Das, I.

Jongkar, Grinang

Pui, Yong Min

Tuen, Andrew A.

Unimas Institutional Repository

Herpetological Review 45(2), 2014NATURAL HISTORY NOTES     341Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo) region of Southeast Asia. Its diet is poorly known, and reported to comprise small mammals, birds, and frogs (Stuebing and Inger 1999. A Field Guide to the Snakes of Borneo. Natural History Publications [Borneo], Kota Kinabalu. v + 235 pp.; Das 2010. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of South-east Asia. New Holland Publishers [UK], Ltd., London. 376 pp.), with no specific information. On 10 July 2013, at ca. 1100 h, an adult female Parias sumatra-nus (Fig. 1; UNIMAS P0849; SVL = 887 mm; tail length = 28.4 mm; 252 g) was collected up the ridge from Sungei Sembu towards Sembu Waterfall, near the base (01.134556°N, 110.249444°E, datum Timbalai 1948; elev. ca. 250 m) of Gunung Penrissen, Sarawak, East Malaysia (Borneo). It was initially encountered at ca. 1.2 m above the ground on a low tree trunk within a ri-parian forest. The specimen was returned to the laboratory and euthanized; examination of the stomach contents revealed a recently-ingested rodent, Maxomys baeodon (UNIMAS P0872; 128 mm in head body length; 134 mm tail length; 68 g). This Bor-nean endemic has been reported from a few isolated localities between 900–1400 m elev. in Sabah and Sarawak (Heaney et al. 2008. In IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Ver-sion 2013.1), and also at least two lowland localities: Sandakan Bay, Sabah (Payne et al. 1985. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo. Sabah Society and World Wildlife Fund, Kota Kinabalu. 332 pp.), and at Planted Forest Zone, Bintulu Division, Sarawak (Ragai and Tuen 2007. In Stuebing et al. [eds.], Proc. Regional Conf. Biodiv. Conserv. Trop. Planted Forests SE Asia. pp. 164–168. Sarawak Forest Department, Sarawak Forestry Corporation and Grand Perfect Sdn Bhd., Kuching). It was swallowed head-first, and was estimated to be 26.98% of the body weight of the snake.  We thank the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for supporting our research, and the Sarawak Forest Department for the issuance of a research permit (No. NCCD.907.4.4.[Jld.7]-38). Fieldwork at Gunung Penrissen was supported by a Shell Chair grant, SRC/05/2010(01).INDRANEIL DAS (e-mail: idas@ibec.unimas.my), PUI YONG MIN (e-mail: pui8783ibec@gmail.com), JONGKAR GRINANG (e-mail: jgrinang@ibec.unimas.my), and ANDREW ALEK TUEN (e-mail: aatuen@ibec.unimas.my), Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.PELAMIS PLATURA (Yellow-bellied Seasnake). SHED-DING BEHAVIOR. Shedding events of Pelamis platura have been reported as taking place always in water, either in the sea (Pickwell 1971. Copeia 1971:348–350; Voris 1983. In Jan-zen [ed.], Costa Rican Natural History, pp. 411–412. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois), or as captive individuals (Pickwell, op. cit.). Shedding is usually facilitated by the abil-ity of these individuals to knot themselves, creating loops and coils, culminating with inverted and intact shed skins (Pick-well, op. cit.). Herein, we report an observation of shedding behavior of P. platura on sandy substrate out of the water.  At 1835 h on 7 April 2013 an adult male P. platura (Fig. 1) was observed shedding on a sandy beach at Rancho El Neptuno (15.792086°N, 96.959717°W; datum WGS 84) located in the mu-nicipality of Santa María Colotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. The snake came out of the water and started to undulate its body to cause friction against the sand. Once the snake had shed most of the skin, it moved back towards the water and continued to rid it-self of the last portion of skin every time it came in contact with the waves; knotting behavior was never displayed. The shedding episode lasted ca. 35 min. Pickwell (op. cit.) suggested that the knotting behavior of P. platura in aquatic environments evolved not just as a substitute for contact with solid substrate as an aid in shedding, but also for ridding themselves of ectoparasites and possibly freeing themselves from predators. To the best of our knowledge this instance represents the first reported observation of P. platura shedding behavior outside aquatic environments.  We thank J. M. Savage, who kindly provided information re-garding this subject, and A. Rocha for his important comments on this note.DANIELA SIGÜENZA-PÉREZ (e-mail: sigkaiser@hotmail.com), JESÚS GARCÍA-GRAJALES, Instituto de Recursos, Universidad del Mar, Campus Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, México; VICENTE MATA-SILVA, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA.PITUOPHIS CATENIFER SAYI (Bullsnake). DIET. Pituophis cat-enifer sayi is a wide-ranging subspecies that inhabits the sandy plains and prairies across the central two-thirds of Texas (Dixon 2013. Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas. Texas A&M Univ. Press, College Station. 447 pp.). Most of its diet in the Great Plains re-gion consists of small mammals (70%), bird eggs (20%), and birds (8%) (Rodríguez-Robles 2002. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 77:165–183). Herein I describe P. c. sayi consuming a previously unknown prey species, Carpodacus mexicanus (House Finch).  On 29 May 2011, I collected a P. c. sayi (total length ca. 65 cm) inside the city limits of Lubbock, Lubbock Co., Texas, USA. The snake was placed in a container and while being transported Fig. 1. Euthanized specimen of Parias sumatranus (UNIMAS P0849) and its stomach contents, a Maxomys baeodon (UNIMAS P0872).Fig. 1. Male Pelamis platura shedding on a sandy beach in Rancho El Neptuno, Santa María Colotepec, Oaxaca, México.

Parias sumatranus (Sumatran Pit Viper)

http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/11695/2/PARIAS%20SUMATRANUS_intro2.pdf

Parias sumatranus (Sumatran Pit Viper)

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