Homalopsis buccata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 212-214

Homalopsis buccata (Linnaeus, 1758) — Native.

Coluber buccatus Linnaeus, 1758: 217 . Neotype: FMNH 250114 , designated by Murphy et al. (2012: 10) . Type locality: “Indiis” (= East Indies [ Indonesia Archipelago]); later designated as “ Singapore … Nee Soon Swamp Forest ” via neotype designation .

Puff-faced Water Snake

( Figure 24D )

Singapore records.

Homolopsis [sic] buccata — Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Blanford, 1881: 215.

Homalopsis buccata — Boulenger, 1896: 15.— Flower, 1896: 887.— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Flower, 1899: 677.—Ridley, 1899: 208.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 16.—Sworder, 1923: 66.— Buddle, 1929: 35 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).— de Haas, 1950: 577.— Harman, 1961: 183.— Gyi, 1970: 144.—F. Lim, 1988: 4 (Nee Soon [NSSF]; Singapore Zoo).—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988a: 27 (Mandai).—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988c: 74 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 116.—K. Lim, 1990a: 8 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.— Subharaj & K.K.P. Lim, 1991a: 3 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—Subharaj & K.K.P. Lim, 1991b: 3 (Neo Tiew Road [LCK]; Ulu Sembawang).—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 71.—K.K.P. Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 7 (Choa Chu Kang Road [CCK]; Lower Peirce Forest; Nee Soon Swamp Forest; Neo Tiew Road [LCK]).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 77, 147.—P.K.L. Ng, 1992a: 140.—P.K.L. Ng, 1992b: 140.—Wee, 1992: 74 (Lower Peirce Reservoir Park).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 12 (Lorong Gambas).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 3 (Mandai Track 15; Upper Seletar Reservoir).—K. Lim, 1995: 16 (Lorong Gambas; Lower Peirce Forest).— David & Vogel, 1996: 120.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 356.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 381 (Nee Soon [NSSF]).— Cox et al., 1998: 42.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 33.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 94.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 147.— de Lang & Vogel, 2005: 253.—B.W. Baker, 2006: 171.—K.W. Chan, 2006: 5 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).—J.C. Murphy, 2007: 239.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 111, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 265.—K.K.P. Lim & D’Rozario, 2009: 10.—E.K. Chua, 2010: 148.— Das, 2010: 329.—D.C.J. Yeo et al., 2010: 153.—T.M. Leong & J.W.M. Gan, 2011: 31.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 502.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 111, 161.— Das, 2012a: 111.—J.C. Murphy et al., 2012: 9–11.—J.C. Murphy & Voris, 2014: 24.—H.H. Tan, 2014e: 146 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—Thomas et al., 2014: 309.—Wallach et al., 2014: 334.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 242.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 136.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2016: 184 (Pulau Tekong).— de Lang, 2017: 290.— Das, 2018: 129.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2019: 284.—H.T.W. Tan et al., 2019: 134 (Kent Ridge Park; National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus).— Charlton, 2020: 101.— Leo et al., 2020: 257.

Puff-faced Water Snake— Anonymous, 2003: 35 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).

