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Rhabdophis tigrinus (BOIE, 1826)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesRhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus (BOIE 1826)
Rhabdophis tigrinus formosanus (MAKI 1931) 
Common NamesE: Tiger Keelback
G: Tiger-Wassernatter, Tigernatter
Russian: Тигровый уж
Chinese: 虎斑颈槽蛇 
SynonymTropidonotus tigrinus BOIE 1826: 205
Amphiesma tigrinum — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 732
Tropidonotus lateralis BERTHOLD 1859
Amphiesma tigrinum — HALLOWELL 1860: 499
Tropidonotus orientalis GÜNTHER 1861: 391
Tropidonotus tigrinus — GÜNTHER 1888: 171
Tropidonotus tigrinus — BOULENGER 1893: 249
Tropidonotus tigrinus — BOULENGER 1896: 607
Natrix tigrina — STEJNEGER 1907: 272
Natrix tigrina lateralis — STEJNEGER 1907: 278
Natrix tigrina lateralis — MELL 1931 [1929]
Natrix tigrina lateralis ab. caerulescens — EMELIANOV 1936
Natrix tigrina lateralis — GLASS 1946
Natrix tigrina — ALEXANDER & DIENER 1958
Rhabdophis tigrina — MALNATE 1960
Rhabdophis tigrinus lateralis — SZYNDLAR 1984
Rhabdophis tigrina lateralis ZHAO & JIANG 1986
Rhabdophis tigrina — KHARIN 2011
Rhabdophis lateralis — TAKEUCHI et al. 2012
Rhabdophis tigrinus — TAKEUCHI et al. 2012
Rhabdophis tigrinus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 637
Rhabdophis lateralis — YOSHIDA et al. 2020
Rhabdophis lateralis — PIAO et al. 2020
Rhabdophis tigrinus — PIAO et al. 2020

Rhabdophis tigrinus formosanus (MAKI 1931)
Natrix tigrina formosana MAKI 1931
Rhabdophis tigrinus formosanus OTA & MORI 1985
Rhabdophis tigrinus formosanus OTA et al. 1999
Rhabdophis formosanus — TAKEUCHI et al. 2012
Rhabdophis formosanus — YOSHIDA et al. 2020 
DistributionE Russia (Primorskiy and Khabarovsk territories)
North Korea, South Korea
China (widely distributed, except western third and extreme south; Chekiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hupeh, Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu, Shensi, Suiyuan, Yunnan), Taiwan,
Vietnam,
Japan (Yakushima, Taegashima, Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, Ryukyu Islands)

lateralis: Asian mainland

tigrinus: Japan

formosanus: Taiwan

Type locality: “Japan”, “Dejima of Nagasaki City, eastern Kyushu, Japan” (fide Zhao & Adler, 1993).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZFMK 8406, ZFMK 8407, BMNH 1861.12.27.9 (possibly additional specimens could neither be traced in RMNH nor in ZMA fide Böhme 2014).
Holotype: NSMT H-2967 [formosanus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (formosanus): Rhabdophis formosanus has many subcaudal (≤ 80 in males, ≤ 77 in females). Therefore, subcaudal counts could distinguish R. formosanus from R. tigrinus and R. lateralis, except the Kyushu populations of R. tigrinus with partially overlap of the ranges (Ota & Mori, 1985; Ota et al., 1999). They can be discriminated by longitudinally narrower dark blotches counts from the neck to the fiftieth ventral (BB50), which is in the range 15–20 in R. formosanus but 7–14 in the Kyushu populations of R. tigrinus (Toriba, 1992; Ota et al., 1999). Therefore, R. formosanus has the diagnosability from R. tigrinus and R. lateralis by a combination of characters (≤ 80 subcaudal in males, ≤ 77 subcaudal in females, and BB50 in both sexes). On the other hand, we have found no key characters that collectively discriminate R. lateralis from R. tigrinus. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify them. [from TAKEUCHI et al. 2012).
 
CommentVenomous!

Nomenclature: “tigrina” fide KHALIKOV 1998 (pers. comm.).

Distribution: not listed for Vietnam (by SANG et al. 2009).

Synonyms: R. lateralis is closely related to R. tigrinus but genetically distinct. Some authors treat it as synonym of tigrinus but more recent authors tend to treat it as valid.

Diet: The diet of R. tigrinus on Kinkasan Island exclusively consisted of a frog, Rana tagoi, which is the only amphibian species inhabiting Kinkasan Island (Akira & Nagata 2016), but occasionally toads (Yoshida et al. 2020).

Morphology: Rhabdophis is only one of three genera that posseses nuchal glands which contain cardiotonic steroid toxins known as bufadienolides. Rhabdophis tigrinus sequesters bufadienolides from its toad prey and stores them in the nuchal glands as a defensive mechanism (Takeuchi et al. 2018). 
References
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