Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2020 | 12(5): 15664–15667
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5597.12.5.15664-15667
#5597 | Received 03 December 2019 | Final
received 03 April 2020 | Finally accepted 09 April 2020
Assamese Cat Snake Boiga quincunciata
(Wall, 1908) (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae)
- new country record for Bhutan
Lekey Chaida
1, Abhijit Das 2, Ugyen Tshering 3 &
Dorji Wangdi 4
1,3,4 Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary, Department of Forests and Park
Services, Samdrupjongkhar, Jomotsangkha,
41104, Bhutan.
2 Wildlife
Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun. Uttarkhand 248002, India.
1 lchaida@moaf.gov.bt
(corresponding author), 2 abhijit@wii.gov.in, 3 ugyentshering3@moaf.gov.bt,
4 dorjee84@gmail.com
Editor: Karan Bahadur Shah, Budhanilakantha
Municipality, Hattigaunda, Nepal. Date of publication: 26
April 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Chaida, L., A. Das, U. Tshering
& D. Wangdi (2020). Assamese Cat Snake Boiga
Quincunciata (Wall, 1908) (Reptilia:
Squamata: Colubridae) - new country record for
Bhutan. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(5): 15664–15667. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5597.12.5.15664-15667
Copyright: © Chaida et al. 2020. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Department of Forests and Park Services, Royal Government of Bhutan.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to our respective organizations for
encouraging our research activities to add a new record to the country
list. Thanks to the Royal Government of
Bhutan, Department of Forests and Park Services (DoFPS)
for granting permission for the field study and road kill specimen
collection. We thank Dr. M. Firoz Ahmed
of Aaranyak, Assam, India and Mr. Jigme Tshelthrim Wangyal of DoFPS, Bhutan for their help and inputs in identifying the
species. We also thank Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary (JWS) administration for
permitting to store the only collected specimen of Boiga
quincunciata in the country under their
care. We sincerely thank all
reviewers/subject editors for their valuable feedbacks/comments that improved
our text.
Opisthoglyphous snakes of the genus Boiga
are currently represented by 34 species globally (Uetz
et al. 2019). Snakes of this genus are distributed in China, India, southeastern Asia, Sundaland,
Nepal, and Bhutan. In Bhutan, the genus
is so far represented by Boiga gokool (Gray, 1835), B. cyanea (Duméril, Bibron & Dumeril, 1854), B.
multifasciata (Blyth, 1861), B. ochracea ochracea (Theobald,
1868), B. ochracea stoliczkae
(Wall, 1909), and B. siamensis (Nutaphand, 1971). Boiga quincunciata (Wall,
1908) was first described in India from upper Assam, and is subsequently
reported from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and West Bengal (Wall 1908; Ghosh & Mukherjee 2019).
In Bhutan 69 species of snakes represented by eight
families and 35 genera are so far reported (Smith 1943; Biswas 1976; Bauer
& Gunther 1992; Das & Palden 2000; Mitra 2009; Wangyal & Gurung
2010; Wangyal 2011, 2012, 2013; Das et al. 2016;
Koirala et al. 2016; Wangyal & Gurung 2017; Wangdi 2018). All
these studies exclude record of Boiga quincunciata from Bhutan. Seven Boiga
spp. are known to occur in adjoining areas of northeastern India (Ahmed et al.
2009) and out of these six species occur in Bhutan.
The record is based on a dead specimen. The specimen was partially damaged in the
neck region; it was collected for preservation.
Before fixing in 10% formalin a small piece of flesh from the damaged
region was cut and preserved in 100% ethanol for DNA extraction in the
future. For long term preservation it is
now stored in 75% ethanol. We studied
the fresh specimen before preserving and detailed morphological examination was
done after preservation. Identification
is based on Wall (1908) and Das (2018).
We measured body length using a standard measuring tape (L.C. 1mm). Dorsal scale count was made by using
magnifying hand lens (5x optic zoom). Images were taken using Canon EOS 7D Mark
II digital camera. GPS Garmin GPSMAP
62sc and datum WGS84 was used for recording data. Coordinates were represented in decimal
degrees, corrected to three decimal digits. Habitat classification was followed
(as by Grierson & Long 1983).
Specimen examined: Since there is no standard system in the country to
allocate e-voucher numbers, specimen and digital copies of images are deposited
by the author in Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary
(JWS), Samdrupjongkhar, Bhutan for reference. Wall (1908) was referred to identify the
species where it is described as Dipsadomorphus
quincunciata from Assam.
