Notes on the fire-lipped keelback Rhabdophis murudensis (Smith, 1925) (Ophidia: Colubridae: Natricinae) from northern Borneo

4 Pages·2002·0.71 MB·English

by  Stuebing, R B

Stuebing & Tan: Fire-lipped keelbackf rom northernB orneo
this occasion misidentified as Rhabdophis TAXONOMY
subminiatus.
Rhabdophism urudensis (Smith, 1925)
While working on Bornean snakes at The Field (Fig. 1)
Museum, Chicago, in 1998,w e received a specimen
shipped for identification by Sabah Musuem, Kota Description -Smith (1925) wrote the following
Kinabalu. It was examined and compared with the accounto f the type specimen: "Maxillary teeth2 3, the
slide of the live" R. chrysargos." We were interested last 2 abruptly enlarged. Eye moderate. Rostral
to discoveredt hat both snakesw ere in fact Rhabdophis broader than high, just visible above; internasals
murudensis,a speciesc ollected for only the second longer thant he prefrontals,b roadlyt runcatea nteriorly;
time in almost5 0 years( Stuebing& Inger, 1999b). In frontal nearly as broad as long, as long as its distance
this paper,w e give data on scalec haractersa nd more from the rostral, much shorter than the parietals;
information on several inconspicuousc haracterst,h e nostril in a partly divided nasal; loreal longer than
nuchal groove and associatedg lands. high; 1 pre- and 3 postoculars; temporals 1+2; 9
supralabialsf,o urth to sixth touchingt he eye; 11 lower
labials, 6 in contact with the anterior chin shields,
MATERIALS AND METHODS which are a little longer than the posterior. Scalesi n
19 rows, reducing to 15 before the vent, all strongly
Material examined- All from SabahM, alaysia( Table keeled exceptt hose of the outer row which are only
1). Zoological ReferenceC ollection, Raffles Museum feebly keeled. Ventrals 179, anal divided, subcaudals
of Biodiversity Research, National University of 63 pairs (tail incomplete)."
Singapore: Male ZRC 2.4162 , Kamborangoh,M t.
Kinabalu; FemaleZ RC 2.4163, Kiau, Mt. Kinabalu; Three ZRC specimensa re consistentw ith the type in
Female ZRC 2.4164, Mt. Trus Madi; SabahP arks shapeo f head scalese, xceptt hat the internasalsa re not
Zoological Collection, Kinabalu Park, Sabah, longer than the prefrontals. The photographo f the
Malaysia: SP 04091, HeadquartersA rea, Kinabalu 1989 specimen shows similar scale conformation.
Park; Sabah Museum, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Scalec ounts and size of the specimensw e examined
Malasyia: SSM REP 0326,M t. Kinabalu. are given in Table1 . SP0 4091 has 23 maxillary teeth
with the last two enlarged. All the specimensw e have
Abbreviations of collections -MAS, Malcolm A. examinedh ave many,a lmostu niformly spaced,s mall,
Smith; SP,S abahP arks, Kinabalu Park, Sabah;S SM, conicalo rganelleso n dorsalh eads calesa ndt emporals.
Sabah State Museum, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; ZRC, A prominentg roovee xtendsd own the suture between
Zoological Reference Collection of the Raffles the parietalsa nd runs betweenf our to sevenp airs of
Museum of Biodiversity Research, Natiol}al nuchals calesi n the snakesw e havee xamined.N ucho-
University of Singapore,S ingapore. dorsal glands (sensuS mith, 1943)a re evident in SSM
Table 1. Morphological data for Rhabdophism urudensis( Smith, 1925)f rom Borneo.
SpecimenN o. Locality Collector Date Alt. (m) Sex TL SV T SR V C SL IL
MAS7210(Typt;)' Mt.Murud E.Mjoberg 1925 1700 F X-19-15 179 63 9 11
MAS72091 Mt. Murud" "1700 F X-19-15 176 83 9 11
ZRC2.4162 Mt. Kinabalu F.M. Chasen& 1929 2500 M 910 700 210 19-19-17 180 97 9 10
H. Pendlebury
ZRC2.4163 Mt. Kinabalu " ">1000 F 681 425 25 19-19-17 185 80 9 11
ZRC2.4164 Mt. Trus Madi R. Audy >1000 F 713 582 131 X-19-X 180 72 9 11
SSMREPO326 Mt.Kinabalu T.Low 1978 1800 M 1044 873 171 19-19-17 183 9 11
SPO4091 Kinabalu Park Martin M. 1992 1,600M M 928 726 200 19-19-15 180 92 9 10
, Data from Smith (1925)
It
i
228 i
,1
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2002
