White-Bellied Rat Snake

distribution

Distribution. This species was reported from Pahang and Johor (MyBis 2021). In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, this species is reported to be widely distributed in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, and southern Thailand, south of the Isthmus of Kra. As far as we know, this new record extends its distribution range further north in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia.

Uneven species occurrence and richness of lowland snakes (Serpentes, Squamata) in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, with new locality records

description

White-bellied Rat Snake (Figure 20 A) Singapore records. Zaoccys [sic] fuscus — Sclater, 1891 a: 30.

Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution

discussion

Remarks. Sworder (1923) believed he was the first to record P. fusca from Singapore; however, Sclater (1891 a) reported a specimen at ZSI collected by Davison. In his catalogue of specimens at the Raffles Museum, Hanitsch (1899) found a specimen of P. fusca in stores, but it had no locality data. As no additional observations were reported, Lim & Lim (1992) considered the existence of P. fusca in Singapore doubtful. A possible exemplar was seen at Nee Soon in 1997, but the observation was not substantiated (Teo & Rajathurai 1997). Thus, the earliest subsequent published record after Sworder (1923) was 79 years later when Baker & Lim (2008) published a photograph of one taken on 4 July 2002 (Table 2). The only other published observations of P. fusca was of three recorded during the BTNR surveys (Teo & Thomas 2019), and from Baker (2019) who photographed one at TNP on 24 October 2019. Baker (2019) also mentioned seeing P. fusca several times at WNP, the latest being on 5 November 2019, and detailed three roadkill examples from OUTR from 2001, 2002, and 2012. In addition, the LKCNHM has two specimens from RRR from 2008 and 2010, and Charlton (2020) published a photograph of one from

Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution

materials_examined

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve — Choa Chu Kang * — Nee Soon Swamp Forest — Old Upper Thomson Road — Rifle Range Nature Park — Thomson Nature Park — Windsor Nature Park.

Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution