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Macrocalamus tweediei LIM, 1963

IUCN Red List - Macrocalamus tweediei - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Calamariinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Tweedie's Mountain Reed Snake
G: Tweedies Riednatter 
SynonymMacrocalamus 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 
DistributionWest 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  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: 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). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: 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). 
CommentHabitat: 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. 
EtymologyNamed after M.W.F. Tweedie, former director of the Singapore National Museum (obituary in Raffl. Bull. Zool. 37 [1989]: 160). 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boo Liat, Lim 1963. Macrocalamus tweediei, a new species of Reed Snake from Malaya. Bull. Nat. Mus. Singapore 32: 99 - 102
  • Chan-ard,T.; Grossmann,W.; Gumprecht,A. & Schulz,K. D. 1999. Amphibians and reptiles of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand - an illustrated checklist [bilingual English and German]. Bushmaster Publications, Würselen, Gemany, 240 pp. [book review in Russ. J Herp. 7: 87] - get paper here
  • 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
  • DAS, I. & LIM, K.K.P. 2001. Catalogue of herpetological types in the collection of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. Raffles Bull. Zool. 49 (1): 7-11 - get paper here
  • David, P. & Pauwels, O.S.G. 2004. A re-evaluation of the taxonomy of Macrocalamus lateralis Günther, 1864 (Serpentes: Colubridae), with the descriptions of two new species. Raffl. Bull. Zool., 52(2): 635-645 - get paper here
  • Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Quah, Evan S H; Shahrul Anuar, Lee L Grismer, Perry L Wood, Siti Azizah Mohd Nor 2019. Systematics and natural history of mountain reed snakes (genus Macrocalamus; Calamariinae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 188: 1236 - 1276 - get paper here
  • Vogel, G. & P. David 1999. A revision of the genus Macrocalamus (Serpentes: Colubridae), with description of a new species and a key to the genus. Raffles Bull. Zool., 47 (2): 309-332 - 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.
  • Yaakob, Norsham Suhaina and Boo Liat Lim 2002. A new species of mountain reed snake, Macrocalamus gentingensis, from Genting Highlands, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. Hamadryad 27 (1):83-89 - get paper here
 
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