Chrysopelea ornata (Shaw, 1802)

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 : 254-255

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.7968194

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/88502B73-FF67-B888-FF6B-419A7D170B6F

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Chrysopelea ornata (Shaw, 1802)
status

 

Chrysopelea ornata (Shaw, 1802) View in CoL — Non-native; Introduced.

Golden Tree Snake

Singapore records.

Chrysopelea ornata —K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988a: 27 (Mandai Lake Road).—Sharma, 2007: 187.—Maury & M.-R. Low, 2015: 76 (Perahu Lane [LCK]).—Ng, 2017: 14 (Gardens by the Bay).— Charlton, 2020: 148.—E. Goh & Pek, 2022: 1 (Yio Chu Kang Road).—E. Goh & M. Loh, 2022: 1 (MacPherson).

Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima —Thomas & Boopal, 2014: 51 (Shenton Way).—J. Chua, 2021: 1 (Marina Bay).

Remarks. Earlier accounts of C. ornata in Singapore denote C. paradisi (e.g., Blanford 1881; Flower 1896; Sworder 1923), which was conventionally recognised as C. ornata . It was not until Smith (1943), that the name was used to refer to present-day C. ornata . Nine sightings of C. ornata were made in Singapore. The first was of one caught at Mandai Lake Road on 13 June 1988 ( Lim 1988b). The next eight were more recent, beginning with a dead specimen found at a construction site at Shenton Way on 14 May 2013 (Thomas & Boopal 2014), a live specimen found at Perahu Lane in LCK on 14 April 2015 ( Maury & Low 2015), another live specimen found at Gardens by the Bay on 1 January 2017 (Ng 2017), a dead specimen collected from OUTR on 20 September 2018, two snakes seen on 13 August 2021 at Gardens by the Bay, a gravid female caught entering a home along Yio Chu Kang Road on 21 March 2022 ( Goh & Pek 2022), and one photographed on the fence of a residential building on 16 April 2022 ( Goh & Loh 2022). Since C. ornata ranges from India and Sri Lanka eastwards to Indochina and south to northern Peninsular Malaysia ( Das 2010), it is believed the individuals in Singapore were either illegally imported pets or entered as stowaways on ornamental plants (Thomas & Boopal 2014; Maury & Low 2015). However, the authors of both these papers overlooked a relatively recent record of C. ornata taken from Endau-Rompin National Park, which expanded its distribution down to southern Peninsular Malaysia (Shahriza et al. 2012). Nonetheless, we consider the specimens from Singapore non-native given they were found at unnatural sites, particularly Gardens by the Bay, which was constructed in 2012 on reclaimed land.

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Old Upper Thomson Road : ZRC.2.7398 (20-Sep-2018); Shenton Way : ZRC.2.7022 (14-May-2013) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.

Subfamily Natricinae Bonaparte, 1838 (1 species)

Genus Fowlea Theobald, 1868 (1 species)

NHMUK

Natural History Museum, London

ZRC

Zoological Reference Collection, National University of Singapore

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Colubridae

Genus

Chrysopelea

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