You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Acrochordus granulatus

Acrochordus granulatus (SCHNEIDER, 1799)

IUCN Red List - Acrochordus granulatus - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Acrochordus granulatus?

Add your own observation of
Acrochordus granulatus »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaAcrochordidae, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Little filesnake, Marine File Snake, Wart Snake
G: Warzenschlange, Südostasiatische Warzenschlange
Chinese: 瘰鳞蛇 
SynonymHydrus Granulatus SCHNEIDER 1799: 243
Acrochordus fasciatus SHAW 1802
Pelamis granulatus — DAUDIN 1803
Chersydrus [fasciatus] — CUVIER 1817: 532
Chersydrus granulatus — MERREM 1820: 138
Acrochordus fasciatus — RAFFLES 1822
Hydrus granulatus — RAFFLES 1822
Acrochordus granulatus — CANTOR 1847
Chersydrus annulatus GRAY 1849
Chersydrus fasciatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 41
Chersydrus fasciatus — JAN 1863
Chersydrus granulatus — ANDERSON 1872
Chersydrus granulatus — BOULENGER 1893: 174
Chersydrus granulatus — DE ROOIJ 1917: 43
Chersydrus granulatus — WALL 1921: 79
Chersydrus granulatus — TAYLOR 1922
Chersydrus granulatus granulatus — LOVERIDGE 1938: 209
Chersydrus granulatus luzonensis LOVERIDGE 1938: 209
Acrochordus granulatus granulatus — HAAS 1950
Chersydrus granulatus — GRUBER in GRZIMEK 1970
Chersydrus granulatus — GRANDISON 1978: 285
Acrochordus granulatus — MCDOWELL 1979: 79
Acrochordus granulatus — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 296
Acrochordus granulatus — COX et al. 1998: 17
Acrochordus granulatus — GAULKE 1999
Acrochordus granulatus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 227
Chersydrus granulatus — SHARMA 2004
Acrochordus granulatus — MURTHY 2010
Acrochordus granulatus — COX et al. 2012: 67
Acrochordus granulatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 7 
DistributionChina (Hainan), Japan (Amami-oshima Island, Ryukyu Archipelago) ?
Australia (along the coast of Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)
Indonesia (Ambon, Borneo, Flores, Irian Jaya, Java, Bali, Jobi, Schouten, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Ternate, Timor, We, Komodo); Timor-Leste,
Bangladesh; Cambodia;
India (Kerala, Gujarat, including Nicobar Islands);
Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia);
Myanmar (Burma); Philippines (including Palawan: Calamian Islands, Panay, Luzon, Cebu);
Singapore; Sri Lanka, Thailand; Vietnam.
Papua New Guinea (including many satellite islands), Solomon Islands

Type locality: not given (fide MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997); “Madras, India” (fide SANG et al. 2009)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: unknown (fide NGUYEN et al. 2009), originally in Lampi Collection (Museum Lampianum, Hannover), presumed lost, according to McDowell 1979: 79 and McDiarmid et al. 1999: 228. May be in the ZMJU (ZPW) collection in Krakow, Poland fide Wallach et al. (2014).
Holotype: MCZ R 25608 [luzonensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Body whitish with a series of 50 or more black bands, widened on back, narrowed on sides and venter; no widened ventrals; a narrow median fold on venter; eye very small with a minute round pupil; nostrils on top of snout, directed upwards; tail somewhat compressed; large series of scales on upper and lower jaw separated from mouth by a series of much smaller scales. Scales tubercular or keeled; about 100 scales around middle of body. (Taylor 1965) 
CommentDistribution: Does not occur in Pakistan fide KHAN (pers. comm.). There is one record from Japan (Amami-oshima Island, Ryukyu Archipelago); however, this is dubious and the specimen may have been introduced (Takata et al. 2023).

