First
record of Coelognathus radiatus(Boie, 1827) (Reptilia: Colubridae) from the AnanthagiriHills, Eastern Ghats, India
S.M. Maqsood Javed 1, Farida Tampal 2 &
C. Srinivasulu 3
1
& 2 World Wide Fund for Nature-India
(WWF), APSO, 818, Castle Hills, Road No. 2, Near NMDC, VijayanagarColony, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500057, India
3Wildlife Biology Section, Department
of Zoology, University College of Science, OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500007, India
Email:1 javedwwf2007@gmail.com
Date
of publication (online): 26 August 2010
Date
of publication (print): 26 August 2010
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Ashok Captain
Manuscript
details:
Ms # o2313
Received 115 September 2009
Final revised received 01 July 2010
Finally accepted 30 July 2010
Citation: Javed, S.M.M., F. Tampal & C. Srinivasulu (2010). First record of Coelognathus radiatus (Boie, 1827) (Reptilia: Colubridae) from the Ananthagiri Hills, Eastern Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(9): 1172-1174.
Copyright: © S.M. Maqsood Javed,Farida Tampal & C. Srinivasulu 2010. Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium
for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:The authors are very much thankful to Shri Hitesh Malhotra, IFS, Principal
Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Andhra
Pradesh; Shri. R. Hampaiah,
Chairman and Shri V.B. RamanaMurthy, Member Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board for their constant
support and encouragement. SMMJ
and FT expresses gratitude to Shri Anil Kumar V. Epur, Chairman, WWF-AP State Committee, Hyderabad and Shri Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India,
New Delhi for constant support and encouragement. We express our thanks to Shri Swaranjit Sen, IPS (Retd.), Chairman, Shri B. Venkatesham, IAS,
Managing Director and Shri P.V. RamanaReddy, IFS, Executive Director, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation,
Hyderabad for constant support and permitting us to conduct biodiversity
studies in APTDC Eco-tourism sites. CS thanks Prof. T. Tirupathi Rao, Vice Chancellor, OsmaniaUniversity and the Head, Department of Zoology, OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad for encouragement and facilities. We thank Mr. R. Sreekar and Mr. M. SeetharamarujuDepartment of Zoology, Osmania University for sharing
literature. Lastly, we would like
to thank Mr. P.S.M. Srinivas, Manager Corporate for
exploring new places and all the WWF-Staff of APSO, Hyderabad for their constant
support and timely suggestions.
In India, the genus Coelognathus Fitzinger, 1843 is represented by three species and one subspecies- C. flavolineatus (Schlegel, 1837), C.h. helena (Daudin, 1803), C. radiatus (Boie,
1827) and C.h. monticollaris (Schulz,
1992). C. flavolineatus is endemic to theAndaman Islands; C.h.helena is very common
throughout mainland India while the subspecies C.h. monticollaris is presently reported only from the Western Ghats. Unpublished reports of monticollaris from elsewhere are beyond the scope of this note. In India,
Copper-headed Trinket Snake Coelognathus radiatus(Boie, 1827) was known to occur from Uttarakhand to Arunachal Pradesh, in parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Sikkim.
Recently, the World Wide Fund for Nature-India
(WWF), Andhra Pradesh State Office in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh Tourism
Development Corporation (APTDC), has initiated a survey-based biodiversity
documentation project in APTDC Eco-tourism sites. During the first phase of biodiversity survey at APTDC
Eco-tourism sites in the Ananthagiri Hills in
northern Eastern Ghats (Tyda, Borra,Ananthagiri and ArakuValley), we recorded the presence of C.radiatus in the coffee plantations
at Ananthagiri. Through this communication, we report the first record of this species
from Ananthagiri Hills, northern part of Eastern
Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India.
During field surveys between 15 and 25 February
2009 in the study area (0530 to 1800 hr), we encountered a live specimen of C. radiatuswhile it was crossing the road at about 1310hr near a coffee plantation close
to Ananthagiri Village (18015’N & 82059’E),Vishakapatnam District, AndhraPradesh on 22 February 2009 (Image 1). It was photographed and released after collecting scalation data along with measurements. The specimen was identified based on
descriptions available in the literature (Smith 1943; Schulz 1996; Daniel 2002;
Whitaker & Captain 2004). Photo vouchers (NHM.OU.REP.PV.15/16/17/18-2009) have been deposited in
the collection of the Natural History Museum of OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad.
Description
It is a large and relatively slender snake,
with its narrow head slightly set off from the neck. Snout is slightly rounded and approximately twice the length
of eye diameter. Tail is
relatively shorter and slender. The ventral keels are fairly well developed. The cross-section of the body is higher than wide. Eyes are relatively large and have a
golden-yellow iris (Image 5). Tongue brownish-violet (Image 5). Head is copper or dull orange in colour; a
transverse black stripe runs across head with black streaks leading to the eyes
and two backwards. Two black
stripes are present below eyes. Three narrow black stripes radiate from the eyes, one directly below the
eye, and another obliquely to the angle of the mouth and a third fuses with the
narrow collar band on the nape (Images 3, 4 & 5). Body is yellowish-brown, anteriorlyadorned with longitudinal black stripes, usually three on each side, median not
connected to the black collar. Posteriorly, stripes disappear; belly pale yellow, mottled
with grey. Skin is checkered
black, blue-grey and bright yellow anteriorly,
visible when the snake inflates itself under aggression (Image 2 & 5). Total body length of the Ananthagiri specimen was approximately 2.15m.
Scutellation: Two postoculars, 2+2 temporals; 1 preocular, 9 supralabials (with 4th, 5th and 6thin contact with the eye; among which the 6th supralabialshield is largest and is arched around and behind the eye) (Image 4); 10 infralabials; 19 dorsals(mid-body), weakly keeled on the back and smooth on the sides; 250 ventral, 106subcaudals and anal plate undivided.
Biology: We sighted
a large C. radiatus while it was crossing the road
around mid-afternoon (1310hr) near a coffee plantation close to the Ananthagiri Village. This species has been recorded from gardens, crop fields adjacent to the
forests, open areas and water logged areas (Smith
1914; Wall 1914). According to Günther (1864) it is equally diurnal and nocturnal. The
specimen was very aggressive. Both
Smith (1914) and Wall (1914) have described in detail how C. radiatus,
when annoyed, flattens its neck vertically, throwing itself into an S-shaped
loop, opening its mouth and thus remains alert, ready to defend itself
vigorously against attack. The
black lateral bars that become visible by this behavior may act as a warning to
enemies (Image 2).
Status: C. radiatus is treated
as widely distributed species and listed as Lower Risk Least Concern(Molur & Walker 1998).
The present record from the Ananthagiri Hills suggests that the species’
natural distribution in Indiais greater than was previously thought (Image 1). Furthermore,
it calls for further systematic and long-term surveys in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh to document herpetofaunal diversity in totality. With this
addition the number of snake species known from Andhra Pradesh reaches 41 (Sanyal et al. 1993; Daniel 2002; Whitaker & Captain
2004; Rao et al. 2005; Srinivasulu& Das 2008).
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