A review of the relationships of Xenochrophis cerasogaster Cantor, 1839 (Serpentes: Colubridae) to its congeners

Singapore's herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution

Given Singapore's location at the confluence of important maritime trading routes, and that it was established as a British East India Company trading post in 1819, it is unsurprising that Singapore has become one of the centres of natural history collecting and research in Southeast Asia. Despite its small size, Singapore is home to a diverse herpetofauna assemblage and boasts a rich herpetological history. The first systematic studies of Singapore's herpetofauna (within the Linnaean binomial framework) date back to Stamford Raffles and the naturalists hired by him who first came to the island in 1819. Specimens that were collected during and after this time were deposited in museums worldwide. Over time, 39 species from Singapore were described as new to science. Due to the entrepôt nature of Singapore with its associated purchasing and trading of specimens (both alive and dead), poor record-keeping, and human introductions, numerous extraneous species from outside of Singapore were reported to occur on the island. Such issues have left a complicated legacy of ambiguous records and taxonomic complications concerning the identity of Singapore's species-rich herpetofauna, many of which were only resolved in the past 30-40 years. By compiling a comprehensive collection of records and publications relating to the herpetofauna of Singapore, we construct an updated and more accurate listing of the herpetofauna of Singapore. Our investigation culminated in the evaluation of 309 species, in which we compiled a final species checklist recognising 166 species (149 native and 17 non-native established species). Among the 149 native species are two caecilians, 24 frogs, one crocodilian, 13 turtles (three visitors), 34 lizards, and 75 snakes. Of the 17 non-native species are five frogs, four turtles, six lizards, and two snakes. The remaining 143 species represent species to be excluded from Singapore's herpetofauna species checklist. For each of the 309 species examined, we provide species accounts and explanatory annotations. Furthermore, we discuss Singapore's herpetofauna from a historical and conservation perspective. Immediate deforestation and nationwide urbanisation following colonisation completely eliminated many species from throughout much of the country and restricted them to small, degraded forest patches. We hope this publication highlights the importance of publishing observations and serves as a valuable resource to future researchers, naturalists, biological consultants, and policy makers in initiating studies on species ecology, distribution, status, and promoting conservation efforts to safeguard Singapore's herpetofauna.

Identity of the holotype and type locality of Rhabdophis leonardi (Wall, 1923) (Colubridae: Natricinae), with notes on the morphology and natural history of the species in southwestern China

The original description of Natrix leonardi (currently Rhabdophis leonardi) by Frank Wall in 1923, based on a specimen from the "Upper Burma Hills," lacked important morphological details that have complicated the assignment of recently collected material. Furthermore, although the holotype was never lost, its location has been misreported in one important taxonomic reference, leading to further confusion. We report the correct repository of the holotype (Natural History Museum, London), together with its current catalog number. We also describe key features of that specimen that were omitted from the original description, and provide new details on the morphology of the species, including sexual dichromatism unusual for the genus, based upon specimens from southern Sichuan, China. Rhabdophis leonardi is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: 15 or 17 DSR at midbody and 6 supralabials; distinct annulus around the neck, broad and red in males, and narrow and orange with a black border in females; dorsal ground color light green or olive; some lateral and dorsal scales possessing black edges, the frequency of black edges gradually increasing from anterior to posterior, forming irregular and ill-defined transverse black bands; eye with prominent green iris; black ventral spots with a red edge, most numerous at midbody but extending halfway down the length of the tail. In southwestern China, this species is frequently found at 1730-2230 m elevation. It has been documented to prey upon anuran amphibians, including toads. A recently published phylogenetic analysis showed this species to be deeply nested with the genus Rhabdophis, as a member of the R. nuchalis Group. That analysis also revealed the existence of two closely related but geographically distinct subclades in the molecular analysis, one of which may represent an unnamed taxon.

Snake fauna of the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal—A review of species richness, taxonomy, distribution, natural history and conservation status

The snake fauna of the Andaman archipelago was studied over a duration of four years across twenty islands. This paper presents information on the species richness and taxonomy of snakes of the Andaman archipelago along with observations on natural history and a review of their distribution records, including new, precise ones. Natural history observations for some of the recently re-evaluated species are presented herein for the first time. Field observations on snakes made during this study are supplemented with a compilation of data from specimen collections (n=34) examined in various museums. Based on this dataset and reliable, verified literature records, distribution maps are presented for all the snake species in the Andaman Islands. In addition, unsubstantiated old records of certain species that are shown to be ambiguous are removed from the updated checklist presented here, which consists of 23 species from 22 genera and eight families. Nine of these terrestrial (non-marine) species (56%) are endemic to the Andaman Islands. However, some of the non-endemic species are still in need of a proper molecular taxonomic assessment. The majority (70%) of species are of Least Concern, with 13% of the species being Data Deficient, 9% being Endangered, 5% of the species still in need of evaluation of their conservation status and 4% each being Near Threatened and Vulnerable.  