Morphology: Rostral touches six shields; internasal two; nasals
two subequal shields touching the 1st and 2nd superlabials; loreal one; preocular one, barely reaching crown. Postoculars two;
temporals small scale-like, superposed anteriorly. Supralabials eight
on the right side with the 3rd, 4th and 5th
touching the eye (Image 1). Dorsal
Scales 19:19:15; mid body or vertebral scales 310 (Image 2); ventrals 242; anal divided; subcaudals 119 (Image 3). Total body length 149cm. Tail length 33cm. Vertebrals
enlarged with smooth dorsal part. Colour yellowish or
greyish-brown above speckled with dark brown.
A series of dark brown spots with white edge present on vertebrae. Venter yellowish-white with white or brown
spots present on outer margins. Three
longitudinal stripes present on nape. Head is distinct from neck; body is slender
and elongate, eyes large with vertical pupil.
Field Observation: On 26 March 2019 at 07.30h, during the drive to Menjiwoong Village from Jomotsangkha
Town (29.9390N & 92.1010E, 345m) (Figure 1; Image 4)
the first author encountered a road kill of Boiga
quincunciata near Jampani
located at the left bank of Jomochu (a tributary of Dansari River in India).
The surrounding forest type falls under tropical forest with Tetrameles nudiflora,
Pterospermum acerifolium,
Bombax ceiba, Duabanga grandiflora, and
Ficus species as major crown cover with
thick undergrowth of climbers and large bamboos. Das (2018) had also made similar observation
where this species inhabits wet evergreen forest, arboreal on undergrowth
especially bamboo.
The most recent report on country’s biodiversity by Wangyal & Gurung (2017) had listed only six species of
cat snakes from Bhutan. Das et al.
(2016) listed three species of Boiga (siamensis, gokool,
and ochracea) from Royal Manas National Park.
Boiga ochracea
is known from Mongar 1,541m, Langthel
and Taksha (Wangyal &
Tenzin 2009; Tshewang & Letro
2018). Boiga
cyanea had been recorded from Mongar
at 1,929m and JWS at 340m (Wangyal & Tenzin 2009;
Wangdi 2018).
Boiga multifasciata
is listed from Trashiyangtse, Lhuntse
1,170m, below 1,500m at Jigme Dorji National Park, Langthel and Taksha (Wangyal & Tenzin 2009; Koirala et al. 2016; Tshewang & Letro 2018). Boiga siamensis was recorded from JWS at 234m (Lekey Chaida
pers. obs 22 May 2019).
Currently in India and Bhutan, Boiga
quincunciata is known from Arunachal Pradesh: Bandardewa, Chimpu, Papum Pare, Pashighat (Borang et al. 2005; Sanyal & Gayen 2006); Assam:
Tinsukia, Jeypore Reserve Forest, Garbhanga
Reserve Forest, Manas Tiger Reserve, Borail Wildlife Sanctuary (Wall 1908; Agarwal & Ghosh
1995; Sengupta et al. 2000; Abhijit Das pers. obs. 28 August 2012); West
Bengal: Buxa Tiger Reserve (Ghosh & Mukherjee 2019); Sawleng,
Mizoram (H.T. Lalremsanga pers. comm. August 2009); upper Myanmar (CAS 224439), and in JWS from Bhutan (this study).
In Assam, individuals were obtained within 40–200m
elevation. In Mizoram the female
individual was obtained from 950m elevation.
The specimen collected from upper Myanmar was obtained from Kachin State
at an elevation of 650m. The northern
Bengal record is from 744m (Ghosh & Mukherjee 2019).
Boiga quincunciata is nocturnal and arboreal. Found both in mixed deciduous and evergreen
forests., one was collected from a rocky crevice (17.45h) at ca. 2m above
ground and other was from a tree ca. 5m above ground at around 21.00h (Sengupta
et al. 2000). In Barail
Wildlife Sanctuary, one male individual was found active among bamboo along
streams at 21.00h (Abhijit Das pers. obs. 28 August 2012). In Upper Burma, Smith (1940) obtained
specimens from inside bamboo during winter month. He reports this snake as inoffensive. The female specimen from Garbhanga
Reserve Forest laid two elongated eggs in July and another clutch of two eggs
were laid two days after the first. Eggs measure 45.35 × 13.45 mm (Das 2010).
With the confirmed occurrence of Assamese Cat Snake Boiga quincunciata in Jomotsangkha Wildlife
Sanctuary, Bhutan now have seven Boiga species
and 70 snakes in the herpetofauna list and this region should be prioritized
for future survey efforts. Follow-up
efforts should target in tropical and subtropical forest near riverine
ecosystems, bamboo forest and even near human settlement to get additional
distribution range of this snake in the country and region.
For
figure & images - - click here
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