You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Fordonia leucobalia

Fordonia leucobalia (SCHLEGEL, 1837)

IUCN Red List - Fordonia leucobalia - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Fordonia leucobalia?

Add your own observation of
Fordonia leucobalia »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaHomalopsidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Crab-eating (Water) Snake, White-bellied mangrove snake
G: Krebs-Wassertrugnatter 
SynonymHomalopsis leucobalia SCHLEGEL 1837
Fordonia leucobalia — GRAY 1842
Fordonia unicolor GRAY 1849
Hemiodontus leucobalia — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 884
Hemiodontus chalybaeus JAN 1863
Fordonia bicolor THEOBALD 1868
Fordonia papuensis MACLEAY 1877
Fordonia varabilis MACLEAY 1878
Hemiodontus leucobalia — MÜLLER 1880
Fordonia leucobalia — TAYLOR 1922: 115
Fordonia leucobalia — SMITH 1943: 396
Fordonia leucobalia — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 352
Fordonia leucobalia — COX et al. 1998: 39
Fordonia leucobalia — COGGER 2000: 625
Fordonia leucobalia — NGUYEN et al. 2009
Fordonia leucobalia — MURPHY & VORIS 2014: 20
Fordonia leucobalia — WALLACH et al. 2014: 298 
DistributionAustralia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)
Bangladesh;
India (Bengal);
Indonesia (Borneo, Irian Jaya, Seram = Ceram, Sumatra, Java; Timor, Ambon); Timor-Leste,
Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia);
Myanmar (Burma),
Papua New Guinea
Philippines (Mindanao);
Singapore;
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam

Type locality: Timor (Indonesia)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: RMNH 1161 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Upper labials 5 or 6, third enters orbit; loreal usually absent; scales in ocular ring plate-like; frontal shorter than parietal scales; rear fangs robust, grooved, dorsal pattern uniform slate gray or mottled with red, brown, black, and white (or some combination of these colors) (MURPHY & VORIS 2014). 
CommentSynonymy after COGGER 1983. Has been reported from the Nicobar Islands but is not listed by DAS 1999 for the Nicobar Islands.

Habitat: at least partially coastal and thus considered (partially) “marine”.

Diet: crustaceans

Type species: Homalopsis leucobalia SCHLEGEL 1837 is the type species of the genus Fordonia GRAY 1842. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Greek leukos (white) plus balios (dappled), referring to the coloration. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 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. 1999. Biogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In: Ota,H. (ed) Tropical Island herpetofauna..., Elsevier, pp. 43-77
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Duméril, A. M. C., Bibron, G. & DUMÉRIL, A. H. A., 1854. Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536 - get paper here
  • Fabre, Anne-Claire; David Bickford, Marion Segall and Anthony Herrel 2016. The impact of diet, habitat use, and behaviour on head shape evolution in homalopsid snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, DOI: 10.1111/bij.12753 - get paper here
  • FIGUEROA, ALEX & RYAN J.R. MCCLEARY. 2021. Descending from the trees onto the mud to feed: observation of ophiophagy by Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus (Gray, 1832) on Fordonia leucobalia (Schlegel, 1837). Herpetology Notes 14: 1281–1285. - 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
  • Freed, Paul; Jonathan Hakim, Barbara Lester, Shahriar Caesar Rahman, Jodee Stickley, Scott Trageser, James Wetherall and Mary-Ruth Low. 2015. Geographic Distribution: Fordonia leucobalia (crab-eating snake). Herpetological Review 46 (4): 573 - get paper here
  • Frith,C.B. & MacIver,D. 1978. The crab-eating Water Snake, Fordonia leucobalia (SCHLEGEL), another snake new to Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. (Bangkok) 27: 189-191
  • 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
  • Grismer, L.L. 2011. Amphibians and reptiles of the Seribuat Archipelago. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 239 pp.
  • Jayne, Bruce C; Harold K Voris ; Peter K L Ng 2018. How big is too big? Using crustacean-eating snakes (Homalopsidae) to test how anatomy and behaviour affect prey size and feeding performance. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society - get paper here
  • Kopstein, F. 1938. Ein Beitrag zur Eierkunde und zur Fortpflanzung der Malaiischen Reptilien. Bull. Raffles Mus. No 14: 81-167
  • 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
  • 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
  • Macleay, W. 1877. The ophidians of the Chevert Expedition. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2: 33-41 (given as 1878 on title page but published in 1877) - get paper here
  • Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp. - get paper here
  • Milto, Konstantin D.; Yury A. Lukin 2020. A Revised Herpetofauna of Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java, Indonesia. Russian Journal of Herpetology 27 (6): 353-368 - get paper here
  • Müller, F. 1880. Erster Nachtrag zum Katalog der herpetologischen Sammlung des Basler Museums. Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel 7: 120-165 - get paper here
  • Murphy, J.C. & Voris, H.K. 2014. A Checklist and Key to the Homalopsid Snakes (Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes), with the Description of New Genera. FIELDIANA: LIFE AND EARTH SCIENCES (8): 1–43 - get paper here
  • Murphy, John C. 2007. Homalopsid Snakes: Evolution in the Mud. Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida, 249 pp.
  • 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
  • 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
  • Parkin, T., Jolly, C. J., de Laive, A., & von Takach, B. 2020. Snakes on an urban plain: Temporal patterns of snake activity and human–snake conflict in Darwin, Australia. Austral Ecology - get paper here
  • Rahman, Shahriar Caesar and A. H. M. Ali Reza. 2013. Fordonia leucobalia (crab-eating snake) diet. Herpetological Review 44 (3): 522 - get paper here
  • Rahman, Shahriar Caesar; Reza, Ahm Ali; Datta, Rupa; Jenkins, Chris L.; Luiselli, Luca 2014. Niche partitioning and population structure of sympatric mud snakes (Homalopsidae) from Bangladesh. The Herpetological Journal 24 (2): 123-128 - get paper here
  • Schlegel, H. 1837. Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Descriptive. La Haye (J. Kips, J. HZ. et W. P. van Stockum), 606 S. + xvi - get paper here
  • Seung Hoon, Cha 2012. Snake, the world most beautifull curve [in Korean]. Hownext, 304 pp. [ISBN 978-89-965656-7-3] - 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, 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., Inger, R.F. & Lardner, B. 2014. A field guide to the snakes of Borneo, second edition. Natural history Publications (Borneo)
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Fordonia&species=leucobalia

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



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator