Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a

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 : 205-206

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.7968031

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/88502B73-FF56-B8BB-FF6B-405D787408D1

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a
status

 

Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a View in CoL — Native.

Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a: 182 View in CoL . Holotype: USNM 5523 About USNM , by original designation. Type locality: “ Singapore ”.

Cantor’s Water Snake

( Figure 23G View FIGURE 23 )

Singapore records.

Cantoria violacea View in CoL — Girard, 1858a: 182.— Girard, 1858b: 156.

Cantoria elongata Ģnther, 1864 : xx, 277.—Theobald, 1876: 229.

Cantoria violacea View in CoL — Boulenger, 1890a: 381.—Sclater, 1891a: 55.— Boulenger, 1896: 24.— Flower, 1896: 888.— Flower, 1899: 679.— Hanitsch, 1899: 12 (“near Cross Street School”).—Ridley, 1899: 208.— Boulenger, 1912: 165.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 16.— de Rooij, 1917: 191.—Sworder, 1923: 66.— Buddle, 1929: 36 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).— Smith, 1943: 399.— de Haas, 1950: 579.— Gyi, 1970: 186.—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.— David & Vogel, 1996: 112.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 330.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 31.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 87.— Jayne et al., 2002: 143.— Karns et al., 2002: 488 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 147.— Anonymous, 2003: 92 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Karns et al., 2005: 86.—J.C. Murphy, 2007: 59.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 109, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 165, 265.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2008: 167.—P.Z. Chen, 2010: 195.— Das, 2010: 325.—J.C. Murphy, 2011: 233.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 502.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 109, 161.— Das, 2012a: 105.—Voris & J.C. Murphy, 2012: 195.—J.C. Murphy & Voris, 2014: 11.—Wallach et al., 2014: 148.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 246.— Vogrinc, 2017: 205 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).— Das, 2018: 123.—Jayne et al., 2018: 638.— O’Shea, 2018: 538.— Charlton, 2020: 95 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).—S.J.M. Yau & Kamisan, 2020: 143 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).

Remarks. Cantoria violacea was described as a new species by Girard (1858a, b) from specimen USNM 5523 collected in Singapore some time around 1842 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition ( Table 1 View TABLE 1 ). Shortly thereafter, Ģnther (1864) redescribed the specimen as a new species, ‘ C. elongata ’, because Girard (1858a) stated that C. violacea was identical to ‘ Coronella violacea ’ [= Oligodon cyclurus ], which is incorrect. Sclater (1891) reported the second specimen of C. violacea from a specimen deposited at ZSI. Later, Hanitsch sent a specimen (ZRC.2.3316) collected on 29 August 1898 by Hellier near Cross Street Primary School ( Hanitsch 1899) to Flower for identification ( Flower 1899). This area was previously surrounded by mangrove forest (Yee et al. 2011). After Buddle (1929) collected three specimens at SNB, C. violacea was not reported again from Singapore until 82 years later ( Table 2 View TABLE 2 ) during Karns et al. (2002) study of homalopsids at PRPM. The only other records of C. violacea from Singapore comes from Vogrinc (2017) who published a note on the largest C. violacea measured, and from Yau & Kamisan (2020) who found a dead one on a trail at SBWR on 8 July 2020. LKCNHM has specimens from 1929, 1967, 1977, and 2001, and BPBM 7203 was collected on 12 December 1955. The individual shown in Figure 23G View FIGURE 23 was photographed at PRPM on 23 November 2014 (A. Figueroa pers. obs.). After B. hydroides , C. violacea is the rarest homalopsid in Singapore. Karns et al. (2002) only found four C. violacea during their study compared to 19 F. leucobalia, 31 G. prevostiana , and 156 C. schneiderii .

Occurrence. Restricted to mangroves of LCK, PRPM, and SBWR. Rare.

Singapore conservation status. Endangered.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2010].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Changi : ZRC.2.6481 (28-Apr-1967) ; Cross Street Primary School: ZRC.2.3316 (29-Aug-1898) ; Lim Chu Kang Mangroves: ZRC.2.3672 (18-Aug-1977) , ZRC.2.4991 (19- Apr-2001) ; Pasir Ris [ PPM] : ZRC.2.5000 (30-Mar-2001) ; Seletar : ZRC.2.3317 (Feb-1929) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BPBM, USNM.

Singapore localities. Changi—Cross Street—Lim Chu Kang Mangroves—Pasir Ris Park Mangroves—Seletar (not specified)—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*—Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Genus Cerberus Cuvier, 1829 (1 species)

Cerberus Cuvier, 1829: 2 (type species: Coluber cerberus Daudin, 1803 , by absolute monotypy; gender masculine).

NHMUK

Natural History Museum, London

ZRC

Zoological Reference Collection, National University of Singapore

BPBM

Bishop Museum

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Homalopsidae

Genus

Cantoria

Loc

Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a

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

Cantoria violacea

Charlton, T. 2020: 95
Das, I. 2018: 123
Das, I. 2012: 105
Chen, P. Z. 2010: 195
Das, I. 2010: 325
Karns, D. R. & Murphy, J. C. & Voris, H. K. & Suddeth, J. S. 2005: 86
Anonymous 2003: 92
Jayne, B. C. & Voris, H. K. & Ng, P. K. 2002: 143
Karns, D. R. & Voris, H. K. & Goodwin, T. G. 2002: 488
Lim, K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. 2002: 147
Iskandar, D. T. & Colijn, E. 2001: 87
Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997: 330
David, P. & Vogel, G. 1996: 112
Chou L. M. & Ng, P. K. L. & Lim, K. K. P. 1994: 105
Lim, K. K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. 1992: 147
Gyi, K. K. 1970: 186
de Haas, C. P. J. 1950: 579
Buddle, R. 1929: 36
de Rooij, N. 1917: 191
Boulenger, G. A. 1912: 165
Hanitsch, R. 1912: 16
Flower, S. S. 1899: 679
Hanitsch, R. 1899: 12
Boulenger, G. A. 1896: 24
Flower, S. S. 1896: 888
Boulenger, G. A. 1890: 381
1890
Loc

Cantoria violacea

Girard, C. 1858: 182
1858
Loc

Cantoria violacea

Girard, C. 1858: 182
Girard, C. 1858: 156
1858
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