Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836)

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 : 202-204

Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836) — Native.

Hamadryas hannah Cantor, 1836: 87–93 , pls. 10–12. Holotype: BMNH 1996.451 , by original designation. Type locality: “in the Sunderbuns … [and] in the jungle not far from Calcutta” (= Sundarbans, near Kolkata, West Bengal State), India.

King Cobra ( Figure 23E )

Singapore records.

Hamadryas ophiophagus — Cantor, 1847c: 1037, 1071, 1078.

Trimeresurus ophiophagus —A.M.C. Duméril et al., 1854b: 1246.

Trimeresurus bungarus — Jan, 1863: 118.— Jan & Sordelli, 1870 –1881: pl. 44 IV 1.

Ophiophagus elaps — Dennys, 1878b: 104.— Dennys, 1879b: 3.— Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Blanford, 1881: 216.— Davison, 1892: 91.

Naia bungarus — Boulenger, 1896: 387.— Flower, 1896: 894.— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Flower, 1899: 692.— Ridley, 1899: 201, 209 (Botanic Gardens).— Hanitsch, 1912b: 17.— Hanitsch, 1919: 3 (Mandai Road).

Ophiophagus bungarus —J.C. Thompson, 1914: 399.

“Hamadryad”—Hanitsch, 1914: 5 (“Leyang” [= Loyang].

Naja bungarus — Boettger, 1898: 122.— de Rooij, 1917: 249.— Buddle, 1929: 15 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).

Naja hannah —Sworder, 1923: 72.—Sworder, 1924a: 20 (Pulau Ubin).— Burton, 1950: 562.— de Haas, 1950: 598.—Tweedie, 1951: 6, unnumbered pl. (Island Golf Course [SICC]).—Tweedie, 1953: 98 (Island Golf Course [SICC]).—Tweedie, 1954: 117.—Tweedie, 1961: 102.—D.S. Johnson, 1964: 27.— Chuang, 1973: 4.—Sharma, 1973: 234.—E. Ng, 1979: 7.

“Hamadryad or king cobra”—Anonymous, 1950: 7 (Island Golf Club [SICC]).

Ophiophagus hannah — Leviton, 1965: 545.—Tweedie, 1983: 116.—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 116.— Gopalakrishnakone, 1990: 3.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 77.—D.S. Johnson, 1992: 38.—K.K.P. Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 8 (Lornie Road).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 84, 148 (Seletar).—Golay et al., 1993: 196.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—K.K.P. Lim, 1994b: 219, 331 (Pulau Tekong; Sungei Buloh [SBWR]).—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 3 (Bukit Kalang Service Road [SRF]).— David & Vogel, 1996: 149.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 425.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 385 (Lornie Forest; Nee Soon Range [NSSF]; Pulau Tekong).—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 38.—Orlov et al., 2000: 78.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 123.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 148.— Anonymous, 2003: 92 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Fry et al., 2003a: 447.— Leviton et al., 2003: 426.— de Lang & Vogel, 2005: 191.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 118, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 1697, 265.— Das, 2010: 317.—T.M. Leong & Mishak, 2010: 269.— Chanhome et al., 2011: 314.—L.L. Grismer, 2011a: 217.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2011: 143–156 (Adelphi Park [= Adelphi Park Estate], Marigold Drive; BBC Far Eastern Relay Station [KM]; Bras Basah Road; Bukit Panjang; Island Club Road [SICC]; Kampung Bahru [Tanjong Pagar]; Kranji Nature Trail [KRP]; National Service Resort & Country Club [KM]; Nee Soon Swamp Forest; Pulau Tekong; Rifle Range Road; Sarimbun Reservoir; Segar Road; Sentosa; Sime Road Camp; Singapore Island Country Club; Singapore Zoo; Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve; Upper Thomson Road-Tagore Drive [Tagore Forest]; Venus Drive [WNP]).—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 302.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 118, 161.— Das, 2012a: 102.— Hrima et al., 2014: 268.—Wallach et al., 2014: 507.— Ambede, 2015: 133–136 (Nanyang Drive [Nanyang Technological University Jurong Campus]).—N. Baker, 2015c: 137 (Upper Peirce Reservoir Park).—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 254.— Das et al., 2015: 62.—R. Subaraj, 2015: 38 (Night Safari).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 7 (Night Safari).—D.J. Wang & S.G.M. Tay, 2015: 24 ( Singapore Zoo).—R. He, 2016 (Sungei Buloh [= SBWR]).—I.S. Law, Groenewoud & Serin, 2016: 22–23 (Bukit Kalang [SRF]; eastern MacRitchie [TRF]; Upper Peirce, “attempting to cross a road” [UPRR).—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2016: 185 (Pulau Tekong).— Rakhmanaliev & Ivanova, 2016: 33 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Khew & Yokohari, 2017: 11.— de Lang, 2017: 263.— Charlton, 2018: 20, 30.— Cox et al., 2018: 67.— Das, 2018: 121.— Kurniawan et al., 2018: 63 (Night Safari).— Leviton et al., 2018: 457.—M.E.Y. Low & Pocklington, 2019: 350.—Sankar & Harrick, 2019: 48–49 (MacRitchie Reservoir).—C.J. Tan, 2019a: 50 (Pasir Laba Road).—A. Tay, 2019b: 80 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—J. Aw & M.E.Y. Low, 2020: 37.—N. Baker & S.S. Baker, 2020: 176 (Old Upper Thomson Road).— Baral & Koirala, 2020: 211.— Charlton, 2020: 238–239.—N. Chua, 2020 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— Koul et al., 2020: 93.—C.L.Y. Tan et al., 2020: 59 (Hindhede Quarry [HNP]).— K.H. Koh & Chanani-Parikh, 2021: 1 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—Sankar et al., 2021: 1 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—Shankar et al., 2021: 12, 16 ( Singapore Zoo).—M.L. Kwak & A. Ng, 2022: 929.

