Ahaetulla fasciolata (Fischer, 1885)

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 : 133-134

Ahaetulla fasciolata (Fischer, 1885) — Native.

Tragops fasciolatus J.G. Fischer, 1885: 66–68 , pl. 5, fig. 4. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1 .8.30, by original designation. Type locality: “Şdost-Borneo … [d]er genauere Fundort auf S. O. Borneo ist nicht angegeben” (= southeastern Borneo ), East Malaysia or Indonesia.

Speckle-headed Whip Snake

( Figure 15H )

Singapore records.

Passerita fasciolata — Smedley, 1932: 17 (Bukit Timah [ BTNR]; Botanic Gardens).

Dryophis fasciolatus —Tweedie, 1950: 197.—Tweedie, 1953: 81.—Tweedie, 1961: 84.

Ahaetulla fasciolata — Tweedie, 1983: 84.—K. Lim, 1990a: 8.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.— F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 69.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 71, 146.—Vogel, 1992: 8.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—K.K.P. Lim, 1994b: 331.—K. Lim, 1995: 16 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— David & Vogel, 1996: 60.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 311 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 378 (Fern Valley [BTNR]).—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 29.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 35.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 147.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 160.— K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 161, 264.— Das, 2010: 259.— Miralles & David, 2010: 455.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 160.— Das, 2012a: 17.—Wallach et al., 2014: 19.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 219.—Chow, 2017: 17 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—Sim & Sim, 2017: 94 (Rainforest Trail [SBG]).— Das, 2018: 24.—Will, 2018a: 10.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 160, 180.— Charlton, 2020: 132 (Pulau Tekong; Pulau Ubin).

Remarks. The presence of A. fasciolata in the Malay Peninsula was first documented by Smedley (1932) who reported a wild specimen from Genting Bidai, a museum specimen from “Larut Hills or Penang”, and two specimens from Singapore deposited at the Raffles Museum. The two Singapore specimens consist of one collected by Sworder on 15 March 1923 at BTNR, and one taken from SBG that contains no data. Surprisingly, Sworder (1923) did not include A. fasciolata in his checklist of Singapore snakes, possibly having confused it with A. prasina . Afterwards, Tweedie (1950) reported three additional records of A. fasciolata from the Malay Peninsula, two from Kepong and one from Singapore collected in 1946. The next record of A. fasciolata from Singapore comes 44 years later ( Table 2 ) when one was donated to the Singapore Zoo by the police in March 1990 ( Lim 1990a). Five years later, one was found along the main road of BTNR on 17 December 1995 (Lim 1995; Teo & Rajathurai (1997), and then A. fasciolata was not recorded again for 28 years, until one was found near the visitor centre at BTNR on 3 July 2013 (Chow 2017; Fig. 15H ). The most recent record was of one photographed fairly along the Rainforest Trail at SBG on 18 June 2017 (Sim & Sim 2017). This record is significant because the snake was found in a tiny (ca. 0.06 km 2) remnant patch of primary forest that has been isolated for well over a century, signifying a population of A. fasciolata has persisted in SBG despite the meagre habitat size and lack of connectivity to other populations. LKCNHM also has two specimens from an unknown locality collected on March 1990 and one from NUS Kent Ridge Campus dated 05 May 1976. An A. fasciolata reported by Hall (1988) from Pasir Panjang Hill was very likely a juvenile A. prasina , and the occurrence of A. fasciolata on PU and PT in Charlton (2020) are misidentification’s of Dryophiops rubescens .

Occurrence. Known only from BTNR and SBG. Rare.

Singapore conservation status. Critically Endangered.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2012].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): ZRC.2.4188 (1946), ZRC.2.2594 ( Mar-1990); Ayer Rajah Road [= NUS Kent Ridge]: ZRC.2.4253 (05-May-1976); Bukit Timah Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.4186 (15-Mar-1923) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): ZFMK.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus*— Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Figures

FIGURE 15. A) Lipinia vittigera, B) Subdoluseps bowringii, C) Tytthoscincus temasekensis, D) Varanus dumerilii, E) Varanus nebulosus, F) Varanus salvator, G) Acrochordus granulatus, and H) Ahaetulla fasciolata. Photographs by:Alex Figueroa [A–B, F], Shivaram Rasu [C], Law Ing Sind [D, G], Thio Hui Bing [E], and Lena S.Y. Chow [H].