Remarks. In their review of Homalopsis, Murphy et al. (2012) designated Singapore as the type locality of H. buccata ( Table 1 ) based on the neotype since the holotype is lost. The locality of the neotype was assigned “Indiis”, which Murphy et al. (2012) understood to mean East Indies, or Indonesian Archipelago (Murphy et al. 2012). Singapore was selected as the type locality because it lies in the “east-west centre” of the distribution of H. buccata (Murphy et al. 2012) . Dennys (1880a) first reported H. buccata from Singapore in a newspaper article based on specimens at the Raffles Museum. Dennys also deposited four specimens at NHMUK ( Boulenger 1896). However, Lim et al. (2019) discussed that Fontanier collected specimen MNHN-RA- 0.1220 in Singapore around 1846, when he served as a French Vice-Consul to Singapore. Flower (1896) collected two specimens from an unknown locality, Sworder (1923) noted it was fairly common, and Buddle (1929) collected one specimen at SNB. Despite all these specimens, de Haas (1950) was uncertain if H. buccata occurred in Singapore as he listed the locality as “ Singapore?”. About 32 years later ( Table 2 ), Harman (1961) reported one he collected, then Gyi (1970) examined four specimens from CAS and MCZ (specimens catalogued “SU” were from Stanford University and are now in CAS). Most records reported in The Pangolin journal were from observations made at NSSF (Lim 1988, 1990a; Lim & Lim 1988c; Subharaj & Lim 1991a; Lim & Subharaj 1992), but there were also records from Singapore Zoo (Lim 1988), Mandai ( Lim & Lim 1988a), Neo Tiew Road and Ulu Sembawang (Subharaj & K.K.P. Lim 1991b), CCK and LPF ( Lim & Subharaj 1992; Lim 1995), Lorong Gambas (Subaraj 1994; Lim 1995), and Mandai Track 15 and USR (Subaraj et al. 1995). Teo & Rajathurai (1997) described H. buccata as the most common snake in the Nature Reserves, particularly in NSSF. However, there’s only been one reported record, also from NSSF (Tan 2014e). The only other recent reported records are of three individuals seen March 2007 at PT ( Lim et al. 2016) and Tan et al. (2019) who reported it from KRP and NUS Kent Ridge campus. The individual in Figure 24D was photographed at NSSF on 1 December 2014 (A. Figueroa pers. obs.). Being an inhabitant of freshwater habitats, H. buccata may have become uncommon ( Baker & Lim 2012) due to large-scale habitat loss and alteration.

Occurrence. Wide-ranging. Uncommon.

Singapore conservation status. Vulnerable.

Conservation priority. Moderate.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2010].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1896.6 .25.47 (no date) , BMNH 1890.9.10.26–28 (no date), BMNH 1930.12 .2.8 (no date) , ZRC.2.3337 (no date), ZRC.2.3339, ZRC.2.3341– ZRC.2.3345 (Sep-1900) , ZRC.2.3338 (25-Sep-1909) , ZRC.2.3340 (Jul-1914) ; Botanic Gardens: ZRC.2.4420 (23-Nov-1897) ; Bukit Timah: ZRC.2.3346 (18-Dec-1922) , ZRC.2.4423 (16-Mar-1923) , ZRC.2.4427 (Apr-1923) ; Caldecott Hill Estate : ZRC.2.3336 (Jan-1939) ; Chestnut Forest [ CTF] : ZRC.2.7113 (29-Sep-2015) ; Katong : ZRC.2.3335 (13-Jan-1918) , ZRC.2.4418 (22-Jan-1926) ; Nee Soon Swamp Forest : ZRC.2.2510 (31-Dec-1988) ; Pulau Tekong: ZRC.2.6798– ZRC.2.6800 (31-Mar-2007) ; Upper Seletar Reservoir Park : ZRC.2.7034 (14-Jan-2014) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): CAS, CUMV, FMNH, MCZ, MNHN, NMI, ZMUC; Nee Soon Forest [= NSSF]: BPBM, MCZ.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah (not specified)—Caldecott Hill Estate*—Chestnut Track Forest—Choa Chu Kang—Katong*—Kent Ridge Park—Lim Chu Kang—Lorong Gambas—Lower Peirce Forest—Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—Mandai—Mandai Track 15—National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Pulau Tekong—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*—Singapore Botanic Gardens*—Singapore Zoo—Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve—Ulu Sembawang Forest—Upper Seletar Reservoir Park.

Genus Phytolopsis Gray, 1849 (1 species)

Phytolopsis Gray, 1849: 38 , 67–68 (type species: Phytolopsis punctata Gray, 1849: 68 , by monotypy; gender feminine).

Figures

FIGURE 24. A) Enhydris enhydris, B) Fordonia leucobalia, C) Gerarda prevostiana, D) Homalopsis buccata, E) Phytolopsis punctata, F) Raclitia indica, G) Psammodynastes pictus, and H) Asthenodipsas laevis. Photographs by: Joan Lee [A], Alex Figueroa [B–D], Holly Siow [E], Dennis Nathaniel Chan [F], Nick Baker [G], and Kelvin K.P. Lim [H].