“King cobra”— He, 2015 (Nanyang Technological University).—Mong & H.H. Tan, 2016: 266.— Lay, 2017a (MacRitchie Trail [TRF]).— Danao, 2020 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Ishak, 2020 (“HDB estate near Marsiling MRT”).—A. Tan, 2021c (Dairy Farm Nature Park).—A. Tan, 2021e (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—A. Tan, 2021f (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—K. Wong, 2021 (MacRitchie Nature Trail [TRF]).— Lean, 2022b (Hindhede Nature Park).

Ophiophaus [sic] hannah —W. Wong, 2017: 52.

Remarks. Lim et al. (2011) provide a history of 39 records of O. hannah in Singapore spanning from 1929 to 2010, beginning with Buddle’s (1929) observation of two individuals at SNB and ending with the capture of one in a drain along Island Club Road on 27 March 2010 that contained a freshly-eaten Malayopython reticulatus in its gut. This cobra was then placed and exhibited at Singapore Zoo. Lim et al. (2011) noted that Cantor (1847c) was the first to report O. hannah from Singapore, and that Sworder (1923) considered it uncommon. In between Cantor’s (1847c) and Buddle’s (1929) accounts, O. hannah was reported from museum specimens ( Jan 1863; Blanford 1881; Boulenger 1896; Boettger 1898), and from field observations. Dennys (1878b) described the capture of one by some residents, Ridley (1899) mentioned four to five specimens taken at SBG within the span of six to seven years, Hanitsch (1914, 1916) reported one collected at Loyang and another at Mandai Road, and Sworder (1924a) obtained one at PU. The longest time O. hannah went unreported in the literature is 30 years ( Table 2 ), between the time of one captured at SICC on 10 July 1950 (Tweedie 1953) and the photograph of ZRC 2. 2301 published in Lim & Lee (1989) which was collected at Singapore Zoo in June 1980 ( Lim et al. 2011). Based on the frequency of records, Lim et al. (2011) expressed that O. hannah is not so rare in Singapore, a view also shared by Johnson (1964), but not supported by Baker & Lim (2012) who classified O. hannah as rare.

