of an occupied patch because the reported total range is only 237 km².

Search effort should be designed with a qualified herpetologist and should include direct searches of suitable ground cover and soil during the active daytime period.

  • Inspect soil, litter and low ground cover progressively ahead of machinery during clearing.
  • Keep a record of search effort, weather, substrate, ground cover and the area searched, not only confirmed captures.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

The species is oviparous, but the supplied documents do not record its breeding months, clutch size, incubation period, maturity or lifespan. Breeding habitat requirements therefore cannot be specified beyond protecting suitable ground and soil habitat.

No source supplied here records the breeding season, clutch or litter size, incubation period, age at maturity or lifespan. The species is recorded as laying eggs.

Do not assume that the absence of a visible nest indicates that breeding is not occurring. No nest description or egg-laying site is provided.

Reproduction: Oviparous

Breeding season: Not documented in the supplied material

Clutch size: Not documented

Incubation period: Not documented

Age at maturity: Not documented

Lifespan: Not documented

  • Refer any breeding-season restrictions to the relevant Queensland approval conditions and current species advice.
  • If eggs, hatchlings or an adult associated with a suspected nest are found, stop work in the immediate area and obtain advice from the fauna spotter catcher and project ecologist.

Breeding habitat: Habitat features

No egg-laying substrate, nest structure, incubation microhabitat or breeding shelter is described. Retaining intact soil, litter and low vegetation is the most direct site measure supported by the species' fossorial and terrestrial biology.

  • Avoid unnecessary removal, deep ripping, grading or compaction of soil in potential habitat.
  • Keep construction materials, spoil and waste out of retained habitat so that ground cover and soil remain available for breeding and shelter.

Sheltering habitat: Likely refuge resources

The species is recorded as fossorial and terrestrial, but no burrow dimensions, refuge depths, shelter type or seasonal shelter use are provided. Soil and ground cover should therefore be treated as potential refuge habitat during clearing.

The supplied material records a fossorial lifestyle but does not describe burrows, crevices, logs, litter, root mats or other specific refuges. It also does not give refuge dimensions.

Retain connected patches of undisturbed soil and ground cover where possible. This is general good practice for a small fossorial skink, not a measured species-specific refuge requirement.

Recorded sheltering habit: Fossorial and terrestrial

Burrow or refuge size: Not documented

  • Search beneath suitable ground cover and inspect exposed soil edges during supervised clearing.
  • Move cover objects only as part of an approved fauna search, and replace them where safe if no animal is present.
  • Do not fill or collapse suspected refuge cavities until they have been checked by the fauna spotter catcher.

Sheltering habitat: Construction controls

Trenching, excavation, grading, soil compaction and stockpiling can remove or block the ground refuges used by a fossorial animal. The documents do not quantify a protection distance or refuge depth for this species.

  • Fence and clearly mark retained habitat before machinery enters the site.
  • Keep spoil, vehicles and temporary compounds outside retained habitat.
  • Use staged clearing so that fauna spotters can inspect newly exposed soil and ground cover before the next clearing section proceeds.

Threats: Clearing and construction

The main project risks are direct removal of occupied soil and ground cover, soil compaction, fragmentation and vehicle mortality. Species-specific evidence for fire, predators, disease and hydrology change is not supplied, so these risks should be assessed at the site rather than assumed.

Clearing, excavation and grading can kill animals in soil or remove the small ground habitat on which they depend. Roads and infrastructure can divide the reported 237 km² range into smaller habitat patches and increase vehicle exposure.

The species' very small size and fossorial habit make it unsuitable for detection by broad visual searches alone.

Reported range size: 237 km²

Key project exposure: Removal and disturbance of soil and ground cover

  • Complete a targeted habitat and fauna assessment before clearing.
  • Use staged, supervised clearing in potential habitat.
  • Keep machinery and vehicle movements within approved disturbance areas.
  • Record and report all captures, injuries and mortalities.

Threats: Fire, predators, disease and hydrology

The supplied material does not identify species-specific effects of fire, introduced predators, disease or hydrology change. These pressures can still affect small terrestrial reptiles through loss of cover, altered prey resources, direct mortality or changes to soil conditions, so they should be considered in the site risk assessment.

Do not apply a generic fire interval or hydrology buffer to this species without current local advice.

  • Prevent unnecessary disturbance to retained habitat during fire management and access works.
  • Control domestic animals and prevent rubbish or food waste from attracting predators to retained habitat.
  • Avoid changing drainage, inundating habitat or concentrating runoff into occupied or potential habitat.
  • Use hygiene procedures when moving equipment between sites to reduce transfer of soil pathogens and weeds.

Threats: Conservation status and response

The species is listed as Vulnerable in Queensland. The supplied dataset records a stable trend but also gives a Data Deficient international assessment, so the lack of detailed ecological information should not be treated as evidence of low risk.

Queensland status: Vulnerable

International assessment in supplied dataset: Data Deficient

Recorded trend in supplied dataset: Stable

  • Apply the most recent Queensland approval conditions, species advice and fauna handling requirements.
  • Escalate unexpected records or repeated mortalities to the project ecologist and the relevant Queensland authority.

Survey methodology: 1. Daytime habitat searches

No species-specific survey guideline or detection-effort standard is provided for the McIvor River Slider. Survey design should therefore target its known traits: it is a small, day-active, carnivorous, fossorial and terrestrial skink associated with tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, shrublands and recorded heathland habitat.

Search during daylight because the species is recorded as diurnal.

Systematically inspect suitable ground habitat, including loose soil, shallow cover and places where a small fossorial skink could shelter.

Search retained heathland, grassland, savanna and shrubland habitat within and beside the disturbance footprint.

Use experienced reptile observers because the species reaches only 36 mm snout to vent and may be difficult to detect.

Maximum recorded snout to vent length: 36 mm

Recorded activity: Diurnal

Recorded habits: Fossorial and terrestrial

Survey methodology: 2. Targeted cover and soil inspection

Inspect suitable cover and the upper soil profile carefully, then replace cover in its original position and condition.

Search around retained ground cover, low vegetation and areas with friable soil that may provide shelter or burrowing opportunities.

Use a consistent search path and record the area searched, search time, weather, ground condition and habitat features examined.

Avoid relying on spotlighting alone, because the species is day-active and fossorial.

Survey methodology: 3. Timing and repeat visits

Schedule searches in daylight and in conditions when small reptiles are likely to be active, while avoiding unsafe heat, heavy rain and strong wind.

Repeat searches where the initial visit is negative, particularly when suitable habitat is present and the proposed clearing would remove ground cover or soil shelter.

The supplied sources do not provide a breeding season, active-season dates, transect length, trap effort, pitfall effort or required number of survey days, so do not present an unsupported effort target as a species standard.

If trapping is proposed, obtain approval from the relevant Queensland authority and use a reptile trapping design, checking schedule and animal-welfare controls approved for the project.

Survey methodology: Minimum effort and reporting

  • Define the survey area before fieldwork and include the disturbance footprint, access tracks, stockpiles and immediately adjoining suitable habitat.
  • Record observer names, dates, start and finish times, weather, search method, effort, GPS locations, photographs and habitat condition for every visit.
  • Record both detections and negative results, including the habitat searched and the reason any planned method was not completed.
  • Submit confirmed records and associated location and survey metadata to the relevant Queensland wildlife database.
  • Have uncertain identifications checked by a suitably qualified herpetologist before finalising the impact assessment.
  • Retain voucher photographs or other lawful evidence where this can be done without harming the animal or breaching permit conditions.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise

Treat any suitable lowland ground habitat in the project area as potential habitat until targeted survey and impact assessment show otherwise. The species has a recorded range size of 237 km², so local losses may matter where habitat is already limited.

Prioritise avoidance of occupied or apparently suitable heathland, grassland, savanna and shrubland habitat.

Retain continuous ground habitat and avoid creating isolated remnants between the works and adjoining retained areas.

Retain natural soil structure, leaf litter, low vegetation and ground cover that may support a fossorial terrestrial skink.

Use the smallest practical clearing footprint and keep vehicle movement, spoil placement and laydown areas out of retained habitat.

Do not assume that the absence of surface records means that buried or sheltering animals are absent.

Recorded range size: 237 km²

Recorded elevation: 0 to 10 m above sea level

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and planning

Check the current Queensland threatened-species requirements before disturbance because the project information identifies the species as Vulnerable in Queensland.

Confirm whether the proposed action requires a state fauna permit, animal ethics approval, authority to collect or handle wildlife, or other approval.

Check whether an EPBC Act referral is required for the project, even though the supplied listing states that the species is not nationally listed.

Prepare a species-specific fauna management plan where survey results, habitat quality or the scale of clearing warrants one.

Plan staging so that habitat is cleared in small, manageable areas and fauna management staff can inspect each area before machinery enters.

Before habitat disturbance: Site preparation

Complete the pre-clearance survey shortly before works begin and update it if clearing is delayed or the footprint changes.

Mark approved clearing limits and no-go habitat on plans and on the ground before machinery arrives.

Mark retained ground cover, soil shelter and connected habitat so operators do not remove or compact them accidentally.

Install exclusion fencing where it can keep machinery and people out of retained habitat without trapping animals or blocking their movement.

Brief all operators on the species profile, the stop-work process and the requirement to contact the fauna spotter catcher before disturbing suspected habitat.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls and machinery interface

The fauna spotter catcher should control the interface between clearing and retained habitat. Small fossorial reptiles can remain concealed in soil and ground cover, so staged clearing and careful inspection are needed even when no animal is visible.

Inspect the work area each day before machinery starts, including the active clearing edge, access routes and any habitat features exposed by earlier work.

Keep the fauna spotter catcher in direct communication with the machine operator and stop the machine whenever the spotter identifies a suspected animal, burrow or other habitat feature requiring inspection.

