Nature Malaysia

Reader Peter Bijlmakers from Holland, who travels very frequently around Southeast Asia based on his various reptile photos from many different localities, sends to me one photo of many for identification.

Hi Hans,
I found this picture while cleaning up my photos. It was taken on 14/11/07 in Tam Dao, Vietnam at about 1300m a.s.l.
I think it’s a green tree racer. Can you give your view please.
Thanks and regards,

Peter Bijlmakers

Definitely a green tree racer or Elaphe prasina!

This snake is considered rare within its range, which includes Peninsular Malaysia, the southernmost record.

If you’re a sucker for new taxonomy, then this species was recently re-classified as Gonyosoma prasinum.

Truly a very beautiful rat snake, if you’ve seen one up close, that has rich azure eyes (for Malaysian specimens) and a fiesty temperament.

Chan Ah Lak is a naturalist and avid birdwatcher based in Taiping near Bukit Larut, a beautiful piece of hilly rainforest that I’ve yet to explore properly.

He sent me this photo of a horned frog taken in Kinabalu Park some time ago for help in identification.

I did my best.

Hi Hans,
Saw this “Horned” toad in his burrow at the Botanical Garden ,Kinabalu Park.
any idea of its common and scienftic name?
Regards.
ALChan

At first, it appeared to be just like the Malaysian horned frog (Megophrys nasuta), which also occurs in Borneo.

On closer observation, the eye colour and rounded rostrum pointed its identification towards Megophrys Kobayashii, a more recently described horned frog endemic to Kinabalu Park.

A really cool find!

Reader Florian Mader from Germany sends in this picture of a snake taken from Taman Negara, one of the national parks in Peninsular Malaysia.

The Pictures from the unknown snake I made in Taman-Negara Malaysia.
Could you please tell me, what kind of snake it is and give me some information about it.

Thank You

Florian Mader

If you’re familiar with Southeast Asian snakes, what would be your first guess?

By the colours and pattern, it might strike you as a mangrove cat snake (Boiga dendrophila melanota)

Close, but the snake appears distinctly to be the melanistic phase of the dog toothed cat snake or Boiga cynodon.

There are some subtle differences that can cause confusion between the two species, but if you’ve seen enough specimens, you’ll be able to tell at once, even from a picture as blur as this.

And looks like the snake had a good meal in the picture too.

Reader Don Nicol sends in this picture of a snake taken from Bako, one of the national parks in Sarawak (Borneo).

Hello Hans,

Are you able to confirm that this is a Paradise Tree Snake? My problem is the size that was 2 metres or over.

Photographed at Bako National Park, near Kuching.

Thanks

Don

It certainly is a paradise tree snake but this species clearly does not get over 2 m in length.

After a brief discussion with him, Don explained that it was a rough estimate based on judging the floorboard size, which in his own words, ‘might have been less’.

The larger specimens usually grow slightly more than a meter, but there have been records of 1.5 meters but definitely not more than two.

I’ll be sharing some of the emails that readers have sent to me over the last few years. Most of them are requests for help in identifying snakes from their homes, gardens, workplaces etc.
Lisa, an expatriate living in Brunei, found this little snake in her garden, killed by her cat, which she suspected to be a cobra due to its markings and dark colour.
This was one of the first emails I received when I first started naturemalaysia.com

Hello Hans,
I found this juvenile specimen on the road at the front of the garden right next to a juvenile bronzeback both probably killed by a cat. Today I saw the larger version (parent or older sibling?) with the pale pink markings behind the head on either side rather then the complete ring as in this juvenile. The larger version was active in the morning about 8am and was seen previously in the morning about 9am. It is over a metre in length and has the thickness and head proportion that seems consistent with a terrestrial snake. When it heard me turn the key in the lock it raised its head and flared the neck and scarpered under the raised house … Just so you know I love snakes and would never threaten them or handle them unless the danger is significant.

Regards,
Lisa
Brunei

We need more people like Lisa. Rather than branining any snake she sees with a broom or equivalent, Lisa expresses concern about their conservation and recognises the senseless culture of killing snakes.

In reply to her email, I explained that the juvenile snake she captured on photo was actually a sunbeam (Xenopeltis unicolor), displaying ontogenetic colouration. The sunbeam snake is completely harmless, but for anyone careless in handling it, it can give off a terrible musk that sticks on you for hours (yours truly). However, the ‘adult’ snake she mentioned in her mail was most likely a cobra.

Till today, Lisa continues to send me emails now and then for more snake identification.