Calliophis bivirgatus (Xu & Teo, 2013)

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 : 190-191

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:78E23714-8973-4755-BC94-0A751D7D2B37

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7967990

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/88502B73-FF27-B8C9-FF6B-43167D760F86

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Calliophis bivirgatus
status

 

Calliophis bivirgatus View in CoL (H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827)— Native.

Elaps bivirgatus H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827: 556. Holotype: RMNH.RENA.1435, by original designation. Type locality: “ Java ”, Indonesia.

Blue Malayan Coral Snake

( Figure 21G View FIGURE 21 ; Windsor Nature Park)

Singapore records.

Elaps bivirgatus var.— Cantor, 1847c: 1031.

Doliophis flaviceps — Girard, 1858a: 182.— Girard, 1858b: 177.

Callophis bivirgatus — Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Blanford, 1881: 216.— Davison, 1892: 92.

Adenophis bivirgatus —Sclater, 1891a: 57.

Doliophis bivirgatus View in CoL — Boulenger, 1896: 401.— Flower, 1896: 895.— Flower, 1899: 692.—Ridley, 1899: 202, 209.— de Rooij, 1917: 251.— Moulton, 1922: 567.

Doliophis bivirgatus View in CoL var. B— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 17.

Maticora bivirgata —Sworder, 1923: 72.— Harman, 1961: 182.—D.S. Johnson, 1964: 27.—D.H. Murphy, 1973: 68 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—Sharma, 1973: 236.—F. Lim, 1988: 4 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Sime Road [SRF]).—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988b: 50 (Nee Soon Range [NSSF]).—K. Lim, 1989h: 64 (Fern Valley [BTNR]).—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 83, 115.— Gopalakrishnakone, 1990: 3.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 73.—D.S. Johnson, 1992: 38.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 88, 148.—Wee, 1992: 74 (Lower Peirce Reservoir Park).—K.K.P. Lim & Subaraj, 1994: 6 (Rifle Range Road).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 13 (Mandai Track 15; Sime Road Forest).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—L.M. Chou, 1995: 148.—K. Lim, 1995: 17 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 421.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 383, 384, 385 (Bukit Timah [BTNR]; MacRitchie).—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 38.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 148.—T.M. Leong, 2005: 42 (MacRitchie Tree Top Trail [SRF].

Maticora (Doliophis) bivirgata — Buddle, 1929: 23 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).

Maticora bivirgata flaviceps — de Haas, 1950: 601.—Golay et al., 1993: 151.— David & Vogel, 1996: 152.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 150.

Calliophis bivirgatus View in CoL — Cox et al., 1998: 31.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 115, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 265.— Das, 2010: 314.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 273, 302.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 115, 161.— Das, 2012a: 91.—L.K. Wang et al., 2012: 187.—Xu & Y.T. Teo, 2013: 82, 83 (Chestnut Track [CTF]).— Mejia, 2014: 110 (“north shore of MacRitchie Reservoir” [MNF]).—Wallach et al., 2014: 144.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 256.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 178.—R. Subaraj, 2015: 55 (Night Safari).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 7 (Night Safari).— Das, 2018: 108.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 165, 181 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— Charlton, 2020: 228.— Jones, 2020a: 429.—K.H. Koh, 2020: 220 (Thomson Nature Park).

Calliophis bivirgatus flaviceps — Chanhome et al., 2011: 315.— Cox et al., 2018: 59.

“blue coral snake”—Mong & H.H. Tan, 2016: 266.

Remarks. Cantor (1847c) first reported C. bivirgatus from Singapore and shortly thereafter, Girard (1858 a, 1858b) reported one collected around 1842 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. Ridley (1899) described C. bivirgatus as not common in Singapore, but Sworder (1923) expressed it was not uncommon, which is likely true given the number of museum specimens ( Blanford 1881; Sclater 1891a; Boulenger 1896; Moulton 1922), and that Flower (1896) and Buddle (1929) both collected several specimens. As with other species, C. bivirgatus was next reported by Harman (1961) 32 years later ( Table 2 View TABLE 2 ). Another 27 years passed before another observation of C. bivirgatus was published that involved one eating a smaller conspecific on 17 January 1988 at SRF, and one seen at BTNR on 2 February 1988 (Lim 1988). Baker & Lim (2012) listed C. bivirgatus as rare, despite several observations being published (e.g., Lim & Lim 1988b; Subaraj 1994; Leong 2005), and Teo & Rajathurai (1997) found it to be one of the most common snakes in CNR. However, Teo & Rajathurai (1997) do specify that they designated it as uncommon since it does not occur outside CNR. Seemingly, they missed Buddle’s (1929) record from SNB and did not have access to museum records that show two specimens from Dhoby Ghaut and Pasir Laba Road. Although we find C. bivirgatus not uncommon (A. Figueroa pers. obs.), there are few recent published records. Three include predation events, one biting the neck of an Oligodon signatus on 22 September 2009 at CTF (Xu & Teo 2013), one grasping a Gongylosoma baliodeira on 13 August 2013 at MNF ( Mejia 2014), and another eating a C. schlegeli at TNP on 11 December 2020. One of us also witnessed a C. bivirgatus track and chase a Calamaria schlegeli for about 10 minutes that managed to escape down a hole at RRNP on 1 March 2018 (A. Figueroa pers. obs.). Two additional recently published records are of one recorded at Night Safari (R. Subaraj 2015; S. Subaraj 2015), and one at BTNR (Teo & Thomas 2019). The individual shown in Figure 21G View FIGURE 21 was photographed at WNP on 7 September 2014 (M.-R. Low unpub. data).

