Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution
Author
Figueroa, Alex
Author
Low, Martyn E. Y.
0000-0001-7927-7149
martyn.low@nus.edu.sg
Author
Lim, Kelvin K. P.
0000-0002-0638-9198
kelvinlim@nus.edu.sg
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-05-18
5287
1
1
378
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1
journal article
53474
10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1
90d83153-c065-4771-9ac7-35dda67996b5
1175-5326
7960319
78E23714-8973-4755-BC94-0A751D7D2B37
Chrysopelea paradisi
H. Boie
in F. Boie, 1827—
Native.
Chrysopelea paradisi
H. Boie
in
F. Boie
, 1827: 547.
Neotype
: RMNH.RENA.885, designated by
Mertens (1968: 203)
. Type locality: “
Java
”,
Indonesia
.
Paradise Gliding Snake
(
Figure 16C
)
Singapore
records.
Chrysopelea ornata
(non Shaw, 1802)—
Dennys, 1880a: 3
.—
Dennys, 1881b: 3
.—
Blanford, 1881: 215
.—Sclater, 1891a: 53.—
Davison, 1892: 90
.—
Boulenger, 1896: 197
.—
Flower, 1899: 682
.— Hanitsch, 1908: 44.—
de Rooij, 1917: 212
.—Sworder, 1923: 67.—Sworder, 1924a: 20 (Pulau Ayer Merbau).
Chrysopelea ornata
var. A—
Flower, 1896: 870
.—
Hanitsch, 1898: 820
.
Chrysopelaea
[sic]
ornata
(non Shaw, 1802)—Ridley, 1899: 209.
Chrysophelaea
[sic]
ornata
var. A—
Hanitsch, 1912b: 18
.
Chrysoplea
[sic]
ornata
(non Shaw, 1802)—
Buddle, 1929: 40
(Sembawang Naval Base [=
SML
]).
Chrysopelea paradisii
—
Harman, 1961: 182
.
Chrysopelea paradisi
—
de Haas, 1950: 586
.—D.S.
Johnson, 1964: 27
.—
Choo-Toh
et al.
, 1985: 122
(Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—F. Lim, 1988: 4 (Nee Soon [
NSSF
]).—K. Lim & F.
Lim, 1988a: 27
(Palm Valley [
SBG
]).—K. Lim & F.
Lim, 1988b: 49
(Pulau Ubin).—L.M.
Chou, 1988a: 58
(Fraser & Neave [Alexandra Road]; Kent Ridge Campus [
NUS
].—
Hall, 1988: 89
(Pasir Panjang Hill).—K. Lim, 1989b: 19 (Coralarium [Sentosa]).—K.
Lim, 1989e: 38
(Old Upper Thomson Road).—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 116.—K.
Lim, 1990a: 8
(Musical Fountain [Sentosa]; Yishun Heronry [
SKB
].—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—
Anonymous, 1991b: 13
.—K.K.P.
Lim, 1991a: 3
(King’s Avenue; Neo Tiew Lane Track 6 [
LCK
]).—K.K.P.
Lim & Subharaj, 1991: 5
(Mount
Faber Park
).—Subharaj & K.K.P.
Lim, 1991b
: (Lorong Ayam Denak [
LCK
]; Neo Tiew Road [
LCK
]).— F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 68.—K.K.P.
Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 7
(Choa Chu Kang Road [
CCK
]; Cranwell Road; Mandai Track 15; Kent Ridge [
NUS
]; Mandai Road; Neo Tiew Road [
LCK
]; Old Holland Road [
CF
]; Old Upper Thomson Road; Parkway Parade [in a car, possibly from Mandai]; Pulau Ubin; Ulu Sembawang Track; Upper Peirce Reservoir Road; Upper Thomson Road).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K.
Lim, 1992: 68
, 146.—Wee, 1992: 74 (Lower Peirce Reservoir Park).—E.K.
Chua, 1993: 57
.—K.K.P.
Lim, 1993a: 3
(Malcolm Road; Pulau Ubin; Rifle Range Road; Siloso Road [Sentosa]).—K.K.P.
Lim, 1993b: 2
(Lim Chu Kang Road [
LCK
]; Lower Peirce Reservoir Road [
LPRP
]; Neo Tiew Road [
LCK
]; Rifle Range Road).—K.K.P.
Lim & Subaraj, 1994: 6
(Island Club Road [
SICC
]; Upper Peirce Reservoir Road).—K.K.P.
Lim & Subaraj, 1994: 7
(Botanic Gardens).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 11 (Fern Valley [
BTNR
]).—L.M.
Chou
et al.
, 1994: 105
.—L.M.
Chou, 1995: 148
.—R. Subaraj
et al.
, 1995: 3 (Rifle Range Road).—K. Lim
et al.
