Cantoria violacea Girard 1858
Description
Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a — Native.
Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858a: 182. Holotype: USNM 5523, by original designation. Type locality: “ Singapore ”.
Cantor’s Water Snake
(Figure 23G)
Singapore records.
Cantoria violacea — Girard, 1858a: 182.— Girard, 1858b: 156.
Cantoria elongata Ģnther, 1864: xx, 277.—Theobald, 1876: 229.
Cantoria violacea — Boulenger, 1890a: 381.—Sclater, 1891a: 55.— Boulenger, 1896: 24.— Flower, 1896: 888.— Flower, 1899: 679.— Hanitsch, 1899: 12 (“near Cross Street School”).—Ridley, 1899: 208.— Boulenger, 1912: 165.— Hanitsch, 1912b: 16.— de Rooij, 1917: 191.—Sworder, 1923: 66.— Buddle, 1929: 36 (Sembawang Naval Base [= SML]).— Smith, 1943: 399.— de Haas, 1950: 579.— Gyi, 1970: 186.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 54.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 147.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.— David & Vogel, 1996: 112.— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 330.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 31.— Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 87.— Jayne et al., 2002: 143.— Karns et al., 2002: 488 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 147.— Anonymous, 2003: 92 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).— Karns et al., 2005: 86.—J.C. Murphy, 2007: 59.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 109, 161.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 165, 265.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2008: 167.—P.Z. Chen, 2010: 195.— Das, 2010: 325.—J.C. Murphy, 2011: 233.—P.K.L. Ng et al., 2011: 502.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 109, 161.— Das, 2012a: 105.—Voris & J.C. Murphy, 2012: 195.—J.C. Murphy & Voris, 2014: 11.—Wallach et al., 2014: 148.—Chan-ard et al., 2015: 246.— Vogrinc, 2017: 205 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).— Das, 2018: 123.—Jayne et al., 2018: 638.— O’Shea, 2018: 538.— Charlton, 2020: 95 (Pasir Ris Park Mangroves).—S.J.M. Yau & Kamisan, 2020: 143 (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve).
Remarks. Cantoria violacea was described as a new species by Girard (1858a, b) from specimen USNM 5523 collected in Singapore some time around 1842 by the U.S. Exploring Expedition (Table 1). Shortly thereafter, Ģnther (1864) redescribed the specimen as a new species, ‘ C. elongata ’, because Girard (1858a) stated that C. violacea was identical to ‘ Coronella violacea ’ [= Oligodon cyclurus], which is incorrect. Sclater (1891) reported the second specimen of C. violacea from a specimen deposited at ZSI. Later, Hanitsch sent a specimen (ZRC.2.3316) collected on 29 August 1898 by Hellier near Cross Street Primary School (Hanitsch 1899) to Flower for identification (Flower 1899). This area was previously surrounded by mangrove forest (Yee et al. 2011). After Buddle (1929) collected three specimens at SNB, C. violacea was not reported again from Singapore until 82 years later (Table 2) during Karns et al. (2002) study of homalopsids at PRPM. The only other records of C. violacea from Singapore comes from Vogrinc (2017) who published a note on the largest C. violacea measured, and from Yau & Kamisan (2020) who found a dead one on a trail at SBWR on 8 July 2020. LKCNHM has specimens from 1929, 1967, 1977, and 2001, and BPBM 7203 was collected on 12 December 1955. The individual shown in Figure 23G was photographed at PRPM on 23 November 2014 (A. Figueroa pers. obs.). After B. hydroides, C. violacea is the rarest homalopsid in Singapore. Karns et al. (2002) only found four C. violacea during their study compared to 19 F. leucobalia, 31 G. prevostiana, and 156 C. schneiderii.
Occurrence. Restricted to mangroves of LCK, PRPM, and SBWR. Rare.
Singapore conservation status. Endangered.
Conservation priority. Highest.
IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2010].
LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Changi: ZRC.2.6481 (28-Apr-1967); Cross Street Primary School: ZRC.2.3316 (29-Aug-1898); Lim Chu Kang Mangroves: ZRC.2.3672 (18-Aug-1977), ZRC.2.4991 (19- Apr-2001); Pasir Ris [PPM]: ZRC.2.5000 (30-Mar-2001); Seletar: ZRC.2.3317 (Feb-1929).
Additional Singapore museum specimens. Singapore (no locality): BPBM, USNM.
Singapore localities. Changi—Cross Street—Lim Chu Kang Mangroves—Pasir Ris Park Mangroves—Seletar (not specified)—Sembcorp Marine Ltd.*—Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
Genus Cerberus Cuvier, 1829 (1 species)
Cerberus Cuvier, 1829: 2 (type species: Coluber cerberus Daudin, 1803, by absolute monotypy; gender masculine).
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Collection code
- LKCNHM, NHMUK , PPM , USNM , ZRC
- Event date
- 1898-08-29 , 1967-04-28 , 1977-08-18 , 2001-03-30 , 2001-04-19
- Family
- Homalopsidae
- Genus
- Cantoria
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Material sample ID
- USNM 5523
- Order
- Squamata
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Scientific name authorship
- Girard
- Species
- violacea
- Taxon rank
- species
- Type status
- holotype
- Verbatim event date
- 1898-08-29 , 1967-04-28 , 1977-08-18 , 2001-03-30 , 2001-04-19
- Taxonomic concept label
- Cantoria violacea Girard, 1858 sec. Figueroa, Low & Lim, 2023
References
- Girard, C. (1858 a) Descriptions of some new Reptiles, collected by the US. Exploring Expedition under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. Third Part. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 9, 181 - 182.
- Girard, C. (1858 b) United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, under the command of Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. Vol. XX. Herpetology. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott and Company, xvii + 496 pp., 32 pls.
- Gnther, A. C. L. G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. Trustees [of the British Museum], London, xxvii + 452 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5012
- Boulenger, G. A. (1890 a) First report on additions to the lizard collection in the British Museum (Natural History). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1890 (1), 77 - 86.
- Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III. Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.
- Flower, S. S. (1896) Notes on a collection of reptiles and batrachians made in the Malay Peninsula in 1895 - 96; with a list of the species recorded from that region. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1896 (4), 856 - 914, pls. 44 - 46.
- Flower, S. S. (1899 b) Notes on a second collection of reptiles made in the Malay Peninsula and Siam, from November 1896 - September 1898, with a list of the species recorded from those countries. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1899 (4), 600 - 696, pls. 36 - 37.
- Hanitsch, R. (1899) Annual report of the curator and librarian on the Raffles Library and Museum, for the Year Ending 31 st December, 1898. In: Straits Settlements, Annual Reports for the Year 1898. Published by Authority, Singapore, pp. 7 - 16.
- Boulenger, G. A. (1912) A Vertebrate Fauna of the Malay Peninsula from the Isthmus of Kra to Singapore, Including the Adjacent Islands. Reptilia and Batrachia, Taylor and Francis, London, xiii + 294 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 10813
- Hanitsch, R. (1912 b) List of the Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians in the Raffles Museum, Singapore. Raffles Library and Museum, Singapore, 19 pp.
- de Rooij, N. (1917) The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. II. Ophidia. E. J. Brill, Leiden, xiv + 334 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 10610
- Buddle, R. (1929) Snakes of Singapore Island. Kelly & Walsh, Limited, Singapore, 48 pp.
- de Haas, C. P. J. (1950) Checklist of the snakes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Reptiles, Ophidia). Treubia, 20 (3), 511 - 625.
- Gyi, K. K. (1970) A revision of colubrid snakes of the subfamily Homalopsinae. University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, 20 (2), 47 - 223.
- Lim, K. K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. (1992) A Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre, Singapore, 160 pp.
- Chou L. M., Ng, P. K. L. & Lim, K. K. P. (1994) Animalia. In: Wee, Y. C. & Ng, P. K. L. (Eds.), A First Look at Biodiversity in Singapore. National Council on the Environment, Singapore, pp. 70 - 106.
- David, P. & Vogel, G. (1996) The Snakes of Sumatra: An Annotated Checklist and Key with Natural History Notes. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt-am-Main, 260 pp.
- Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. (1997) Amphibien und Reptilian Sudostasien. Natur und Tier, M ¸ nster, 512 pp.
- Iskandar, D. T. & Colijn, E. (2001) A Checklist of Southeast Asian and New Guinean Reptiles. Part I. Serpentes. Biodiversity Conservation Project (Indonesian Institute of Sciences - Japan International Cooperation Agency - The Ministry of Forestry). The Gibbon Foundation and Institute of Technology, Bandung, 195 pp.
- Jayne, B. C., Voris, H. K. & Ng, P. K. (2002) Snake circumvents constraints on prey size. Nature, 418 (6894), 143 - 143. https: // doi. org / 10.1038 / 418143 a
- Karns, D. R., Voris, H. K. & Goodwin, T. G. (2002) Ecology of Oriental-Australian rear-fanged water snakes (Colubridae: Homalopsinae) in the Pasir Ris Park mangrove forest, Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 50 (2), 487 - 498.
- Lim, K. P. & Lim, F. L. K. (2002) A Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Singapore. Revised Edition. Singapore Science Centre, Singapore, 160 pp.
- Anonymous (2003) Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve - A Decade of Wetland Conservation. National Parks Board, Singapore, 98 pp.
- Karns, D. R., Murphy, J. C., Voris, H. K. & Suddeth, J. S. (2005) Comparison of semi-aquatic snake communities associated with the Khorat Basin, Thailand. Tropical Natural History, 5 (2), 73 - 90.
- Chen, P. Z. (2010) An observation of crab predation by a Gerard's water snake, Gerarda prevostiana (Reptilia: Squamata: Homalopsidae) in the wild at Sungei Buloh, Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 3, 195 - 197.
- Das, I. (2010) A Field Guide to the Reptiles of Thailand and South-East Asia. New Holland, London, 376 pp.
- Das, I. (2012 a) A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of South-East Asia. John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford, 160 pp.
- Das, I. (2018) A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of Southeast Asia. 2 nd Edition. John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford, 176 pp.
- Charlton, T. (2020) A Guide to Snakes of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, viii + 299 pp.