Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
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Family : COLUBRIDAE
Species : Macrocalamus chanardi
Maximum Size : 26 cm
Chan-ard's Reed Snake is
only known from upland areas of Peninsular Malaysia, where it inhabits lower
montane forests at elevations of between 1100 and 1500 metres.
As with other reed snakes, it is a fossorial (burrowing) snake which, by
day, mostly remains hidden beneath leaf litter or beneath rotting, fallen
trees, but it may be encountered at night (rarely by day) especially after
heavy rain.
Its diet mainly comprises soft-bodied vertebrates, such as slugs, worms and
insect larvae.
Its overall body colour is brown, and there is a pair of pale, broken
dorso-lateral stripes running from the neck region to the tail which are
bordered below by a dark stripe (which is sometimes reduced to a row of dark
spots). There are at least two pale, oblique bars
immediately behind the neck region. Its ventral surface is red, pink or
orange.
Its body shape is robust, sub-cylindrical in cross-section, and the head is
of the same width as the body.
This species is known from the popular hill resorts of Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut), Cameron Highlands and Fraser's Hill.
Figs 1 to 3 : Example from Fraser's Hill,
Peninsular Malaysia at an elevation of 1100 metres.
References : H12
David, P. & Pauwels, O. S. (2004). A re-evaluation of the taxonomy of
Macrocalamus lateralis (Serpentes, Colubridae) with the descriptions of
two new species. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 52(2), 635-645.
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