Could this tiny legless lizard stop an Upper Hunter mine expansion? Environment groups say it should

The lizard found on the mine site by researchers from the Australian Museum has now been identified as the Hunter Valley Delma (Delma vescolineata). It is endemic to the Hunter Valley and Liverpool Plains.

Environmental advocacy groups are ramping up pressure on federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reject the Mt Pleasant mine expansion near Muswellbrook.

It comes after Ms Plibersek rejected Clive Palmer's central Queensland coal mine under the nation's environmental laws. The refusal was the first such determination to be made under the legislation.