After Lim et al. (2011), several records have been published (see records above), many of which describe predation events such as one attacking a M. reticulatus at NTU Jurong campus on 27 August 2015 ( Ambede 2015; He 2015), one feeding on a juvenile Varanus salvator at SBWR on 7 January 2016 ( He 2016), one that bit a M. reticulatus on the middle of a trail at TRF on 30 May 2017 ( Lay 2017a), one holding onto a V. nebulosus at Night Safari on 3 April 2018 ( Kurniawan et al. 2018), another that was holding onto a juvenile conspecific in water at MR on 19 May 2018 (Sankar & Harrick 2019), one that caught a Cerberus schneiderii along the mudflats at SBWR on 6 July 2018 (Tay 2019b), another one at SBWR feeding on another C. schneiderii on 17 July 2020 ( Danao 2020), one holding onto a M. reticulatus in a drain at DFNP on 14 June 2021 (A. Tan 2021c), one that ate a M. reticulatus at SBWR on 22 June 2021 (Sankar et al. 2021; A. Tan 2021e), one that ate a C. schneiderii and a Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus at SBWR on 1 July 2021 (A. Tan 2021f), another at SBWR that also ate a C. schneiderii and a Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus on 16 August 2021 ( Koh & Chanani-Parikh 2021), and one eating a V. nebulosus at HNP on 30 April 2022 (Lean 2022). Additional records include one which was seen swimming in Hindhede Quarry on 15 and 17 February 2020 (Tan et al. 2020), an approximately 3 m live individual seen in the lobby of an HDB estate near Marsiling MRT on 3 May 2020 ( Ishak 2020), a large adult photographed crossing OUTR on 13 October 2020 (Baker & Baker 2020), one seen crossing a trail at BTNR on 3 December 2020 ( Chua 2020), and one climbing onto a tree from the roof of a shelter at TRF on 14 February 2021 (Wong 2021).

Occurrence. Wide-ranging. Uncommon.

Singapore conservation status. Vulnerable.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Vulnerable [2012].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1882.11 . 29.1 (no date); Bras Basah Road : ZRC.2.3209 (31-Jan-1935); Holland Road : ZRC. 2.7299 (28-Jan-2018); Island Club [ SICC] : ZRC . 2.3210 (09-Jul-1950); Island Club Road [ SICC] : ZRC.2.6837 (07-Aug-2009); Kampong Bahru Market : ZRC.2.3211 (07-Apr-1972); Mandai Lake Road : ZRC.2.2301 (Jun-1980); Pulau Tekong : ZRC.2.2509 (1987), ZRC.2.6201 (27-Jun-2006); Sime Road Camp : ZRC.2.3257 (24-Nov-1947); Singapore Island Country Club : ZRC.2.5442 (01-Jun-2002); Upper Peirce Reservoir Road : ZRC.2.7121 (02-Jul-2015) , ZRC. 2.7118 (16-Sep-2015); Venus Drive [ WNP] : ZRC.2.6701 (22-May-2008) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): CAS; Tanah Merah: BPBM.

Singapore localities. Adelphi Park Estate—Bras Basah Road*—Bukit Panjang—Dairy Farm Nature Park— Hindhede Nature Park—Holland Road*—Kampong Bahru Market*—Kranji Marshes—Kranji Reservoir Park—Lornie Forest—Lornie Road—Loyang—MacRitchie North Forest—MacRitchie Reservoir— Mandai Lake Road—Mandai Road—Marigold Drive—Marsiling MRT—Nanyang Technological University Jurong Campus—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Night Safari—Pasir Laba Road—Pulau Tekong— Pulau Ubin—Rifle Range Road—Sarimbun Reservoir—Segar Road—Seletar—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*— Sentosa—Sime Road Camp—Sime Road Forest—Singapore Botanic Gardens—Singapore Island Country Club—Singapore Zoo—Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve—Tagore Forest—Tanah Merah*—Tanjong Pagar*—Thomson Ridge Forest—Upper Peirce Reservoir Park—Upper Peirce Reservoir Road—Windsor Nature Park.

Figures

FIGURE 23. A) Hydrophis stokesii, B) Hydrophis stokesii, C) Laticauda colubrina, D) Naja sumatrana, E) Ophiophagus hannah, F) Bitia hydroides, G) Cantoria violacea, and H) Cerberus schneiderii. Photographs by: Kelvin K.P. Lim [A], Christopher J. Jolly [B], Philip Vogrinc [C], Alex Figueroa [D, G–H], Francis L.K. Lim [E], and Evan S.H. Quah [F].