Oligodon octolineatus (Schneider, 1801)

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 : 168-169

Oligodon octolineatus (Schneider, 1801) — Native.

Elaps Octolineatus Schneider, 1801:299 . Neotype: ZMB2099 , designated by Tillack & Ģnther (2009: 267). Type locality: None stated/traced; later designated as “ Java ”, Indonesia via neotype designation.

Striped Kukri Snake

( Figure 19E ; Rifle Range Nature Park)

Simotes octolineatus — Duméril et al., 1854a: 636.—Peters, 1859: 269.— Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Dennys, 1881a: 2.— Dennys, 1881b: 2.— Blanford, 1881: 215.—Sclater, 1891a: 24.— Boulenger, 1894: 224.— Flower, 1896: 884 (Botanic Gardens; Tanglin [= TF]).— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Flower, 1899: 672.—Ridley, 1899: 208.—Ridley, 1906: 263.—Hanitsch, 1908: 44.— Boulenger, 1912: 150.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 16.— de Rooij, 1917: 123.— Buddle, 1929: 38 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).

Holarchus octolineatus — Barbour, 1912: 118.—Sworder, 1923: 64.— Cross, 2020b: 1 (Sime Road Camp [= SICC]) .— Cross, 2020i: 1, 3 ( Bukit Timah Golf Course [= SICC]; Sime Road Camp [= SICC]) .— Cross, 2020m: 1, 5 (Sime Road Camp [= SICC]) .— Cross, 2020n: 1, 7 (Sime Road Camp [= SICC]) .

Oligodon octolineatus — de Haas, 1950: 556.— Harman, 1961: 182.—D.S. Johnson, 1964: 27.—F.L.K. Lim, 1984: 17.—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988c: 74 (Lim Chu Kang; Sentosa).— Hall, 1988: 89 (Pasir Panjang Hill).—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 117.—K. Lim, 1990a: 8 (Neo Tiew Road [LCK]; Sealand Road).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—K.K.P. Lim, 1991a: 3 (Jalan Ulu Sembawang).—Subharaj & K.K.P. Lim, 1991b: (Choa Chu Kang Road [CCK]).—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 59.—K.K.P. Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 6 (Choa Chu Kang Road [CCK]; Mandai Road-Upper Thomson Road [Springleaf Forest]; Neo Tiew Road [LCK]; Old Upper Thomson Road).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 59, 145.—E.K. Chua, 1993: 101.—K.K.P. Lim, 1993a: 3 (Neo Tiew Road [LCK]).—K.K.P. Lim, 1993b: 1 (Mandai Road; Neo Tiew Road [LCK]; Old Upper Thomson Road).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 11 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 12 (Sime Road Forest; Thomson Ridge Trail [TRF]; Ulu Sembawang Trail; Upper Peirce West [UPWF]).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 2 (Bukit Kalang Service Road [SRF]; Thomson Ridge [TRF]).—K. Lim, 1995: 15 (Jalan Ulu Sembawang; Nee Soon Swamp Forest; Rifle Range Road).— David & Vogel, 1996: 100.—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 369.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 382.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 34.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 74.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 146.— Malkmus et al., 2002: 351.— Anonymous, 2003: 92 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—T.M. Leong & L.L. Grismer, 2004: 15.— de Lang & Vogel, 2005: 250.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 106, 161.—Tillack & R. Ģnther, 2009: 267, 268.— Das, 2010: 291.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 272.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 106, 161.— Das, 2012a: 57.—Vassilieva et al., 2013: 243.—Wallach et al., 2014: 501.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 91.—H.C. Ho et al., 2015: 21 (Alexandra Woodlands).—R. Subaraj, 2015: 54 (Stephen Lee Woods [= RPN]).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 4, 7 (Night Safari; Stephen Lee Woods [= RPN]).—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2016: 184 (Pulau Tekong).— de Lang, 2017: 171.—Will, 2017b: 106 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Das, 2018: 68.—O’Shea, 2018: 199.—Will, 2018b: 32 (Coastal Trail [SBWR]).—H.C. Ho et al., 2019: 125 (Alexandra Woodlands).—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2019: 286–288.—H.T.W. Tan et al., 2019: 134 (Kent Ridge Park; National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus).—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 163, 181 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, after R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997).— Charlton, 2020: 182.—K.K.P. Lim, 2020: 4 (Bukit Timah Golf Course [= SICC]; Sime Road Camp [= SICC]).—C.C. Ong & C. Yeong, 2020: 145 (Thomson Nature Park).—E. Goh & I.T. Law, 2021: 1 (Upper Seletar Reservoir Park).

Oligodon octolineatus var. A— Mertens, 1969: 342 (Alexandra Road).