, 1995: 14 (Upper Thomson Road).—K.Lim, 1995:16(Coralarium [Sentosa]; Mount Serapong[Sentosa]; Palm Valley Road [
SBG
]; Pulau Ubin; Sungei Buloh Nature Park [=
SBWR
]).—R. Subaraj, 1995: 35 (Pulau Ubin).—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.—
Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 333
.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 379.—
Cox
et al.
, 1998: 67
.—Chan-ard
et al.
, 1999: 31.—E.K.
Chua, 2000: 107
.—E.K.
Chua, 2002: 107
.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K.
Lim, 2002: 147
.—Socha, 2002: 603.—
Anonymous, 2003: 92
(Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—
de Lang & Vogel, 2005: 109
.—Socha & Labarbera, 2005: 1827.—Socha
et al.
, 2005: 1818.—Socha, 2006: 3359.—Sharma, 2007: 188.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 97, 160.—P.K.L. Ng
et al.
, 2008: 83.—R. Subaraj, 2008: 110.—T.M.
Leong & Foo, 2009: 311
, 316.—
Das, 2010: 272
.—Socha
et al.
, 2010: 3.—H.H. Tan, 2010: 641.—L.L.
Grismer, 2011a: 184
.—T.M. Leong & C.K. Wai, 2011: 48.—P.K.L. Ng
et al.
, 2011: 272.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 68, 97, 160.—
Das, 2012a: 31
.—
Ang
et al.
, 2012: 57
(Hort Park).—L.K. Wang
et al.
, 2012: 84, 144.—
Chan & D’Rozario, 2013: 52–58
(Botanic Gardens).—
Chim, 2014: 112
, 114 (Saint John’s Island).—H.H. Tan,
2014g
: 229 (Choa Chu Kang Street 64 [
CCK
]).—T.H.T. Tan,
2014g
: 317 (Hillview Road-Hume Avenue).—Thomas & Boopal, 2014: 51.—Wallach
et al.
, 2014: 168.—Chan-ard
et al.
, 2015: 193.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 51.—R. Subaraj, 2015: 25, 52 (Mandai Range Forest; Night Safari).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 5, 6 (Mandai Range Forest; Night Safari).—E.K. Chua
et al.
, 2016: 111.—
Kaiser
et al.
, 2016: 8488
.—K.K.P.
Lim
et al.
, 2016: 181
(Pulau Tekong).—T. Ng, 2017: 14.—W. Wong, 2017: 52.—
Das, 2018: 39
.—O’Shea, 2018: 132.—
Morgany, 2018b:
136 (Labrador Park).—E.
Goh, 2019: 93
(Pulau Ubin).—H.C. Ho
et al.
, 2019: 125 (Alexandra Woodlands).—H.T.W. Tan
et al.
, 2019: 131, 134, 135 (Kent Ridge Park; National University of
Singapore
Kent Ridge Campus).—S.H. Tan &
Chapman, 2019: 67
(Boon Tiong Road; Margaret Drive).—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 161, 181 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—
Charlton, 2020: 149–150
(Pasir Ris [
PRP
]; Sungei Buloh [
SBWR
]).—K.K.P.
Lim, 2020: 4
(Dunearn Road; Sime Road Camp [=
SICC
]).—H.B. Thio, 2021: 1 (Mount Faber Road).—Thirumurugan & R. Tan, 2022: 1 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).
Chrysopelea chrysochlora
(non Linnaeus, 1758)—L.M.
Chou
et al.
, 1980: 71
.
Chrysopelea paradisis
[sic]—F.L.K.
Lim, 1984: 19
.
Chrysopelea paradisi paradisi
—
David & Vogel, 1996: 71
.—
Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 49
.—
de Lang, 2017: 118
.
Chrysopelea peleas
—
Cross
, 2020b: 2
(Dunearn Road).—
Cross
, 2020j: 1
(Sime Road Camp [= SICC]).—
Cross
, 2020l: 1
(Sime Road Camp [= SICC]).—
Cross
,
2020m
: 2
, 5 (Sime Road Camp [= SICC]).—
Cross
, 2020n: 2
, 7 (Dunearn Road; Sime Road Camp [= SICC]).
Remarks.
Before Smith (1943) removed
C. paradisi
from the synonymy of
C. ornata
, records of
C. paradisi
from
Singapore
were listed under
C. ornata
. Nonetheless,
C. paradisi
was first reported from
Singapore
by specimens collected by Dennys (
Dennys 1880a
;
Blanford 1881
). Compared to
A. prasina
, very few specimens of
C. paradisi
were collected historically, but it was still regarded as common as
A. prasina
(Hanitsch 1908; Sworder 1923). Much like
A. prasina
,
C. paradisi
went unreported for 32 years (
Table 2
) in the time between
Buddle (1929)
and
Harman (1961)
. There are several museum specimens at LKCNHM from that time period, and
Cross (2020n)
recorded several individuals in 1944 and 1945 that he misidentified as
C. pelias
(
Lim 2020
)
.
