A Collection Of Amphibians And Reptiles From Hilly Eastern Cambodia
Author
Stuart Ko Sok Thy Neang, Bryan L.
text
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
2006
2006-02-28
54
1
129
155
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.13244981
2345-7600
13244981
Homalopsis nigroventralis
Deuve
,
new combination
(
Fig. 15
)
Material examined. –
Ta Veng
:
FMNH 263029
, bamboo mixed with deciduous forest,
O Lopeung Stream
,
14 °10'39.2"N
107°17'25.1"E
,
150 m
elev.,
19 Nov.2003
.
Siem Pang:
FMNH 263030
, bamboo mixed with evergreen forest,
O Kanome Stream
,
14°13'33.7"N
106°36'16.0"E
,
170 m
elev.,
30 Nov.2003
;
FMNH 263031-32
, bamboo mixed with evergreen forest,
O Kanome Stream
,
14°15'08.0"N
106°37'58.8"E
,
175 m
elev.,
1 Dec.2003
;
FMNH 263033
, bamboo mixed with evergreen forest,
14°12'53.8"N
106°35'51.3"E
,
100 m
elev.,
29 Nov.2003
.
Remarks. –
A juvenile male, subadult male,
two adult
males, and an adult female agree with
Deuve’s (1970)
description of
nigroventralis
, as a subspecies of
H. buccata
(Linnaeus)
from
Laos
, by having 11-13 supralabials; 15-16 infralabials; 35-38 longitudinal scale rows at midbody; 157-165 ventrals (mean ± SD 160.8 ± 3.2, N = 5); and a dark venter with light spots.
In life, the juvenile male (FMNH 263033) had light orange dorsal body bands; a broad tan band on the dorsal surface of head; a broken creamy-white ventrolateral stripe connecting the dorsal body bands; a distinctive white X-like marking on the chin; and a black venter with scattered white spots. The FMNH 259177 was killed on a road by a motor vehicle. FMNH 263014 was climbing at night (1925 hrs.) on the vertical trunk of a
10 cm
DBH (diameter at breast height) sapling
4 m
above the ground,
5 m
from a 6 x
8 m
stream pool at the base of a waterfall.
Saint Girons (1972a)
reported the species from central and southwestern
Cambodia
.
Dinodon septentrionalis
(Günther)
Material examined. –
O’Rang
:
FMNH 263009
, hilly evergreen forest,
O Kamen Stream
, near
12°19'35.3"N
107°05'33.4"E
,
500 m
elev.,
1 Nov.2003
.
Fig. 15. Male and female
Homalopsis nigroventralis
(FMNH 263031-32) from Virachey National Park, Siem Pang District, Stung Treng Province, Cambodia.
three adults
(FMNH 263030-32) had a brown dorsum with faint, lighter banding that disappeared posteriorly; an olive brown head with black markings on the snout and over eyes; venter yellowish-olive (FMNH 263030, male), olive (FMNH 263031, female), or olive-brown (FMNH 263032, male), darkening posteriorly to dark gray; creamy-white spots on the ventrals and subcaudals, beginning on the throat as a single spot on each ventral forming a longitudinal line, becoming more scattered posteriorly but sometimes arranged in pairs; creamy-white X-like marking on chin.
The juvenile was taken during the day (1400 hrs.) from the bottom of a
3 m
wide swift stream flowing over solid rock substrate,
50 cm
from the base of a
30 cm
high cascade. The specimen was under
25 cm
of water, with its head and anterior part of body emerging vertically from a small rock pile. The subadult was collected during the day (1255 hrs.) swimming under
25 cm
of water in a shallow,
8 m
wide flat stream with moderate current and a substrate of rocks. The adults drowned at night in gill nets set for catching fish in a
6 m
wide stream with moderate current and substrate composed of sand and small rocks. The stream in which the juvenile was found in was mostly covered by forest canopy, but the other streams had no canopy cover, and were lined with tall grass, bamboo, and forest.
Homalopsis nigroventralis
is easily distinguished from
H. buccata
by ventral colouration (
buccata
has a white venter with black spots) and habitat preference (
buccata
occurs in lentic and slow-moving bodies of water such as lakes, marshes and large rivers), and we treat them as separate species.
Deuve (1970)
reported that
buccata
and
nigroventralis
do not cooccur in
Laos
.
This is the first report of the species from
Cambodia
.