Macrocalamus tweediei LIM, 1963
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Macrocalamus tweediei
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Calamariinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Tweedie's Mountain Reed Snake G: Tweedies Riednatter |
| Synonym | Macrocalamus tweediei LIM 1963 Macrocalamus tweediei — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 366 Macrocalamus tweediei — COX et al. 1998: 37 Macrocalamus tweediei — VOGEL & DAVID 1999 Macrocalamus tweediei — WALLACH et al. 2014: 418 Macrocalamus tweediei — QUAH et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | West Malaysia (Cameron Highlands: Mt. Batu Berinchang; Selangor: Jabatan Talikom station, Mt. Ulu Kali, Genting Highlands) Type locality: Gunong Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, 6000ft = Mt. Batu Berinchang in Pahang, 1830 m |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZRC 2.2174 (fide Quah et al. 2019), also given as ZRC 57,656 (Singapore National Museum). Paratype: FMNH R54,070 (Chicago Natural History Museum). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Adults reach ~500 mm TL. Head elongate, more-or-less triangular, depressed, indistinct from neck; snout pointed; tail short, thick, ending in acute spiny scale; rostral scale longer than broad, visible from above, separating nasals, contacting prefrontals; internasals absent, fused with prefrontals; nasals entire, small, pentagonal; nostrils pierce lower margin of nasal and upper margin of the first supralabial; one pair of large prefrontals; one preocular; one supraocular; one postocular; no subocular; 1 + 2 temporals; one elongate loreal between nasal and preocular; seven to eight supralabials, second, third and sometimes fourth (exception LSUHC 11706, second to fifth on the right side) contact the loreal, fourth and fifth (exception LSUHC 11706, fifth and sixth on the right side) entering orbit; six to eight (usually seven) infralabials, first to fourth (rarely fifth) touching first chin shield; 15 mid- body dorsal scale rows; dorsal scales smooth; ventrals 128–147 (males 128–134, females 132–147); cloacal scale single; 24–32 divided subcaudals (males 31–32, females 24–28) (Lim, 1963; Vogel & David, 1999; Quah et al. 2019). |
| Comment | Habitat: mossy, wet montane cloud forest between 1500 and 1800 m a.s.l. This species is sluggish, secretive and burrows beneath damp sphagnum moss and leaf litter. The specimens collected by Quah et al. 2019 were dug out at night from leaf litter that had accumulated along the sides of roads. Lim (1963) found the type specimen under a log beside a mountain stream. Sympatry: Pseudorabdion longiceps (Cantor, 1847), Calamaria lumbricoidea Boie, 1827, Calamaria lovii gimletti Boulenger, 1905, Calamaria schlegeli Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854, Macrocalamus cf. chanardi 1, M. schulzi, M. emas and Collorhabdium williamsoni. |
| Etymology | Named after M.W.F. Tweedie, former director of the Singapore National Museum (obituary in Raffl. Bull. Zool. 37 [1989]: 160). |
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