Chrysopelea paradisi
is common throughout
Singapore
and has been frequently reported since 1985 (see records above), but just like
A. prasina
, it is uncommon on PT (
Lim
et al.
2016
). Studies investigating the gliding mechanics of
C. paradisi
were performed in
Singapore
(e.g., Socha 2002; Socha & Labarbera 2005; Socha
et al.
2010).
Occurrence.
Widespread. Common.
Singapore
conservation status.
Least Concern.
Conservation priority.
Lowest.
IUCN conservation status.
Least Concern [2022].
LKCNHM
&
NHMUK
Museum
specimens.
Singapore
(no locality)
:
BMNH 1880.9
.10.21 (no date)
,
BMNH1971.791
(no date)
,
ZRC
.2.3611–
ZRC
.2.3612,
ZRC
.2.3617,
ZRC
.2.6436 (no date),
ZRC
.2.5901 (
24-Apr-1934
)
,
ZRC
.2.3622 (1937),
ZRC
.2.3623 (
Mar-1938
)
,
ZRC
.2.3610 (1948),
ZRC
.2.3590 (
Apr-1950
)
,
ZRC
.2.3592 (
Jun-1954
)
;
Botanic Gardens:
ZRC
.2.3641 (no date),
ZRC
.2.3630 (
24-Oct-1900
)
,
ZRC
.2.6739 (
15-May-2008
)
;
Bukit Timah
[
NUS
]
:
ZRC
.2.4255 (
10-Mar-1989
)
;
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
:
ZRC
.2.6810 (
08-Apr-2009
)
;
Changi
:
ZRC
.2.3593 (
Feb-1928
)
;
Chip Bee Gardens
:
ZRC
.2.6961 (
07-Feb-2012
)
;
Kangkar
:
ZRC
.2.4254 (
09-Dec-1980
)
;
Kent Ridge
[
NUS
]
:
ZRC
.2.3359 (
10-Mar-1992
)
,
ZRC
.2.6372 (
03-Dec-2003
)
,
ZRC
.2.7235 (
13-Jan-2016
)
;
Lim Chu Kang
:
ZRC
.2.7105 (
04-Nov-2013
)
,
ZRC
.2.7244 (
08-Nov-2016
)
;
Mandai Lake
Road
:
ZRC
.2.2603 (
Mar-1990
)
;
Mount
Faber:
ZRC.
2.5514
–
ZRC
.2.5515 (1986);
Pasir Panjang
:
ZRC
.2.3605 (
26-Oct-1898
)
;
Pulau Senang:
ZRC
.2.3627 (
Feb-1938
)
;
Rifle Range Road
:
ZRC
.2.6062 (
12-Feb-2004
)
,
ZRC
.2.6840 (
21-Aug-2009
)
;
Sentosa
:
ZRC
.2.5892 (
01-Feb-2003
)
,
ZRC
.2.6912 (
04-May-2008
)
;
Singapore
General Hospital
:
ZRC
.2.6949 (
Jan-2011
)
;
St. John’s Island
:
ZRC
.2.6066 (
27-May-2004
)
;
Tanglin Road:
ZRC
.2.4151 (
29-Sep-1978
)
,
ZRC
.2.5075 (
07-Aug-2001
)
.
Additional
Singapore
museum specimens.
Singapore
(no locality):
AMNH
, CAS, NMW, SMNS, UF, ZMO;
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve:
UWBM
;
Chequers Boarding House [= EtonHouse International School Thomson]:
MCZ
;
University of Malaya [=
NUS
Bukit Timah]:
BPBM
.
Singapore
localities.
Alexandra Road—Alexandra Woodlands—Boon Tiong Road—Bukit Timah Nature Reserve— Changi—Chip Bee Gardens—Choa Chu Kang—Clementi Forest—Cranwell Road—Dunearn Road— EtonHouse International School Thomson—Hillview—Hort Park—Kangkar—Kent Ridge Park—King’s Avenue—Labrador Park—Lim Chu Kang—Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—Malcolm Road—Mandai Lake Road—Mandai Range Forest—Mandai Road—Mandai Track 15—Margaret Drive—Mount
Faber Park
—National University of Singapore Bukit Timah Campus—National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Night Safari—Old Upper Thomson Road—Pasir Panjang Hill—Pasir Ris Park—Pulau Ayer Merbau—Pulau Senang—Pulau Tekong—Pulau Ubin—Rifle Range Road—Saint John’s Island—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.—Sentosa—
Singapore
Botanic Gardens—
Singapore Island
Country Club—Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve—Sungei Khatib Bongsu—Tanglin Road—Ulu Sembawang Forest—Upper Peirce Reservoir Road—Upper Thomson Road.