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Text and photos by Nick Baker, unless credited to others.
Copyright © Ecology Asia 2024

 
     
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

   
   
 
Chan-ard's Reed Snake
   
   

Fig 1


Fig 2


Fig 3
 

 


 

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.