Draco melanopogon Boulenger, 1887

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 : 93-94

Draco melanopogon Boulenger, 1887 — Native.

Draco melanopogon Boulenger, 1887: 492 . Lectotype: BMNH 1946.8 .26.88, designated by Musters (1983: 60); BMNH 1946.8 .26.87 and 1946.8.26.89–90 designated as paralectotypes by Musters (1983: 60); all specimens were formerly BM 86.12 .28. Type locality: “Malayan Peninsula … Malacca”; likely refers to western Peninsular Malaysia as “Malacca” was previously used synonymously with the entire west coast of Malay Peninsula.

Black-bearded Flying Dragon

( Figure 11A ; Windsor Nature Park)

Singapore records.

Draco melanopogon — Hanitsch, 1898: 19.— Flower, 1899: 637.—Ridley, 1899: 206.— Boulenger, 1903: 152.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 15.—Sworder, 1925a: 66.— Chuang, 1973: 4.—D.H. Murphy, 1973: 58, 65 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988b: 50 (Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—K. Lim & F. Lim, 1988c: 75 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.— Denzer & Manthey, 1991: 311.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 110, 150.—K.K.P. Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 8 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Lower Path [ BTNR]; Upper Peirce Reservoir Road; Sime Road Forest).—P.K.L. Ng & K.K.P. Lim, 1992: 260.—K.K.P. Lim, 1993a: 4 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Kruing Hut [ BTNR]).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—R. Subaraj, 1994: 11 (Kruing Path [ BTNR]).—R. Subaraj, 1994: 13 (MacRitchie North Forest; Sime Road Forest; Thomson Ridge Trail [ TRF]).—K.K.P. Lim, 1994b: 331.—L.M. Chou, 1995: 147.—R. Subaraj et al., 1995: 4 (Golf Course Link [ MNF]; Lower Peirce Reservoir Park; MacRitchie North Forest; Seletar North Peninsula [ USNF]; Thomson Ridge [ TRF]; Upper Peirce Service Road [ UPRR]).—K. Lim, 1995: 18 (Seletar North Peninsula [ USNF]; Sime Road Forest).—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 388, 389.— Cox et al., 1998: 101.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 21.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 150.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 265.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 76, 159.— Manthey, 2008: 138.— Das, 2010: 185.—L.L. Grismer, 2011a: 100.—L.L. Grismer, 2011b: 193, 201.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 316.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 76, 159.— Davison et al., 2012: 114.—L.K. Wang et al., 2012: 83.—C.S.W. Chia & Soh, 2014: 222 (Kampung Trail [ RRNP]).— Chan-ard et al., 2015: 85.—R. Subaraj, 2015: 9 (Upper Seletar Peninsula [= USNF]).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 3 (Upper Seletar Peninsula [= USNF]).— Khew & Yokohari, 2017: 12.—W. Wong, 2017: 51.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 155, 180 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Dairy Farm Nature Park).— Janssen & Sy, 2022: 25, 149.

Remarks. Up until Sworder (1925) commented that D. melanopogon was not common in Singapore, this species was only known from an unspecified number of specimens at the Raffles Museum first reported by Hanitsch (1898). Draco melanopogon was not discussed in the literature until 48 years later when Chuang (1973) stated it “frequent[s] trees in forest reserves, gardens and along certain roads” and Murphy (1973) said it was the most common arboreal vertebrate predator at BTNR ( Table 2 ). As D. melanopogon is only found in forested areas in the nature reserves and nature parks, Chuang (1973) must have been referring to D. sumatranus. Beginning with the observation of an adult male seen on a tree trunk at NSSF on 25 September 1988 ( Lim & Lim 1988b), many observations of D. melanopogon have been reported subsequently (see above) suggesting the species is not so uncommon within forested areas (Teo & Thomas 2019; A. Figueroa pers. obs.).

Occurrence. Restricted to CNR and surrounding Nature Parks. Common.

Singapore conservation status. Vulnerable.

Conservation priority. Lowest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2021].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Bukit Kalang [ SRF] : ZRC.2.6806 (30-Jan-2009); Lower Peirce Forest : ZRC.2.5854 (03-Sep-2003); Sime Road Forest : ZRC.2.3298 (03-May-1992) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Dairy Farm Nature Park—Lower Peirce Forest—Lower Peirce Reservoir Park—MacRitchie North Forest—MacRitchie Reservoir Park—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Rifle Range Nature Park—Sime Road Forest—Thomson Ridge Forest—Upper Peirce Reservoir Road—Upper Seletar North Forest—Windsor Nature Park.

Figures

FIGURE 11. A) Draco melanopogon, B) Draco quinquefasciatus, C) Draco sumatranus, D) Anolis sagrei, E) Aeluroscalabotes felinus, F) Aeluroscalabotes felinus, G) Cnemaspis peninsularis, and H) Cyrtodactylus consobrinus. Photographs by: Jensen G.H. Seah [A–B], Kelvin K.P. Lim [C, E], Thio Hui Bing [D], Mary-Ruth Low [F], and Alex Figueroa [G–H].