Boiga drapiezii (Boie, 1827)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 155-156

Boiga drapiezii (H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827)— Native.

Dipsas Drapiezii H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827: 549. Holotype: RMNH.RENA.1006, by original designation. Type locality: “ Java ”, Indonesia.

White-spotted Cat Snake ( Figure 18B )

Singapore records.

Dipsadomorphus drapiezii — Boulenger, 1896: 74.— Flower, 1896: 889 (Bukit Timah [BTNR]).—Ridley, 1899: 209.— Boulenger, 1912: 171.— de Rooij, 1917: 197.

Boiga drapiezii —Sworder, 1923: 67.— de Haas, 1950: 582.—Taylor, 1965: 867.—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 117.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 147.— L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—L.M. Chou, 1995: 148.— David & Vogel, 1996: 67.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 322.— Cox et al., 1998: 73.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 30.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 39.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 147.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 169.—T.M. Leong et al., 2009: 487–492 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).— Das, 2010: 262.—L.L. Grismer, 2011a: 175.— T.M. Leong & J.W.M. Gan, 2011: 30.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 169.— Das, 2012a: 23.—L.K. Wang et al., 2012: 249.—Stuebing et al., 2014: 144.—Wallach et al., 2014: 103.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 209.—Thomas, Serin & I.S. Law, 2016: 1–2 (Upper Seletar [NSSF]).— de Lang, 2017: 108.— Das, 2018: 30.— Charlton, 2020: 143.—I.S. Law et al., 2020: 167.—K.H. Koh, 2022: 1 (“north-western edge of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve”).

Boiga drapiezii ssp.— Leviton et al., 2018: 431.

Remarks. Having first been documented in Singapore in 1896 by a specimen in NHMUK ( Boulenger 1896) and one observed in BTNR by Flower (1896), B. drapiezii was rediscovered in Singapore 113 years later (Table 2) when one was found on 14 November 2009 at NSSF ( Fig. 18B ) (Leong et al. 2009). In between this time, very few publications included Singapore in the range of B. drapiezii . After its rediscovery, B. drapiezii was only reported twice more, once on 17 July 2015 at NSSF (Thomas et al. 2016), and more recently on 22 January 2022 at the northwestern edge of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Clearly, B. drapiezii is the rarest Boiga in Singapore.

Occurrence. Known from one museum specimen, one observation from 1896 in BTNR, and two recent observations in NSSF. Rare.

Singapore conservation status. Critically Endangered.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2013].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BMNH 1882.11.27.5 (no date).

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Central Catchment Nature Reserve—Nee Soon Swamp Forest.

Figures

FIGURE 18. A) Boiga cynodon, B) Boiga drapiezii, C) Boiga jaspidea, D) Boiga melanota, E) Coelognathus flavolineatus, F) Gongylosoma baliodeira, G) Gonyosoma oxycephalum, and H) Liopeltis tricolor. Photographs by: Alex Figueroa [A, D, G], Kelvin K.P. Lim [B, C, H], Norman T.-L. Lim [E], and Nick Baker [F].