Trimeresurus hageni (Lidth de Jeude, 1886)

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 : 226-227

Trimeresurus hageni (Lidth de Jeude, 1886) — Native; Indeterminate.

Bothrops hageni Lidth de Jeude, 1886:53–54 . Lectotype:RMNH.RENA.819, designated by Brongersma(1933: 7). Type locality: “Sumatra” and “the island of Bangka” (= Bangka Island , Sumatra, Indonesia); later restricted to “Beli” (= Sultanate of Deli, i.e., Medan), Sumatra, Indonesia via lectotype designation .

Hagen’s Green Pit Viper

( Figure 26A )

Singapore records.

Lachesis sumatranus — Boulenger, 1896: 558.— Flower, 1896: 896.— Flower, 1899: 696.—Ridley, 1899: 204.— Boulenger, 1912: 217.— de Rooij, 1917: 283.

Trimeresurus sumatranus —Sworder, 1923: 73.— Smith, 1943: 528.—Taylor, 1965: 1070.—F.L.K. Lim & M.T.-M. Lee, 1989: 117.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 149.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 106.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 37.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 160.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 149.

Trimeresurus hageni — Grandison, 1972: 94.—Sanders et al., 2002: 108.— Gumprecht et al., 2004: 33.— Vogel et al., 2014: 3, 28.— Cox et al., 2018: 26.—Vogel et al., 2022: 54–55, 57, 60.

Parias hageni —N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 169.— Das, 2010: 306.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 169.— Das, 2012a: 76.—Wallach et al., 2014: 538.— Das, 2018: 141.

Trimeresurus (Parias) hageni — Chanhome et al., 2011: 324.

Remarks. Whereas T. hageni is common in Peninsular Malaysia (A. Figueroa pers. obs.), its occurrence in Singapore is known from only three specimens: BMNH 1880.9.10.6 and BMNH 1880.9.10.7 collected by Dennys, previously classified as T. sumatranus ( Boulenger 1896) , and; MHNG 1403.95 reported by Sanders et al. (2002). This latter specimen was accessioned into MHNG in late 1974 as part of a very large collection donated by Eugene Kramer (Kramer collection number 12055) and registered into the MHNG entry book as T. sumatranus collected in 1971 by “Trafelet” in “ Singapur ” (A. Schmitz pers. comm.). Thus, this latter specimen was collected more than 75 years ( Table 2 ) after the specimens reported by Boulenger (1896). An attempt was made to identify Kramer and Trafelet in hopes of gathering more information regarding the specimen, but to no avail. Recently, T. hageni was shown to be a species complex with at least four insular populations off of Sumatra representing new species (Vogel et al. 2022). Populations from Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and mainland Sumatra are designated as T. hageni (Vogel et al. 2022) .

Occurrence. Known only from two specimens predating 1896 and one from 1971. Likely extirpated.

Singapore conservation status. Not Evaluated.

Conservation priority. Immediate priority, if rediscovered.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2022].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BMNH 1880.9.10.6 (no date), BMNH 1880.9.10.7 (no date).

Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): MHNG.

Singapore localities. No published localities.

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].