Elected representatives in government are in charge of the policy and funding that can make or break saving threatened species. Their decisions and actions matter.

Melbourne has or used to have 18 threatened animals within its boundaries. One of them is me, the Striped Legless Lizard.

We took care to attach appropriate images that are as close to representative of each species as our resources and the availability of images allowed. However, we could not ensure perfect accuracy in every case. Some images show species that share the same genus but not at the species or subspecies level.

Striped Legless Lizard

Delma impar

Status: Vulnerable

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) lists threatened species under six categories:
Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Conservation dependent. Read more about these categories

Delma impar is found across 37 electorates.

The Striped Legless Lizard is a member of the family Pygopodidae, the legless or flap-footed lizards. As with other members of the legless lizard family, Striped Legless Lizards lack forelimbs and have only very reduced hind limbs. These hind limbs are apparent only as small flaps on either side of the vent. Superficially, these animals resemble snakes, but can be readily distinguished from the latter by the presence of external ear openings, a fleshy undivided tongue and a tail which is longer than the body. Striped Legless Lizards can be readily distinguished from other legless lizards by body colouration, body size and head scalation.¹

Explore more about this species on the Atlas of Living Australia

Adverse fire regimes