Multilocus phylogeny, natural history traits and classification of natricine snakes (Serpentes: Natricinae)

Natricine snakes are geographically widespread, species rich (with ~250 extant species) and both morphologically and ecologically diverse. We present a multilocus DNA sequence phylogeny for 249 natricine specimens representing 189 named species, including 69 specimens and 21 species not previously sampled. Our inferred Bayesian and maximum likelihood trees form the basis for evaluations of genus-level classification, historical biogeography, lineage diversification, and dietary, habit and reproductive-mode diversity and evolution, although several, mostly deeper, relationships remain poorly resolved. The optimal trees support natricine origins in Asia, with dispersals to Australo-Melanesia, sub-Saharan Africa (including Seychelles Archipelago, excluding Aldabra), Europe and North Africa and into North and Central America. Viviparity appears to have evolved independently three times in Natricinae but was not significantly associated with an aquatic habit. We found limited associations between habit and diet categories. We propose generic reallocations for four natricine species and highlight other points of uncertainty in natricine classification.

Cryptic diversity and phylogeography of the Rhabdophis nuchalis group (Squamata: Colubridae)

Previous studies, have found that the rapid uplift of the Tibetan plateau accelerated the diversification of species. However, there are few relevant biogeographic data for the Colubridae in this region. We conducted a comprehensive study of the Rhabdophis nuchalis Group, which presently contains four nominal species, R. nuchalis, R. pentasupralabialis, R. leonardi, and R. chiwen. Building upon previous studies with specimens we have recently examined, greater interspecific and intraspecific diversity has been revealed. Here we address three questions: (1) Do the intraspecific differences represent only geographic variation within lineages, or are there cryptic species? (2) What are the interspecific relationships among members of the R. nuchalis Group? (3) What has been the biogeographic history of this species group? To resolve these questions we used four mitochondrial gene sequences and one nuclear sequence to investigate the molecular phylogenetic and geographic relationships among populations. Our molecular analysis reveals cryptic species diversity within the R. nuchalis Group, and seven clades were identified in the analysis. Ancestral area estimation suggests that the R. nuchalis Group originated in the Hengduan Mountains approximately 6.24 Mya and expanded its range northward to the Qinling-Daba Mountains. The Sichuan Basin appears to have been a barrier to migration. Species divergence seems to have been related to the rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Wildlife art and illustration – combining black and white ink drawings with colour: some experiments in Auroville, India

Mixed media and wildlife illustration has been experimented with and the combination of using puristic black and white media along with colour has been found most interesting, creative, and expressive.

Naveen, S. Sureshmarimuthu, S. Babu, P.V. Karunakaran, Honnavalli N. Kumara. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from Meghalaya, India at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History

We present a catalogue of herpetological specimens collected from select community reserves of Meghalaya, northeastern India. The collection comprises a total of 75 species of the herpetofauna, including 29 species of amphibians from 20 genera in seven families and 46 species of reptiles from 30 genera, in 10 families. We provide the details on number of examples, sex, museum numbers, and collection details including location and collector along with the relevant remarks where applicable. A total of five species of amphibians and four species of reptiles remain to be resolved systematically since no precise name could be attributed to them.

B, P. Karthik, Babu Rao, S. Babu. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India

We list the herpetological voucher specimens in the holdings of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), a wildlife research institute in India.  Most of the collections are the fruition of fieldwork by SACON’s herpetologist and a coauthor of this work—late Dr. Subramanian Bhupathy (1963–2014).  Taxonomically, the collection represents 125 species, comprising 29 amphibian species belonging to eight families and 96 reptilian species belonging to 17 families.  Geographically, the material in this collection originates from the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, the Deccan Plateau, and the Coromandel Coast, comprehensively covering all ecoregions of peninsular India.  A total of 15 taxa (three amphibians, 12 reptiles) remain to be fully identified and are provisionally referred to most-resembling taxa, with cf. prefix.  All the specimens in this collection are non-types as on date.