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Oligodon bitorquatus BOIE, 1827

IUCN Red List - Oligodon bitorquatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Boie's Kukri Snake 
SynonymOligodon bitorquatus BOIE 1827: 519
Oligodon sub-quadratum — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 55
Rabdosoma amboinense BLEEKER 1860
Oligodon subquadratus — JAN 1865
Oligodon bitorquatus — MERTENS 1930
Oligodon bitorquatus — KOPSTEIN 1938
Oligodon bitorquatus — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 368
Oligodon bitorquatus — DAVID & VOGEL 2012
Oligodon bitorquatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 494 
DistributionIndonesia (Sumatra ?, Java, Bali, Sumbawa)

Type locality: Java  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: RMNH RENA.10429. collected by S. Müller, Java. Originally two specimens under RMNH RENA.53. Lectotype is now RMNH RENA.10429 and paralectotype RMNH RENA.53 (fide E. Dondorp, pers. comm., 28 Jan 2019) 
Diagnosis 
CommentDistribution: Not listed for Borneo by MALKMUS et al. (2002) which was probably an erroneous locality (TILLACK et al. 2008). Also, BLEEKER’s report from Amboina seems to be an erronous report too.

Type species: Oligodon bitorquatus BOIE 1827 is the type species of the genus Oligodon FITZINGER 1826 (or Oligodon BOIE 1827 fide DE ROOIJEN 2011).

All Oligodon possess a large rostral scale, a characteristic habitus without marked neck, and characteristic enlarged and compressed, blade-like posterior maxillary teeth (David et al. 2012), hence the common name ‘‘Kukri snakes’’ given to the genus.

Comparisons: QIAN et al. 2021 provide a table of diagnostic characters across Southeast Asian Oligodon species. Amarasinghe et al. (2021) provide a character table for the ~30 Oligodon species with 15 dorsal scale rows.

Key and character table: David et al. 2022 provided a key and character table for the species of Oligodon in Laos and surrounding countries. 
EtymologyMembers of this genus are called Kukri snakes in popular nomenclature because of the presence of one to three large posterior maxillary teeth which resemble a Ghurkan kukri knife (Smith, 1943; Tweedie, 1983). Those teeth are used to open reptile eggs (Coleman et al., 1993) which constitute the primary food source for many species of this genus. Another conspicuous character of this genus is a rather blunt head terminating in a large rostral shield (Malkmus et al., 2002; Manthey and Grossmann, 1997) which is an adaptation for burrowing. All species are terrestrial, semifossorial snakes [from DE ROOIJEN et al. 2011]. 
References
  • Amarasinghe, A.A. Thasun; Sujan M. Henkanaththegedara, Patrick D. Campbell, Awal Riyanto, Jakob Hallermann & Gernot Vogel 2021. Description of a New Oligodon (Squamata: Colubridae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia, Including Redescriptions of O. waandersi and O. propinquus. Herpetologica Jun 2021 Vol. 77, No. 2: 195-207 - get paper here
  • Bleeker, P. 1860. Over de Reptiliën-Fauna van Amboina. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië 22: 39-43 - get paper here
  • Boie, F. 1827. Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis von Oken 20: 508-566. - get paper here
  • 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, PATRICK & GERNOT VOGEL 2012. A new species of the genus Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Squamata: Colubridae) from Pulau Nias, Indonesia. Zootaxa 3201: 58–68 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., G. BIBRON & A.H.A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 7 (partie 1). Paris, xvi + 780 S. - get paper here
  • Jan, G. 1865. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 13. Livraison. [Homalosoma mite]. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - 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 2017. The Snakes of Java, Bali and Surrounding Islands. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 435 pp. - get paper here
  • Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp. - 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.
  • 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
  • QIAN, T., QI, S., SHI, J., LU, Y., JENKINS, R. W., MO, Y., & LI, P. 2021. A new species of Oligodon H. Boie in Fitzinger, 1826 (Squamata: Colubridae) from Hainan Island, China. Zootaxa 4933 (3): 403-421 - get paper here
  • Rooijen, Johan van; Perry L. Wood Jr.,,, Jesse L. Grismer,, L. Lee Grismer, and Wolfgang Grossmann 2011. Color Pattern Dimorphism in the Colubrid Snake Oligodon purpurascens (Schlegel, 1837) (Reptilia: Squamata). Russ. J. Herpetol. 18 (3): 215 – 220 - get paper here
  • Tillack, Frank 2008. Oligodon rhombifer WERNER, 1924, A JUNIOR SYNONYM OF Oligodon ancorus (GIRARD, 1857) (REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE). Russ. J. Herpetol. 15 (2): 122-128 - get paper here
  • Tillack, Frank and Rainer Günther 2010. Revision of the Species of Oligodon from Sumatra and Adjacent Islands, with Comments on the Taxonomic Status of Oligodon subcarinatus (Günther, 1872) and Oligodon annulifer (Boulenger, 1893) from Borneo (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 16 (4): 265-294 [2009] - get paper here
  • Tillack, Frank; Christoph Kucharzewski, Aaron M. Bauer and Van Wallach 2008. Simotes semicinctus Peters, 1862, a junior synonym of Coronella austriaca Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata, Ser pentes, Colubridae). Zoosyst. Evol . 84 (1): 67 – 70 - 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.
 
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