Schlegel 1826: 285 provides a description of the genus Chersydrus. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin granulatus (granular), referring to the small granular scales. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Anderson, J. 1872. On some Persian, Himalayan, and other Reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1872: 371-404 - get paper here
  • Auffenberg W 1980. The herpetofauna of Komodo, with notes on adjacent areas. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 25 (2): 39-156 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M. & Lavilla, E.O. (eds.) 2021. J. G. Schneider’s Historiae Amphibiorum: Herpetology at the Dawn of the 19th Century. SSAR, 848 pp. - get paper here
  • BERNSTEIN, J. M., AND J. BAUTISTA 2020. Geographic Distribution: Acrochordus granulatus (Little File Snake). Philippines: Camarines Sur: Magarao Province. Herpetological Review 51: 272-273.
  • Chan-ard, T., Parr, J.W.K. & Nabhitabhata, J. 2015. A field guide to the reptiles of Thailand. Oxford University Press, NY, 352 pp. [see book reviews by Pauwels & Grismer 2015 and Hikida 2015 for corrections] - get paper here
  • CHANDRAMOULI, S. 2022. Snake fauna of the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal—A review of species richness, taxonomy, distribution, natural history and conservation status. Zootaxa 5209 (3): 301-331 - get paper here
  • Clegg, Jonathan R. and Merlijn Jocque 2015. The Collection of Snakes Made by Benoît Mys and Jan Swerts in Northern Papua New Guinea in 1982–85. Journal of Herpetology 50 (3): 476-485 [2016] - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cox, Merel J.; Hoover, M.F.; Chanhome, Lawan & Thirakhupt,Kumthorn 2012. The Snakes of Thailand. Chulalongkorn University Museum of Natural History, 845 pp.
  • Cox, Merel J.; Van Dijk, Peter Paul; Jarujin Nabhitabhata & Thirakhupt,Kumthorn 1998. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Ralph Curtis Publishing, 144 pp.
  • Das, I. 2012. A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of South-East Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford J, ohn Beaufoy Publishing - get paper here
  • David,P. & Vogel, G. 1996. The snakes of Sumatra. An annotated checklist and key with natural history notes. Bücher Kreth, Frankfurt/M.
  • de Rooij, N. DE 1917. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Il. Ophidia. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 334 S. - get paper here
  • Dowling, H.G., & Jenner, J.V. 1988. Snakes of Burma: checklist of reported species and bibliography. Smithsonian Herp. Inf. Serv. (76): 19 pp. - get paper here
  • Dunson, William A.;Minton, Sherman A. 1978. Diversity, distribution, and Ecology of Philippine Marine Snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). Journal of Herpetology 12 (3): 281-286 - get paper here
  • Ferner, John W., Rafe M. Brown, Rogelio V. Sison and Robert S. Kennedy 2000. The amphibians and reptiles of Panay Island, Philippines. Asiatic Herpetological Research 9: 1-37 - get paper here
  • FIGUEROA, ALEX; MARTYN E.Y. LOW, KELVIN K.P. LIM 2023. Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution. Zootaxa 5287 (1): 001–378 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V., Sreeraj, C., Abhilash, K., Purvaja, R., & Ramesh, R. 2019. Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11(1), 13132-13150 - get paper here
  • GARCIA, Vhon Oliver S.; Rey Donne S.PAPA; Jonathan Carlo A.BRIONES; Norman MENDOZA; Noboru OKUDA; Arvin C.DIESMOS 2014. Food Habits and Distribution of the Lake Taal Sea Snake (Hydrophis semperi Garman 1881) and the Sympatric Little File Snake (Acrochordus granulatus Schneider 1799) in Lake Taal, Philippines. Asian Herpetological Research 5 (4): 255-262 doi 10.3724/SP.J.1245.2014.00255 - get paper here
  • Gaulke M. 1999. Die Herpetofauna von Calauit Island (Calamianes-Inseln, Provinz Palawan, Philippinen) (Amphibia et Reptilia). Faun. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierk. Dresden 21 (19): 273-282
  • Gaulke, M. 2011. The herpetofauna of Panay Island, Philippines. Edition Chimaira, 390 pp.
  • Grandison, A. G. C. 1978. Snakes of West Malaysia and Singapore. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 81 [1977]: 283-303 - get paper here
  • Hediger, H. 1934. Beitrag zur Herpetologie und Zoogeographie Neu-Britanniens und einiger umliegender Gebiete. Zool. Jahrb. (Syst.) 65: 441-582
  • Koch, A. 2012. Discovery, Diversity, and Distribution of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Sulawesi and its offshore islands. Edition Chimaira, 374 pp. [ISBN 978-3-89973-432-4] - get paper here
  • Lang, Ruud de 2011. The Snakes of the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), Indonesia. Asian Herpetological Research 2 (1): 46-54 - get paper here
  • Lang, Ruud de 2012. Snakes of the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), Indonesia. Edition Chimaira, 349 pp. - get paper here
  • Lang, Ruud de 2013. The snakes of the Moluccas (Maluku), Indonesia. Edition Chimaira, 417 pp. - get paper here
  • Lang, Ruud de 2017. The Snakes of Java, Bali and Surrounding Islands. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 435 pp. - get paper here
  • Lang, Ruud de & G. Vogel 2005. The snakes of Sulawesi. A field guide to the land snakes of Sulawesi with identification keys. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, 25, Frankfurt am Main, 312 pp.
  • Leviton, Alan E.; Cameron D. Siler, Jeffrey L. Weinell, and Rafe M. Brown 2018. Synopsis of the Snakes of the Philippines. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 64 (14): 399-568 - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, H.B. 1989. Unusual Shedding Behaviors in an Aquatic Snake, Acrochordus granulatus Copeia 1989 (3): 768-770. - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, H.B. 2022. Discovering snakes in wild places. ECO Publishing, Rodeo, NM, 164 pp. - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, H.B. & V. Sanmartino 1993. Permeability and Water Relations of Hygroscopic Skin of the File Snake, Acrochordus granulatus Copeia 1993 (1): 99-103. - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, H.B., A.W. Smits & M.E. Feder 1988. Body Fluid Volumes in the Aquatic Snake, Acrochordus granulatus Journal of Herpetology 22 (4): 434-438. - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, Harvey B. 2014. How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp
  • Loveridge, Arthur 1938. A new freshwater snake (Chersydrus granulatus luzonensis) from the Philippines. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 51: 209-210 - get paper here
  • Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp. - get paper here
  • McCoy, M. 2006. Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Pensoft Series Faunistica 57, 212 pp.
  • McCoy, M. 2015. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Michael McCoy, Kuranda - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • McDowell S B 1979. A catalogue of the snakes of New Guinea and the Solomons, with special reference to those in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Part 3. Boinae and Acrochordoidea (Reptilia, Serpentes). Journal of Herpetology 13 (1): 1-92 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1930. Die Amphibien und Reptilien der Inseln Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa und Flores. Senck. Naturf. Gesell., Frankfurt am Main, Abhandl. 42(3): 117-344.
  • Most, Matthew G., Kathryn Mary Grace and Bruce A. Young. 2013. Terrestrial locomotion in the Marine Filesnake, Acrochordus granulatus (Schneider, 1799). Hamadryad 36 (2): 142-148 - get paper here
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 2010. The reptile fauna of India. B.R. Publishing, New Delhi, 332 pp.
  • Ng, T.H. 2011. A RECORD OF THE BANDED FILE SNAKE, ACROCHORDUS GRANULATUS (REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: ACROCHORDIDAE) IN A FRESHWATER HABITAT IN SINGAPORE. Nature In Singapore 2011 4: 91–93
  • Nguyen, S.V., Ho, C.T. and Nguyen, T.Q. 2009. Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 768 pp.