Clear progressively towards retained habitat only when this direction is safe and approved, giving animals an opportunity to move into retained habitat.

Keep machinery, spoil, water, fuels and personnel out of marked retained habitat.

Maintain exclusion fencing, gates and no-go markers, and repair them promptly if damaged.

During habitat disturbance: Animal and habitat handling

Do not handle the animal unless the person is authorised under the relevant approval and is competent in small-skink handling.

If a McIvor River Slider is found, stop nearby disturbance, photograph it where practicable, record its exact location and allow the authorised fauna handler to assess it.

Move a healthy animal only when necessary for its immediate safety, and place it in nearby retained habitat with suitable soil, cover and vegetation, following the approved fauna management plan.

Do not move the animal to an unapproved release site or across a substantial barrier such as a major road or waterway.

Treat injured, weak or heat-stressed animals as rescue cases and transfer them to a veterinarian or authorised wildlife carer through the approved project process.

Inspect exposed soil, loose cover, logs and rocks before they are removed, and replace retained features carefully where the approved method requires this.

During habitat disturbance: Stop work and records

Stop work immediately in the affected area when the species is found, when an unapproved habitat feature is exposed, or when the fauna spotter catcher cannot maintain safe observation of the clearing edge.

Resume only after the authorised fauna handler has cleared the area and the environmental representative has confirmed that the approved controls are in place.

Record every detection, handling event, relocation, injury, mortality, stop-work event and non-compliance with date, time, GPS location, habitat, photographs and people involved.

Report any death, injury, unauthorised handling or release to the project environmental manager and the relevant authority within the timeframe set by the approval or fauna management plan.

Update the clearing map and daily fauna register after each event.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance checks

Post-clearing work should confirm that no animals remain at risk and that retained habitat has not been damaged. Use the results to refine later stages and rehabilitation.

Inspect the cleared area and the retained edge after each staged clearing event for live animals, injured animals, carcasses, disturbed burrows and displaced ground cover.

Complete additional targeted daytime searches where soil has been disturbed, ground cover has been removed or a detection occurred during clearing.

Check that exclusion fencing, no-go markers and retained habitat buffers remain intact after machinery and transport movements.

Do not declare a stage complete until the fauna spotter catcher and environmental representative have signed the daily clearance record.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

Monitor retained habitat and any relocation areas using the same search method and recording fields used during the pre-clearance survey.

Compare detections, effort and habitat condition before, during and after works, rather than treating a lack of detections as proof of absence.

Report survey results, clearing area, incidents, relocations, injuries, deaths, rehabilitation actions and any departures from the fauna management plan to the relevant approval authority.

Maintain fauna controls and access restrictions until the environmental manager confirms that construction risks have ended.

Assess whether residual impacts remain after avoidance and mitigation, and address any approved offset or additional conservation requirement through the project approval process.

Rehabilitation actions: Habitat reinstatement

Rehabilitation should recreate connected, low-growing ground habitat with suitable soil shelter. The supplied sources do not identify particular plant species, nest sites or fire intervals for this skink, so restoration should use locally appropriate communities and site-specific ecological advice.

Reinstate natural soil profiles and avoid compaction in areas intended to become habitat.

Re-establish locally occurring heathland, grassland, savanna or shrubland vegetation that matches the pre-clearing community and the approved rehabilitation design.

Retain and redistribute suitable leaf litter, small logs, bark, rocks and other natural ground cover where they are present in the reference habitat.

Reconnect rehabilitated areas with retained habitat rather than creating isolated planting islands.

Do not install hollows or nest boxes as a default action for this species, because the supplied sources describe it as a fossorial terrestrial skink rather than a hollow-dependent animal.

Rehabilitation actions: Threat and site management

Control weeds so that dense invasive cover does not replace the low vegetation and ground structure used by the species.

Manage feral and domestic predators where monitoring or the approved management plan identifies a project-related risk.

Prevent vehicles and stored materials from entering rehabilitated habitat while vegetation and soil structure recover.

Apply fire only under an approved ecological fire plan that considers the local vegetation community, soil shelter and the need to retain refuge areas.

Do not use a generic fire interval for this species because none is provided in the supplied sources.

Rehabilitation actions: Success monitoring

Set rehabilitation objectives for vegetation establishment, soil stability, ground-cover retention, weed control, connectivity and protection from unauthorised access.

Inspect rehabilitation after construction and at the intervals specified in the approval or rehabilitation plan, recording photographs from fixed points and the condition of soil and ground cover.

Repeat daytime targeted searches in rehabilitated and reference habitat using consistent effort and methods.

Treat confirmed use by McIvor River Sliders, stable or improving habitat condition and successful connection to retained habitat as relevant indicators, while recognising that non-detection does not prove that the species is absent.

Escalate failed revegetation, erosion, weed invasion, predator impacts or repeated fauna deaths to the project environmental manager and implement corrective actions.

Sources