Remarks. Oligodon octolineatus is a widespread and common species ( Baker & Lim 2012) that was also considered common historically (Sworder 1923). Duméril et al. (1854) first reported O. octolineatus after examining specimen MNHN-RA-0.192 collected by Fontanier sometime around 1846 ( Lim et al. 2019). Several specimens were collected afterwards and deposited at different museums such as at ZMB (Peters 1859), Raffles Museum ( Dennys 1880a; Blanford 1881), ZSI (Sclater 1891) and NHMUK ( Boulenger 1894). Flower (1896) collected two specimens, one at Tanglin and one at SBG, and Ridley (1906) described one found in a tree that was cut down at SBG that was next to about a dozen eggs it laid. After not being reported for 32 years ( Table 2 ) between Buddle (1929) and Harman (1961), O. octolineatus has since been reported many times in The Pangolin and in Singapore Biodiversity Records, and many specimens have been deposited in LKCNHM.

Occurrence. Widespread. Common.

Singapore conservation status. Least Concern.

Conservation priority. Lowest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2012].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1880.9 .10.30 (no date), BMNH 1896.6 .25.44 (no date), ZRC.2.3850, ZRC.2.3854 (no date), ZRC.2.3860 (08-Mar-1923) , ZRC.2.5914 (Aug-1923) , ZRC.2.3859 (Nov-1949) , ZRC.2.5912– ZRC.2.5913 (31-Dec-1992); Botanic Gardens : ZRC. 2.5727 (Jun-2003); Bukit Kalang Service Reservoir [ SRF] : ZRC.2.6914– ZRC.2.6915 (12-May-2010); Changi : ZRC.2.3865 (Feb-1926); Changi Hospital : ZRC.2.2611 (14-Jul-1990); H. M. Naval Base [= Sembawang Naval Base ] : ZRC.2.5897 (26-May-1934); Hindhede Drive : ZRC.2.3161 (1975), ZRC. 2.2559 (1989); Island Club Road [ SICC] : ZRC.2.6725 (04-Aug-2008) , ZRC.2.6818 (17-Apr-2009); Jalan Kasau : ZRC. 2.6113 (2004); Kent Ridge [ NUS] : ZRC.2.3855 (10-May-1973); Lim Chu Kang : ZRC.2.2399 (Nov-1988) , ZRC.2.6938 (28-May-2011); Mandai Lake Road : ZRC.2.2295 (1987); Old Holland Road : ZRC.2.5486 (14-Aug-2002); Old Upper Thomson Road : ZRC.2.6069 (01-Jun-2004); Pulau Ubin : ZRC.2.6944 (10-May-2011); RAF Seletar [= Seletar Air Base] : BMNH 1983.965 (no date) ; Sapper Close: ZRC.2.3853 (12-Jul-1975); Seletar Camp : ZRC.2.5058 (Jun-2001); Seletar West Farmway 5 : ZRC.2.6733 (02-Aug-2008); South Buona Vista Road : ZRC. 2.7220 (24-Jun-2012); Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve [= SBWR] : ZRC.2.5263 (Oct-2001); Upper Seletar Reservoir Road : ZRC. 2.6846 (13-Sep-2009); Venus Drive [ WNP] : ZRC.2.6825 (15-Jun-2009) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): CAS, FMNH, MNHN, NMI, NMW, UWBM, ZMB; Bukit Kalang Service Reservoir Gate [= SRF]: UWBM; Dunearn Road Hostels [= College Green]: BPBM; Eng Neo Avenue Forest: MCZ; Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve: UWBM; University of Malay [= NUS]: BPBM, MCZ.

Singapore localities. Alexandra Road—Alexandra Woodlands—Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Changi—Changi Hospital—Choa Chu Kang—College Green—Eng Neo Avenue Forest—Hindhede Drive—Jalan Kasau— Jalan Ulu Sembawang—Kent Ridge Park—Lim Chu Kang—Mandai Lake Road—Mandai Road—National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Night Safari—Old Holland Road—Old Upper Thomson Road—Pasir Panjang Hill—Pulau Tekong—Pulau Ubin—Rainforest Park North—Rifle Range Nature Park—Rifle Range Road—Sapper Close—Sealand Road—Seletar Air Base— Seletar Camp—Seletar West Farmway 5—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.—Sentosa—Sime Road Forest—Singapore Botanic Gardens—Singapore Island Country Club—South Buona Vista Road—Springleaf Forest— Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve—Thomson Nature Park—Thomson Ridge Forest—Tyersall Forest—Ulu Sembawang Forest—Upper Peirce West Forest—Upper Seletar Reservoir Park—Windsor Nature Park.

Figures

FIGURE 19. A) Liopeltis tricolor, B) Lycodon capucinus, C) Lycodon subannulatus, D) Lycodon subcinctus, E) Oligodon octolineatus, F) Oligodon purpurascens, G) Oligodon signatus, and H) Ptyas carinata. Photographs by: Evan S.H. Quah [A], Alex Figueroa [B, E, G], Mary-Ruth Low [C], Daniel J.J. Ng [D], Benjamin Y.H. Lee [F], and Law Ing Sind [H],