  • O'Shea, Mark and Simon Maddock 2023. Serpents of Paradise: Biogeography of the Snake Fauna on New Guinean Islands. In: Lillywhite & Martins, eds., Islands and snakes, vol. II. Oxford University Press, p. 22 ff - get paper here
  • O'Shea,M. 1996. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Independent Publishing, Port Moresby, xii + 239 pp. - get paper here
  • OVCHINNIKOV, ROMAN S.; DMITRY B. VASILYEV, ALLA G. GAYNULLINA, ANTON G. YUZHAKOV, ANDREY V. KAPUSTIN, VASILY A. SAVINOV & ALEXEY M. GULYUKIN. 2021. Detection of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola in three file snakes (Acrochordus granulatus) imported from Indonesia to the Moscow Zoo (Russia). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 52(3): 1074–1078. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • O’SHEA, Mark; Caitlin SANCHEZ, Andrew KATHRINER, Sven MECKE, Venancio LOPES CARVALHO, Agivedo VARELA RIBEIRO, Zito AFRANIO SOARES, Luis LEMOS DE ARAUJO and Hinrich KAISER 2015. Herpetological Diversity of Timor-Leste: Updates and a Review of Species Distributions. Asian Herpetological Research 6 (2): 73–131 - get paper here
  • Palot, M.J. 2015. A checklist of reptiles of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13): 8010–8022 - get paper here
  • Parmar, Dikansh 2019. A Dwarf Seasnake, Hydrophis caerulescens (Shaw 1802), Dog-faced Watersnake, Cerberus rynchops (Schneider 1799), and Little Filesnake, Acrochordus granulatus (Schneider 1799) from the Surat District, Gujarat, India. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 26 (2): 134–139 - get paper here
  • Patel, Harshil; and Raju Vyas 2019. Reptiles of Gujarat, India: Updated Checklist, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Herpetology Notes 12: 765-777 - get paper here
  • Pauwels,O.S.G. et al. 2000. Herpetological investigations in Phang-Nga Province, southern Peninsular Thailand, with a list of reptile species and notes on their biology. Dumerilia 4 (2): 123-154 - get paper here
  • Porter, Robert; Irwin, Steve; Irwin, Terri;Rodrigues, Keith 1997. Records of marine snake species from the Hey-Embley and Mission Rivers, far North Queensland. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (2): 2-7
  • Sanders, Kate L.; Mumpuni, Amir Hamidy, Jason J. Head, David J. Gower 2010. Phylogeny and divergence times of filesnakes (Acrochordus): Inferences from morphology, fossils and three molecular loci. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56 (3): 857-867 - get paper here
  • Schlegel, H. 1826. Erpetologische Nachrichten. Isis von Oken 22 (3): 281-294 [published 1826, not 1827 as sometimes cited, see Savage et al. 2007 BZN 64: 255, case 3345 and case 3357, BZN 63: 267] - get paper here
  • Schmidt, KP 1932. Reptiles and Amphibians from the Solomon Islands. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser. - 18 (9): 175-190 - get paper here
  • Schneider, J. G. 1799. Historiae Amphibiorum narturalis et literariae. Fasciculus primus, continens Ranas. Calamitas, Bufones, Salamandras et Hydros. Frommanni, Jena, 266 S. - get paper here
  • Schneider, JOHANN GOTTLOB 1801. Historiae Amphibiorum naturalis et literariae. Fasciculus secundus continens Crocodilos, Scincos, Chamaesauras, Boas. Pseudoboas, Elapes, Angues. Amphisbaenas et Caecilias. Frommanni, Jena. 374 pp. - get paper here
  • Sharma, R. C. 1976. Records of the reptiles of Goa. Records Zool. Survey India 71 (1975): 149-167. - get paper here
  • Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp.
