Rhabdophis flaviceps (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

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Higher Taxa	Colubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Orangeneck Keelback, Yellow-headed Keelback G: Gelbkopf-Kielrückennatter, Rotkopf-Kielrückenwassernatter
Synonym	Amphiesma flaviceps DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 738 Amphiesma lindmani BLEEKER 1857 (nomen nudum) Amphiesma flaviceps — JAN 1863 Amphiesma rufo torquatum EDELING 1864:204 (fide BOULENGER 1894) Tropidonotus leucomelas GÜNTHER 1864 (fide BOULENGER 1912) Amphiesma lindmanni GÜNTHER 1872 Tropidonotus flaviceps — BOETTGER 1886 Tropidonotus (Amphiesma) flaviceps — BOETTGER 1887 Macropisthodon flaviceps — BOULENGER 1893: 266 Macropisthodon flaviceps — KOPSTEIN 1938 Macropisthodon flaviceps — TAYLOR 1965: 849 Macropisthodon flaviceps — GRANDISON 1978: 289 Macropisthodon flaviceps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 418 Macropisthodon flaviceps — HUSSON et al. 2018 Rhabdophis flaviceps — TAKEUCHI et al. 2018
Distribution	Indonesia (Bangka, Borneo/Kalimantan, Nias, Sumatra); Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia); Thailand Type locality: “Bornéo”
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Type: BMNH 1946.1.14.33 (and possibly additional specimens).
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Maxillary teeth, 18-20 + 2 enlarged fangs; eight upper labials (rarely seven); posterior chinshields longest; one preocular; scales keeled, in 19 rows at middle. Body black with grayish white or pale olive cross-bars, widening towards sides; a broad orange band across neck separated from head by a black band; venter olive with black cross-bands or entirely black. Additional details (1161 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Type species: Amphiesma flaviceps DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 738 is the type species of the genus Macropisthodon BOULENGER 1893. However, Takeuchi et al. 2018 synonymized Macropisthodon with Rhabdophis. Morphology: Macropisthodon is only one of three genera that posseses nuchal glands (Takeuchi et al. 2018). TL average 70 cm, rarely > 100 cm.
Etymology	Named after Latin flavus = yellow and “ceps” = head, although the head is usuall red (or brown) but rarely yellow.
References	Auliya, M. 2006. Taxonomy, Life History, and conservation of giant reptiles in west Kalimantan. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 432 pp. - get paper here Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here Boulenger, G.A. 1912. A vertebrate fauna of the Malay Peninsula from the Isthmus of Kra to Singapore incl. the adjacent islands. Reptilia and Amphibia. London (Taylor & Francis), xiii + 298 S. - 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 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. 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 Dunaev E.A., Orlova V.F. 2003. Diversity of snakes (on the materials of the exposition of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University). Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 376 pp Gumprecht, A. & Trautmann, D. 2007. Rotkopf-Kielrückenwassernatter - Macropisthodon flaviceps (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854). Reptilia (Münster) 12 (64): 51-54 - get paper here Husson, S.J.; S.H. Limin, Adul, N.S. Boyd, J.J. Brousseau, S. Collier, S.M. Cheyne, L.J. D’Arcy, R.A. Dow, N.W. Dowds, M.L. Dragiewicz, D.A. Ehlers Smith, Iwan, Hendri, P.R. Houlihan, K.A. Jeffers, B.J.M. Jarrett, I.P. Kulu, H.C. Morrogh-Bernard, S.E 2018. Biodiversity of the Sebangau tropical peat swamp forest, Indonesian Borneo. Mires and Peat 22 (05): 1–50 - get paper here Kopstein, F. 1938. Ein Beitrag zur Eierkunde und zur Fortpflanzung der Malaiischen Reptilien. Bull. Raffles Mus. No 14: 81-167 Stuebing, R.B. & INGER, R.F. 1999. A field guide to the snakes of Borneo. Natural history Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, 254 pp. [corrections in HR 31: 124]. - 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) Syafiq MF, Badli-Sham BH, Grismer LL, Ahmad AB 2023. Uneven species occurrence and richness of lowland snakes (Serpentes, Squamata) in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, with new locality records. ZooKeys 1168: 11–39 Takeuchi, H., Savitzky, A. H., Ding, L., Silva, A., Das, I., Nguyen, T. T., … Mori, A. 2018. Evolution of nuchal glands, unusual defensive organs of Asian natricine snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae), inferred from a molecular phylogeny. Ecology and Evolution 8 (20): 10219–10232 - 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 Tweedie, M. W. F. 1983. The snakes of Malaya. Third edition. Singapore National Printers (Pte) Ltd., Singapore. 167 pp. 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.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.ecologyasia.com/html-menu/species-list.htm Google images

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