Occurrence. Restricted to CNR and surrounding Nature Parks and forests. Uncommon.

Singapore conservation status. Vulnerable.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2012].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BMNH 1880.9 .10.18 (no date), BMNH 1930.12.2.12–13 (no date), BMNH 1930.11.15.1–2 (no date), ZRC.2.3921 (no date); Bukit Kalang Service Reservoir [ SRF]: ZRC.2.6305 (10-Nov-2006); Bukit Timah Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.6390–ZRC.2.6392 (1986), ZRC.2.3535 (18-Oct-1996), ZRC.2.6059 (08-Oct-2003), ZRC.2.6682 (01-Nov-2007), ZRC.2.6830 (29-Jun-2009); CatchmentArea: ZRC.2.3916(no date); Central Catchment Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.6056 (no date); Dhoby Ghaut: ZRC.2.5898 (03-Sep-1932); MacRitchie Forest : ZRC.2.6801 (09-Jan-2009); Old Upper Thomson Road: ZRC.2.5645 (19-Mar-2003); Pasir Laba Road: ZRC.2.2325 (1984); Rifle Range Road: ZRC.2.2403 (Dec-1988), ZRC.2.6058 (08-Jan-2004); Singapore Island Country Club Road: ZRC.2.6095 (13-Oct-2004).

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): AMNH, CAS, MNHN, NMI, SAMA, USNM, WAM; Nee Soon [= NSSF]: BPBM.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Chestnut Track Forest—Dhoby Ghaut *— Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—MacRitchie (not specified)— MacRitchie North Forest—MacRitchie Reservoir Park — Mandai Track 15—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Night Safari—Old Upper Thomson Road—Pasir Laba Road—Rifle Range Nature Park—Rifle Range Road—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*—Sime Road Forest— Singapore Island Country Club—Thomson Nature Park—Windsor Nature Park.

SRF

Shangrao Forestry Institute

NHMUK

Natural History Museum, London

ZRC

Zoological Reference Collection, National University of Singapore

AMNH

American Museum of Natural History

BPBM

Bishop Museum

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Elapidae

Genus

Calliophis

Loc

Calliophis bivirgatus

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P. 2023
2023
Loc

Calliophis bivirgatus flaviceps

Cox, M. J. & Hoover, M. F. & Chanhome, L. & Thirakhupt, K. & Pongcharoen, C. 2018: 59
Chanhome, L. & Cox, M. J. & Vasaruchapong, T. & Chaiyabutr, N. & Sitprija, V. 2011: 315
2011
Loc

Calliophis bivirgatus

Cox, M. J. & van Dijk, P. P. & Nabhitabhata, J. & Thirakhupt, K. 1998: 31
1998
Loc

Maticora bivirgata

Lim, K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. 2002: 148
Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997: 421
Chou, L. M. 1995: 148
Lim, K. K. P. & Subaraj, R. 1994: 6
Chou L. M. & Ng, P. K. L. & Lim, K. K. P. 1994: 105
Johnson, D. S. 1992: 38
Lim, K. K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. 1992: 88
Gopalakrishnakone, P. 1990: 3
Lim, K. 1989: 64
Lim, K. & Lim, F. 1988: 50
Johnson, D. S. 1964: 27
Harman, A. J. E. 1961: 182
1961
Loc

Maticora bivirgata flaviceps

Iskandar, D. T. & Colijn, E. 2001: 150
David, P. & Vogel, G. 1996: 152
de Haas, C. P. J. 1950: 601
1950
Loc

Maticora (Doliophis) bivirgata

Buddle, R. 1929: 23
1929
Loc

Doliophis bivirgatus

Hanitsch, R. 1912: 17
Hanitsch, R. 1898: 20
1898
Loc

Doliophis bivirgatus

Moulton, J. C. 1922: 567
de Rooij, N. 1917: 251
Flower, S. S. 1899: 692
Boulenger, G. A. 1896: 401
Flower, S. S. 1896: 895
1896
Loc

Callophis bivirgatus

Davison, W. 1892: 92
Blanford, W. T. 1881: 216
Dennys, N. B. 1880: 3
1880
Loc

Doliophis flaviceps

Girard, C. 1858: 182
Girard, C. 1858: 177
1858
Loc

Elaps bivirgatus

Cantor, T. E. 1847: 1031
1847
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