Tropidolaemus wagleri, , Ridley, 1933

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 : 229-231

Tropidolaemus wagleri (H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827)— Native.

Cophias Wagleri H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827: 561. Neotype; MNHN-RA 5784 (formerly MNHN 1879.708 ), designated by Vogel et al. (2007: 8). Type locality: “ Java ”, Indonesia; later designated as “‘ Deli : rivière de Bedagneh (Est de Sumatra)’, now Bedagai River (about 3°30’N, 99°13’E), Sumatera Barat Province, Sumatra, Indonesia ” via neotype designation.

Wagler’s Pit Viper

( Figures 26C–E ; Mandai Range Forest)

Singapore records.

Trimesurus maculatus Gray, 1842a: 48 .— Gray, 1849: 8.

Trimeresurus sumatranus — Gray, 1842a: 48.— Gray, 1849: 10.

Trimeresurus sumatranus var.— Cantor, 1847c: 1042, 1072, 1078.

Tropidolaemus wagleri — Duméril et al., 1854b: 1526.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 94–95, 149.— K.P. Lim, 1993a: 3 (Bukit Timah Hill [BTNR]).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 11, 13 (Thomson Ridge Trail [TRF]; Upper Peirce).—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 4 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; MacRitchie North [MNF]; Thomson Ridge [TRF]).—K. Lim, 1995: 17 (Tiup Tiup Path [BTNR]).— David & Vogel, 1996: 172.—K.K.P. Lim, 1996: 51.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 411.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 385 (Jungle Fall & Seraya Valleys [BTNR]; Lower Peirce East Forest [LPF]; MacRitchie North Forest; Mandai; Pulau Tekong; Sime Road Forest; Taban & Lasia Valleys [BTNR]; Thomson Ridge Forest; Tiup Tiup [BTNR]).— Cox et al., 1998: 23.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 37.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 149.— Gumprecht et al., 2004: 41.—T.M. Leong, 2005: 43 (MacRitchie Tree Top Trail [SRF]).—K.W. Chan, 2006: 2–4.— Kuch et al., 2007: 1.—Vogel et al., 2007: 1–40.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 120, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 265.— Das, 2010: 310.—H.H. Tan, 2010: 645.— Chanhome et al., 2011: 327.—L.L. Grismer, 2011a: 220.— T.M. Leong & J.W.M. Gan, 2011: 31.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 499.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 120, 161.— Das, 2012a: 83.—L.K. Wang et al., 2012: 136.—C.S.W. Chia, 2014: 330 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—Wallach et al., 2014: 748.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 294.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 9.—McCleary et al., 2015: 629 (CCNR).—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2016: 186 (Pulau Tekong).—Maury & M.-R. Low, 2017: 13 (Neo Tiew Lane 1 [LCK]).— Cox et al., 2018: 45.— Das, 2018: 148.— Hill, 2019: 1.—J.K.I. Ho et al., 2019: 392.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 147, 166, 181 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Dairy Farm Nature Park; Hindhede Nature Park).—N. Baker, 2020c: 99 (Old Upper Thomson Road).— Charlton, 2020: 272–276.—I.S. Law, 2020: 47 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve [main road]).— Leo et al., 2020: 258.—K.K.P. Lim, 2020: 2, 5 (MacRitchie Forest Reserve [= MR]).—C.J. Tan & S.H.Y. See, 2021: 1 (Old Upper Thomson Road).— Aman et al., 2022: 1 (“north-western edge of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve”).—E.K. Chua, 2022: 16, 17 (Dairy Farm Nature Park; Pasir Ris Park [in error]).—I. Neo & W.K. Ting, 2022: 1 (Hindhede Nature Park).—Figueroa, 2022: 1 (Admiralty Park).

Trimeresurus wagleri —Theobald, 1868b: 76.— Dennys, 1880a: 3.— Blanford, 1881: 216.—Sclater, 1891a: 73.— Davison, 1892: 92.—Sworder, 1923: 73.—Sworder, 1924a: 20 (Pulau Tekong).— Smith, 1930: 90.— Harman, 1961: 182.—D.S. Johnson, 1964: 28.—Sharma, 1973: 236.—L.M. Chou et al., 1980: 71.—F.L.K. Lim, 1984: 19.— Choo-Toh et al., 1985: 124.—F. Lim, 1988: 4 (“block 97, Lakeview Estate” [TRF]).—K. Lim, 1989e: 38 (Sime Road Forest).—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 117.— Gopalakrishnakone, 1990: 3.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.—F.L.K. Lim, 1991: 80.—D.S. Johnson, 1992: 39.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 106.—J.K.Y. Low et al., 1994: 158.—L.M. Chou, 1995: 148.—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.— Cross, 2020h: 7.— Cross, 2020f: 1, 3 (MacRitchie Forest Reserve [= MR]).

Lachesis wagleri — Boulenger, 1896: 563–564.— Flower, 1896: 897 (Bukit Timah [BTNR]).— Flower, 1899: 696.—Ridley, 1899: 210.— Laidlaw, 1902: 581.—Hanitsch, 1908: 46 (Botanic Gardens; Bukit Timah [BTNR]).— Boulenger, 1912: 218.— Hanitsch, 1919: 3 (Botanic Gardens).— de Rooij, 1917: 286.— Buddle, 1929: 26 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).—Ridley, 1933: 105.