REP 0326, though not well preserved. SP 04091 also Ecologya nd Behavior -All specimensw ere collected
displayed the nucho-dorsalg roove though the gland in Sabah or Sarawak at an altitude of approximately
was not obvious becauseo f the slight damaget o the 1000-2600m ., in primary oak forests on mountains
neck. This specimen also displays an area of (Murud, Kinabalu, Trus Madi), at elevations where
depressionb etweent he parietals, each of which has temperaturesa veragea pproximately1 5C . From -1981-
two parallel longitudinal groovesr unning posteriorly 1991, while working with the Ecology Section of
and is overhungb y a free-edgeds, hingle-likef lange of Kinabalu Park, one of us (TFL) observedi ndividuals
the shield. On the right parietal, the flange extends of Rhhabdophiso n numerous occasions,a long the
anteriorly but is well separatedf rom the frontal and Kinabalu Parkn aturet rails at about1 300-1500m , and
supraocularT. he left parietal has a similar flange-like along the summit trail at 2,500m. On one occasion,
section that runs back from the suprocular almost to along the Kinabalu summit trail near Kamborongoh
but not reachingt he depression. SP0 4091h asa deep (2300m), an adult individual of R. murudensisw as
groove beginning at the rear of the frontal and seenc amouflagedo n a bed of thick moss, in direct
continuing betweent he parietals. The groove widens sunlighto f late morning at the side of the trail.
near the rear of the patietals and continues between
first pair of nuchalsb ehind the parietals. In the three In the mid 1980sa, snaker eferredt o earlierw as caught
ZRC specimensth e groovee xtendsb ackb etweent hree near the Mountain Garden( 1800m) at Kinabalu Park
to sevenp airs of vertebrals cales. Headquarters.I t was fed a diet of frogs (Limnonectes
kuhlii) and occasionally white mice. It was kept
Smith's descriptiono f the color and patterno f the type initially for photographic, and subsequently for
specimenr eads," Dark olive brown abovew ith a chain educational purposes. It was relatively inactive
of small yellow spots down either side of the back in during the day, but at night seemedr estless. When
the posteriort wo-thirds of the body; neckw ith reddish the snake was disturbed, it expanded its neck
and black markings: upper lip chin and throat yellow; dorsoventrally to expose bright reddish-oranges kin
belly grayish yellow, with longitudinal chainso f small
black spots; tail below dark grey. In a secondf emale
(No. 7209) captured at 1700 m, the ventral spots are
confined to a chain on either side of the belly."
In the 1989 Mt. Kinabalu photograph, the snake's head
and nape are dark olive brown, but the skin of the upper
lip is bright reddish-orange, almost vermilion. The eye
is brown with a light green segment in dorsal portion.
The skin of the neck posterior to the nape is reddish-
orange with regularly arranged black spots. The body
is gray with short, indistinct black crossbars. A row of
light spots associated with the ends of these dark
markings appearing at midbody and running down the
dorsum, converging to a single row anterior to the vent
and extending to the end of the tail. In alcohol, the
brilliant reddish-orange of the lips and neck turns to a
light yellow, and this is the colour described for the type
specimen. Ventrals are light cream-colored, dusky on
their outer edges, and marked with rows of irregular,
intermittent gray spots along their lateral portions. The
ventrals are increasingly darker posteriorly, and the tail
grayish dorsally. The chin is creamy white.
The three ZRC specimens all are dark olive colour on
dorsal surfaces of the head, leaving the entire lip light
cream; the entire lip may have been red in life. The
nape has the dark colour of the head covering a band of
about 12 scales behind the head; the band has a notched
rear border. SP 04091 has a pattern similar to these
specimens. Fig. 1. Head of Rhabdophism urudensis( Smith, 1925).
229
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