Lycodon subannulatus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)

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 : 166

Lycodon subannulatus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) — Native.

Odontomus sub-annulatus A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A. Duméril, 1854: 454–455 . Holotype: RMNH. RENA.985, by original designation. Type locality: “habite l’île de Sumatra ”, Indonesia; later restricted to “ Padang , West Sumatra ”, Indonesia by de Haas (1950: 553).

Malayan Bridle Snake

( Figure 19C )

Singapore records.

Nymphophidium subannulatum — Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Dennys, 1881b: 2.— Blanford, 1881: 215.

Hydrophobus subannulatus — Boulenger, 1890a: 297.

Dryocalamus subannulatus — Boulenger, 1893: 371.— Boulenger, 1896: 620.— Flower, 1896: 881.— Hanitsch, 1898: 19.— Flower, 1899: 665.—Ridley, 1899: 207.— Boulenger, 1912: 134.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 16.— de Rooij, 1917: 119.—Sworder, 1923: 62.—Smedley, 1931b: 50.— de Haas, 1950: 554.—K. Lim, 1990a: 7 (Upper Peirce Reservoir Road).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 63 (Upper Peirce).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 145.—P.K.L. Ng & K.K.P. Lim, 1992: 260.—Wee, 1992: 73 (Lower Peirce Reservoir Park).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—K.K.P. Lim, 1994b: 331.— David & Vogel, 1996: 79.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 380 (Lower Peirce East Forest; Nee Soon Range [NSSF]Taban & Lasia Valleys [BTNR]).— Cox et al., 1998: 65.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 32.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 56.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 146.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 101, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 163, 264.— Das, 2010: 278.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 272.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 101, 161.— Das, 2012a: 39.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2013: 122–123 (Hindhede Nature Park; Nee Soon Swamp Forest; Upper Seletar Reservoir Park).—Stuebing et al., 2014: 174.—Wallach et al., 2014: 248.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 203.— de Lang, 2017: 145.— Das, 2018: 47.—J.L. Lee et al., 2018: 341.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 163, 181 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— Charlton, 2020: 179.—J.M. Yau et al., 2020: 6 (Old Upper Thomson Road).

Lycodon subannulatus — Leo et al., 2020: 257.

Remarks. Previously recognised as Dryocalamus subannulatus , this species is currently known as Lycodon subannulatus since Figueroa et al. (2016) synonymised Dryocalamus with Lycodon . Dennys (1880a) first reported L. subannulatus from Singapore in a newspaper article, followed by Blanford (1881) in a journal article. Yet, Boulenger (1890a) corrected the locality of Ģnther’s (1864) new species, Nymphophidium maculatum ( Table 1 ), from India (referring to “ British India ”) to Singapore, making it the earliest specimen from Singapore. The specimen was part of Hardwicke’s collection at NHMUK. Later, Boulenger (1896) examined another specimen at NHMUK collected by Ridley. Since the collection of this specimen, L. subannulatus escaped detection in Singapore for about 94 years ( Table 2 ) until it was rediscovered on 29 April 1990 from a roadkill specimen at UPRR ( Lim 1990a). Subsequently, two living individuals were found in 1996, one at BTNR and the other at NSSF (Teo & Rajathurai 1997). The only other published records include three from 2008 reported by Lim et al. (2013), one climbing a tree at BTNR in 2019 (Teo & Thomas 2019), and one resting on a railing along Old Upper Thomson Road (Yau et al. 2020). The individual in Figure 19C was photographed at BTNR on 5 June 2015 (M.-R. Low unpub. data).

Occurrence. Restricted to CNR and surrounding Nature Parks. Rare.

Singapore conservation status. Endangered.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2013].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1895.1 .8.7 (no date) , BMNH 1946.1 .13.80 (no date) [holotype of Nymphophidium maculatum ] , ZRC.2.3097 (no date); Central Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.6317 (2006); Rifle Range Road [ RRNP] : ZRC.2.7272 (05-Jun-2017); Upper Peirce Reservoir Road : ZRC.2.2597 (29-Apr-1990); Upper Seletar Reservoir Road : ZRC.2.6684 (14-Dec-2007) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): CAS.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Hindhede Nature Park—Lower Peirce Forest—Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Old Upper Thomson Road—Rifle Range Nature Park—Upper Peirce (not specified)—Upper Peirce Reservoir Road—Upper Seletar Reservoir Park—Upper Seletar Reservoir Road.

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],