  • Shine, Richard; Claire Goiran, Catherine Shilton, Shai Meiri, Gregory P Brown 2019. The life aquatic: an association between habitat type and skin thickness in snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, blz136 - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart 1942. Mexican herpetological miscellany. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 92 (3153): 349-395 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney
  • Stuebing, R.B. & Voris, H.K. 1990. Relative abundance of marine snakes on the West coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Herpetology 24 (2): 201-202 - get paper here
  • Stuebing, R.B., Inger, R.F. & Lardner, B. 2014. A field guide to the snakes of Borneo, second edition. Natural history Publications (Borneo)
  • SUPSUP, Christian E.; Nevong M. PUNA, Augusto A. ASIS, Bernard R. REDOBLADO, Maria Fatima G. PANAGUINIT, Faith M. GUINTO, Edmund B. RICO, Arvin C. DIESMOS, Rafe M. BROWN and Neil Aldrin D. MALLARI 2016. Amphibians and Reptiles of Cebu, Philippines: The Poorly Understood Herpetofauna of an Island with Very Little Remaining Natural Habitat. Asian Herpetological Research 2016, 7(3): 151–179 DOI: 10.16373/j.cnki.ahr.150049 - get paper here
  • Takata, Kento; Yanpeng Shen, Kanto Nishikawa, and Masaharu Motokawa 2023. First Record of the Marine File Snake Acrochordus granulatus (Squamata: Acrochordidae) from Japan Based on the Specimen of the Third Higher School. Species Diversity 28: 1-4 - get paper here
  • Taylor, E.H. 1922. The snakes of the Philippine Islands. Manila (Bureau of Printing or Science), Monograph 16: 312 pp. - get paper here
  • Taylor,E.H. 1965. The serpents of Thailand and adjacent waters. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 45 (9): 609-1096 - get paper here
  • TEYNIÉ, ALEXANDRE; PATRICK DAVID, & ANNEMARIE OHLER 2010. Note on a collection of Amphibians and Reptiles from Western Sumatra (Indonesia), with the description of a new species of the genus Bufo. Zootaxa 2416: 1–43 - get paper here
  • Ukuwela, K.D.B., de Silva, A., Sivaruban, A. et al. 2022. Diversity, distribution, and natural history of the marine snakes of Sri Lanka. Marine Biodiversity 52, 24 (2022) - get paper here
  • Voris, H.K. & G.S. Glodek 1980. Habitat, Diet, and Reproduction of the File Snake, Acrochordus granulatus, in the Straits of Malacca Journal of Herpetology 14 (1): 108-111. - get paper here
  • VORIS, HAROLD K. 2017. Diversity of Marine Snakes on Trawling Grounds in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Tropical Natural History 17 (2): 65–87 - get paper here
  • Wall, F. 1913. A remarkable specimen of the Wart Snake (Chersydrus granulatus). J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 23: 372 - get paper here
  • Wall, F. 1918. Note on the Breeding of the Rasp-skinned Water Snake (Chersydrus granulatus), Schneider. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25: 756 - get paper here
  • Wall, FRANK 1921. Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon. Colombo Mus. (H. R. Cottle, govt. printer), Colombo. xxii, 581 pages - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wang, Kai; Jinlong Ren, Hongman Chen, Zhitong Lyu, Xianguang Guo Ke Jiang, Jinmin Chen, Jiatang Li, Peng Guo, Yingyong Wang, Jing Che 2020. The updated checklists of amphibians and reptiles of China. Biodiversity Science 28 (2): 189-218 - get paper here
  • Weinell, Jeffrey L.; Errol Hooper, Alan E. Leviton, Rafe M. Brown 2019. Illustrated Key to the Snakes of the Philippines. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (4) 66 (1): 1-49 - get paper here
  • Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. Snakes of India. Draco Books, 500 pp., reprinted 2007 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Winchell, S. 2003. The wide world of snakes in China. Reptilia (GB) (31): 12-21 - get paper here
  • Winchell, S. 2003. Die vielfältige Welt chinesischer Schlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (44): 20-29 - get paper here
  • Zhao, E.M. 2006. The snakes of China [in Chinese]. Hefei, China, Anhui Sience & Technology Publ. House, Vol. I, 372 pp., Vol. II (color plates), 280 pp.
  • Zhao,E. & Adler,K. 1993. Herpetology of China. SSAR, Oxford/Ohio, 1-522
  • Zug, G.R. & Mulcahy, D.G. 2019. Identification guide Amphibians and reptiles of South Tanintharyi. Fauna & Flora International, 101 pp.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Acrochordus&species=granulatus

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator