An account of snake specimens in St . Joseph ’ s College Museum Kozhikode , India , with data on species diversity

For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Article Submission Guidelines, visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientific Misconduct, visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <ravi@threatenedtaxa.org> Note


PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS
Kerala State, southwestern India harbors rich and diverse snake fauna yet it is one that has been little studied (Beddome 1863;Theobald 1876;Ferguson 1895;Wall 1905Wall , 1919Constable 1949;Gans 1966;Inger et al.1984;Murthy 1981Murthy ,1990Das & Whitaker 1990;Das 1991;Zacharias 1997;Kumar et al. 2012: Palot 2015Aengals et al. 2018;Jayakumar & Nameer 2018). A few studies conducted on snakes in Kerala were mostly in the Western Ghats. Little information is available from the low elevation areas of the state especially northern Kerala (Malabar). There are records and specimens from Kannur (Wall 1905) (Sadasivan et al. 2018).
The national repositories of reference collections in ZSI (Das et al. 1998;Chanda et al. 2000) and in BNHS (Das & Chaturvedi 1998) are well known. But the holdings of the herpetofauna collections in many local zoological museums are poorly known. Ganesh & Asokan (2010) have documented the collections in the Madras museum. The occurrence of the enigmatic frog Nasikabatrachus sp. was revealed from the holdings of three college museums in Kerala and Tamil Nadu (Dutta et al. 2004). Museum of Jahangir Nagar University in Bangladesh is also an example of smaller collections providing important biodiversity information (Mahony et al. 2009 (1960,1961,1963). This paper is aimed at presenting a check list of snakes in the college museum, collected from Devagiri and the surrounding areas in Kozhikode, between 1957 and1970 with special attention on rare and restricted range species. We compared this data with the collections from Kerala in the North American museums and the British Museum which hold the largest holdings of Indian species outside India, to obtain information on the status and distribution of these species in Kerala. Though the snakes were not collected systematically to study their abundance, the frequency of different snake species in the collection can offer an approximate estimate of their relative abundance in the area, while also considering the inherent complexities such as detection probability and seasonal dynamics, to name a few. (Miller & Zug 2016) Area of collection Most areas around Devagiri, (8km from Kozhikode city towards east) from where the specimens were collected, consisted of open secondary scrub jungle and stretches of laterite, sparsely covered with grass intermixed with a few groves of cashew on hilltops and hillsides, with valleys in between, mostly under paddy cultivation. Coconut is grown on many slopes. Menon (1962) has given a detailed description of the area. Secondary vegetation including scrubby trees and bushes also occur in some areas, between the hilltop and the low lying paddy fields. The terrain is undulating with an average elevation of 60m. Weather is hot and humid, with summer season from March to May followed by the southwest monsoon from June to September. Rains may continue till December. The area is an ideal habitat for snakes such as the Sawscaled Viper Echis carinatus and Sand Boa Eryx conicus. There has been an increase in human settlements over the last 60 years though there are several Sacred Groves/ snake groves in the area supporting wildlife including snakes. (Menon 1962) The following list mentions the snake species of Kozhikode vouchered in the St. Josephs College collection. The specimens were reexamined recently (August 2017) by the authors to confirm their species identity.

Family Pythonidae
2. Python molurus (Linnaeus): One specimen (SJC 012) It was collected in 1967 at Kozhikode. It is a southern Asian species common in lowlands, close to densely populated areas of the city and regularly prey on poultry in the country side. 14. Boiga trigonata (Schneider): One specimen (SJC 025) It was collected in 1959 at Devagiri. It also occurs in South Asia. Wall (1905)  17. Calliophis melanurus (Shaw): One specimen (SJC 028). It was collected in 1960 at Kozhikode. It is found in western and southern India, Uttar Pradesh, Sri Lanka. It is common in the plains of Kozhikode (Kumar et al. 2010) 18. Calliophis nigrescens (Gunther): One specimen (SJC 029): It was collected in. 1959 at Nilambur. It is a Western Ghats endemic (McDiarmid et al. 1999). There is a specimen in USNM from Nelliampathy (USNM 42467) name of collector and date of collection not known) and Travancore in CAS (CAS 17265 collected by R.H. Beddome date of collection not known). Recently collected from Periyar Tiger Reserve (Radhakrishnan 1999) and Kozhikode near sea coast (Kumar et al. 2010 23. Hypnale hypnale (Merrem): One specimen (SJC 040): It was collected in 1969 at Kozhikode. It occurs in the Western Ghats as far north as Lat. 16 0 and Sri Lanka. (Murthy 1990, McDiarmid et al. 1999. In India it is found in the Western Ghats (Smith 1943, McDiarmid et al. 1999). The species occurs at an elevation ranges of 300-600 m in India but from sea level to 1,524m in Sri Lanka (Whitaker & Captain 2004). It has been recorded from Annamalai's, Palani Hills and New Amarambalam, Nilambur (Murthy 1990). Recently two specimens were collected from Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary (Radhakrishnan 1999) and two from Periyar (Zacharias 1997). One was caught from decaying litter an agricultural landscape at Mevada, Kottayam District, Kerala at about 50m, in May 2001. The specimen was, about 20cm in length unfortunately was killed by a farm worker, while clearing weeds at the base of a pepper vine.
There are four specimens of the Humpnosed Pit viper in the MCZ, collected from Taliparamba at 55m, (Constable 1949) a low elevation area not that far from the sea coast. CM has one specimen from Vazhachal near Thrissur (CM 151746) collected by Gans et al. on 15 June 1990, FMNH has six specimens from Ponmudi (FMNH 217683-217688) collected by R.F. Inger and H.B. Schaffer in May/June 1982 and CAS has one specimen each from Malabar and Travancore (CAS 12269,12270). There is a specimen from Nelliampathy, Palakkad District in the Natural History Museum London (NHMUK ZOO 1911.5.4.5) . Seems to have a wide distribution in Kerala in the low lands and hills. The Humpnosed Pit Viper is very common in Kannur, northern Kerala as evidenced by the number of humans bitten by this species (Roshnath et al.2018) 24. Trimeresurus malabaricus (Jerdon): One specimen (SJC 041): It was collected from Pulloorampara, about 300m, Kozhikode District, on 30.iii. 196030.iii. . Smith (1943 and McDiarmid et al. (1999) reported the species to occur at a range of 600-2,000 m elevations in southern and western India. It is not widespread but reasonably common in its range (Whitaker & Captain 2004). USNM and Natural History Museum, London, UK (NHMUK) have specimens from Nelliampathy (USNM 42470 and NHMUK 1936.9.10.3). CAS has two from Ponmudi (CAS 125400 , 124089) collected by J.C. Daniel on 9 May 1965 and May 1969 respectively and one from Travancore (CAS 17274 name collector and date of collection not known) CM has two specimens from Sholiyar collected at 450m (CM122112, 122113) by Gans et al. on 27July 1986. There are 25 specimens from Ponmudi; 20 in FMNH (FMNH 217663 217682) collected at altitudinal range of 110-920 m by R.F. Inger and B.S. Shaffer in May/ June 1982 and five in CM (CM 114910,115037,115132, 115133, 115195 ) collected by Gans et al. in July 1983 andJune 1984. MCZ has a specimen from Kannur at an elevation of 900m (MCZ 119447) collected by W.L. Brown, Wildlife Division, Thekkady has one from Periyar (Zacharias 1997) and Natural History Museum London has two from Wayanad (NHMUK 1874.4.29.1 and1955.1.3.6971). T. trimeresurus seems to be the most abundant species in the hills of Kerala. Wall (1919) collected 163 specimens from Wayanad in 1917.

Relative abundance
With twentytwo species, (excluding the sea snake and the two species collected from Nilambur and Pulloorampara) the suburb of Kozhikode once harbored a diverse snake fauna. The study was not conducted to obtain abundance data but the frequency of vouchering different snake species in the collection of the Zoology Department, offers an approximate estimation of potential relative abundance (Miller & Zug 2016). The

J TT
number of individuals of each species in the zoology museum collection might potentially provide an approximate measure of snake abundance at Kozhikode during that time period. Obviously, a species' size and ease of sighting and collecting will influence the preponderance of any individual species' presence in the collection, but nevertheless it might also imply what is rare and common (Zug pers comm, vide email dated 28.ix.2016). For example, the Common Worm Snake Indotyphlus braminus a very common and widespread species (Whitaker & Captain 2004) is not present in this collection, but would be present in Kozhikode area. There are two specimens of this species from Malabar in MCZ. The well collected species in the collection was the Common Cobra Naja naja (4) which is followed by the Russell's Viper Daboia russellii (3). The relative abundance of the Common Cobra nearly doubles that of the third and fourth most abundant species; Ptyas mucosa (2) and Echis carinata (2), two species that have completely contrasting ecological and natural history traits. All the other species were represented by one specimen each. Random field observation during the years 1997-2000 supported this finding though people live in the area believed the Russell's Viper, is the most abundant species in the area.

Conclusion
This study highlights the often hidden resources housed in museum collections in colleges and other unassuming and modest natural history holdings that can be leveraged for studies on poorly known species (e.g. Nasikabatrachus sp. and Dieurostus dussumuerii). Our paper suggests that the distribution of several species of snakes as already known and their habitats may not be accurate. Records show that the criteria of collection are generally biased towards representation of a few species or sites leaving majority without any representation in a biodiversity document. College museums are important in this context. We hope our study may stimulate others to collect information on snake species in more college museums in the state. The habitats from where the specimens were collected have undergone drastic changes during the last 50 years. Koshy et al. (1987) found that the number of amphibian and reptiles caught in a southern Indian riparian habitat, were higher than expected and very few were caught under rock and logs. It would be interesting to conduct a survey on the current status and distribution of snakes from various habitats in the Devagiri and surrounding areas in the Kozhikode District. Most reptiles show strong seasonal occurrence (Wall 1905;Zug et al. 1998;Akani et al. 2013;Rahman et al. 2013;Roshnath et al. 2018) though Hofer & Bersier (2001) believed that high annual rainfall and the lack of a pronounced dry season should minimize potential effects of climatic properties. A yearround survey in the area, may yield comprehensive information on the current status and ecology of this fascinating group of animals.