Lachesis wagleri var. A— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 17.

Lachesis wagleri var. D— Hanitsch, 1898: 20.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 17.

Trimeresurus wagleri wagleri — de Haas, 1950: 611.

Tropidolaemus wagleri wagleri — Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 161.

“Wagler’s pit viper”—Mong & H.H. Tan, 2016: 266.

Remarks. Tropidolaemus wagleri is another species that has suffered from a confused taxonomic history, mainly due to its extreme sexual dimorphism ( Fig. 26C–E ). When T. wagleri was first reported from Singapore, it was recorded as two separate species. Gray (1842) described the male as a new species, Trimesurus maculatus ( Table 1 ), and documented an adult female as T. sumatranus . Cantor (1847c) later showed that the two represented the same species, but it was not until after Ģnther (1864) that subsequent authors began to recognise and report the species as Trimeresurus wagleri (e.g., Theobald 1868). Tropidolaemus wagleri was first reported in a general article on the snakes of Singapore where the author described its appearance, but did not provide any name for the species ( Anonymous 1826). Recognised as common historically (Hanitsch 1908; Sworder 1923), several specimens were collected (e.g., Theobald 1868b; Blanford 1881; Boulenger 1896; Sworder 1924a), and today it is one of the most common snakes in Singapore. However, it is not frequently reported in the literature, with most recent records being published in The Pangolin journal. The longest T. wagleri went unreported was 28 years ( Table 2 ) between Ridley (1933) and Harman (1961). Two noteworthy records are of an adult female photographed at Neo Tiew Lane 1 on 5 October 2015 ( Maury & Low 2017) and another adult female photographed at Admiralty Park on 27 October 2022 (Figueroa 2022). These two records are notable because they are highly unusual localities for T. wagleri which is thought to be restricted to CNR and PT ( Baker & Lim 2012). More surveys are required to verify whether a population exists there, or else the individuals may have been artificially released ( Maury & Low 2017).

Occurrence. Restricted to CNR and surrounding Nature Parks and forests, and PT. One isolated record from LCK. Common.

Singapore conservation status. Near-Threatened.

Conservation priority. Moderate, due to restricted distribution.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2022].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1847.3 .4.90 (no date) , BMNH 1880.9 .10.5 (no date) , BMNH 1946.1 .17.69 (no date) [lectotype of Trimesurus maculatus ] , BMNH 1968.774 (no date) , BMNH 1.2 .g.a (no date) , BMNH 1.2 .q (no date) , ZRC.2.2966– ZRC.2.2968 (no date), ZRC.2.2959 (Apr-1908) , ZRC.2.2960 (Nov-1912) , ZRC.2.2965 (Jul-1951) ; Botanic Gardens: ZRC.2.2955 (1896), ZRC.2.2956 (Dec-1897) , ZRC.2.2957 (Jan-1899) , ZRC.2.2958 (1923); Bukit Kalang [ SRF] : ZRC.2.6076 (May-2004) ; Bukit Timah: ZRC.2.2964 (04-Nov-1933) ; Bukit Timah Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.5781 (21-Jul-2003) , ZRC.2.6827 (28-May-2009) ; Central Nature Reserve : ZRC.2.6318– ZRC.2.6319 (2006); Dairy Farm Nature Park : ZRC.2.7004 (02-Mar-2013) , ZRC.2.7097 (15-Mar-2014) ; MacRitchie Forest [ LF] : ZRC.2.7230 (01-Nov-2006) ; Pulau Tekong: ZRC.2.2969 (1985); Pulau Ubin : ZRC.2.2962 (25- Feb-1921) ; Punggol : ZRC.2.2961 (24-Jan-1912) ; Seletar : ZRC.2.2963 (29-May-1933) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): ANSP, CAS, FMNH, NMW, SMNS, ZMH, ZMUC; Botanic Gardens: USNM; Bukit Timah: UMZC; Punggol: CAS.

Singapore localities. Admiralty Park—Bukit Timah (not specified)—Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Dairy Farm Nature Park—Hindhede Nature Park—Lim Chu Kang—Lornie Forest—Lower Peirce Forest—MacRitchie (not specified)—MacRitchie North Forest—MacRitchie Reservoir—Mandai (not specified)—Mandai Range Forest—Old Upper Thomson Road—Pulau Tekong—Pulau Ubin*—Punggol*—Seletar (not specified)—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*—Sime Road Forest—Singapore Botanic Gardens*—Thomson Ridge Forest—Upper Peirce.

Figures

FIGURE 26. A) Trimeresurus hageni, B)Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus, C)Tropidolaemus wagleri (male), D) Tropidolaemus wagleri (juvenile female), E) Tropidolaemus wagleri (adult female), F) Xenopeltis unicolor, G) Hydrophis cyanocinctus, and H) Hydrophis viperinus. Photographs by: Alex Figueroa [A–F], and Sanjaya Bandara [G–H].