Ptyctolaemus bivittatus, (Kuhl, 1820)

Hakim, Jonathan, Trageser, Scott J., Ghose, Animesh, Rashid, Sheikh Muhammad Abdur & Rahman, Shahriar Caesar, 2020, Amphibians and reptiles from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh, Check List 16 (5), pp. 1239-1268 : 1254-1255

Python bivittatus (Kuhl, 1820)

Material examined. BANGLADESH • 1 adult; Syl- het Division, Moulvibazar District , Kamalganj Upazila, Fulbari Tea Estate; 24°20.06′N, 091°49.04′E; 10 Jun. 2016; photo voucher ZRC ( IMG) 2.373 .

Identification. This heavy-bodied python is distinguished from the other python in the region, Malayopython reticulatus (Schneider, 1801) , by its larger girth, arrowhead-like marking on top of the head, and dorsal pattern of dark brown blotches ( Kabir et al. 2009).

Habitat. Radio-tracked pythons utilized all habitats in the park but appear to favor highly degraded brushy habitat, tea plantation, and the outskirts of village habitat.

Remarks. On 11 May 2011, local villagers alerted us to an abandoned python nest in an old pangolin burrow in degraded forest (Rahman 2013). From 2013 to 2017, 10 P. bivittatus were captured by local villagers in LNP and given to the Creative Conservation Alliance, usually after a python had eaten one of their ducks. The captured pythons had radio-transmitters surgically inserted and were released back into LNP. Life history information from the radio-tracking study will be published in an upcoming paper. Human-python interactions involving domestic duck predation have become a serious issue for the sustainability of the python population in LNP, and the management of these conflicts is an ongoing issue.