They are V.a.brachyurus, From the south eastern part of their range, Cloncurry/Mt.Isa area.
The two common types of ackies in the states are those, Yellow ackies and Red ackies, which are a different subspecies, V.a.acanthurus. The reds originate from the far far far west of Western Australia. There is around two thousand miles between these two and many other undiscribed types of ackies inbetween them,as well.
As of this time there are no lines or morphs. The reason is, they are not commonly imported, legal or not. There are very few decent keepers that can breed them long enough to achieve the luck of morphs or not long enough to develop a consistant morph. Or to breed them successfully enough to continue any line.
I do understand you hear things like Rare earth line, or Pro Exotic line or Goanna Ranch line. The problem is, they are all EXACTLY the same and of the exact same origin.
Another huge problem is, many naive keepers, simply thought they were just different colors and crossed them without knowing they were different(I have nothing against crossing) But then did not tell anyone or label the offspring as crosses(if you do crosses, you must RENAME the offspring. The cool part of crossing is, you can name them anything you like. Unless that particular cross has been named already.
At one time, Pete wiess, named some lines like, Western giants, the problem was, while they are a line, they were not western or giant. They were indeed a line(started from a local morph of Mt. Isa) Which is central east oz. Not west. Then there was German reds, which were another line of Mt. Isa(V.a.brachyurus) that were an orangish morph.
Sadly as soon as the line keepers stopped breeding them, they disappeared.
At this time I am working on three new lines of ackies. Two are local morphs of a exsisting subspecies, and one is another variation of Mt. Isa types. But they are not commonly available yet.
Sorry for taking so long, but this, WHATS MY ACKIE, thing is very mucked up these days. Cheers
