Amphibians and Reptiles of Similipal Biosphere Reserve ISBN 81-900920-7-3 Published by Regional Plant Resource Centre Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar 751 015, Orissa, India Website: www.rprcbbsr.com; Email: [email protected] First published: 2009 Copyright © 2009 in text: S.K. Dutta, M.V. Nair, P.P. Mohapatra and A. K. Mahapatra Copyright © 2009 in photographs: Individual credited Copyright © 2009 Regional Plant Resource Centre All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrival system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. S. K. Dutta M. V. Nair Use in educational purpose may be cited as: P. P. Mohapatra Dutta, S.K., M.V. Nair, P.P. Mohapatra and A.K. Mahapatra. (2009). Amphibians and A. K. Mahapatra reptiles of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Regional Plant Resouce Centre, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India. Cover photographs: Indian Chameleon (PPM), Bamboo Pitviper (PPM), Painted Balloon frog (MVN) Typeset & Printed at REGIONAL PLANT RESOURCE CENTRE Third Eye Communications Bhubaneswar N-4/252, IRC Village, Bhubaneswar of critical importance to the biodiversity of the region, under the guardianship of the Orissa Forest Department. But it takes more than government machinery to keep a protected area viable; a good deal of the success of our Protected Areas is due to interest from the public in the spell-binding vistas and creatures found therein. Humans have an insatiable desire to identify and name things, perhaps this is the very basis for the evolution of language. Learning to recognize the birds and butterflies in the garden, the geckos on the wall of the house and lizards on the trees is a childs first foray into wildlife research and as he or she gets older the thirst for knowing the names of creatures gets stronger. It is a pleasure, therefore, to see this new, well illustrated volume on the amphibians and reptiles of Simlipal, a collaborative effort by four well known herpetologists of Orissa. It is a field guide, pure and simple, just the kind of book for both the beginning as well as the seasoned naturalist. While it not a problem to find a good book to identify all the birds of Simlipal, it is only now possible to find a single book covering all the species of frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises and crocodiles of this Tiger Reserve. This is an extremely important achievement and will no doubt encourage more people, young and old, to become interested in the amazing herpetofauna of our country. Romulus Whitaker Pambukudivanam Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu November, 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India for providing financial support to Regional Plant Research Centre (RPRC), Bhubaneswar, Orissa under Lead Coordination Centre Programme to publish the book. Our heartfelt thanks to Mr.R. N. Reddy IFS, Regional CCF; Mr. H. S. Upadhya IFS, Field Director, Similipal Tiger Reserve and other staff members of the Park for their support. The encouragement provided by Dr S. K. Kar and the research staff of the office of Chief Wildlife Warden was instrumental in coming up with such kind of publication. We wish thank to the staff of Regional Museum of Natural History, Bhubaneswar, specifically Dr P. Ray (former Scientist in Charge), Mr. G. N. Indresh (Scientist in Charge) and Dr Siba Prasad Parida for their help. Herpetologists like Romulus Whitaker, Indraneil Das, Frank Tillack, Gernot Vogel, Patrick David, Kaushik Deuti, B.H.C.K. Murthy, Saibal Sengupta provided much valued inspiration and encouragement in our endeavour. Thanks to Vasundhara, Bhubaneswar for their support in various field trips in Orissa. We also thank the staff of Species Division, WWF-India, New Delhi, especially Mr. Ravi Singh and Dr Diwakar Sharma for their support and encouragement in various ways. Our gratitude to Dr (Mrs.) Pravati Kumari Mahapatra, Md. Firoz Ahmed, Abhijit (FCN), Dr H. K. Sahu, Dr S. D. Rout, Varad Giri, Smita Ranjanee, Niladri, Deepak, Sujogya, Prasad, Biswanath (T2), Satyanarayan, Nikita, Pari and all our friends for their help in field trips and inputs. Our heartiest thanks to Dr Santosh Kumar Mahapatra, Mr. Biswajit Mohanty and Cuckoo Mahapatra for going through the manuscript to weedout mistakes. We thank our family members for tolerating our long and unpardonable absence from homes during field tour. Last but not the least thanks to Mr. Jyoti Ranjan Swain, Mr. Sudhakar Mishra & Ananta Ojha of Third Eye Communications for their help in designing and type setting of the book. Authors Joranda fall, Similipal M. V. Nair CONTENTS About the book Introduction 1 Amphibians and Reptiles of Similipal 4 More facts about snakes 7 Snakebite 9 Keep your house free from snakes 11 86010 86020 86030 First aid for Snakebite 12 Snakebite treatment 14 Checklist of Herpetofauna of Similipal 17 22 00 0 0 Species Account 00 22 Frogs 20 Turtles 54 Crocodile 62 21 50 0 0 Lizards 64 50 21 Snakes 98 Glossary 164 Suggested Reading 167 21 0 40 Species Index 168 40 0 21 About the authors 171 21 0 30 30 0 21 86010 86020 86030 1 5 4 3 2 ABOUT THE BOOK This book is the first ever field guide in Orissa covering 81 species of amphibians and reptiles found in Similipal Biosphere Reserve. The book contains 160 colour photographs of all the species of herpetofauna found in the Reserve. The descriptions given in the book are for easy identification of species by readers. The species description begins with 8 7 6 a header containing the common English name followed by scientific name. The vernacular name, if available, is given below the scientific name. The maximum size of the animals are given. In the book the 9 potentially dangerous snakes are indicated by a red marking on the 16 10 upper left corner of the page. At the beginning of the book the annotated 11 15 14 13 12 checklist of the herpetofauna of Similipal is given with their legal status Abbreviations: 1. snout, 2. nostril, 3. eye, 4. tympanum, 5. vertebral, 6. marginal, 7. costal, 8. hind under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. There is an useful section on foot, 9. gular, 10. humeral, 11. pectoral, 12. abdominal, 13. median suture, 14. femoral, 15. anal, snakebite covering updated first aid, treatment and snake management. 16. tail. CL. carapace length The suggested reading section covers other relevant source of information Plate 2. Different body parts of turtle regarding natural history, ecology, systematics and conservation of 9 10 8 6 herpetofauna. A glossary of technical terms, which has been used in the 7 text, is given. An index of common English names and scientific names are provided for quick access to the species described in the book. 3 The book can be used by field biologists, visitors, researchers, doctors 2 and general public as a source of information on the little known animals. 1 4 5 11 Some of the technical terms described in this book regarding the amphibian and reptile 12 body parts are depicted in the following plates. SVL 13 7 14 Smooth scale Keeled scale 13 Abbreviations: 1. nasal; 2. inter nasal; 3. pre-frontal; 4. loreal; 5. pre-ocular; 1 6. supraocular; 7. frontal; 8. postocular; 9. temporal; 10. parietal; 11. 2 supralabial; 12. infralabial; 13. chin shield; 14. ventral. 10 3 Plate 3. Different body scales of snake 4 5 8 nostril femoral pore 6 9 Abbreviations: 1. snout; 2. nostril; 3. eye; 4. tympanum; 5. parotid gland; 6. spiny wart; infralabial supralabial lamellae 7. vocal sac; 8. disc; 9. webbing on toes; 10. vent. SVL: snout to vent length. Plate 4. Some of the key characters of gecko Plate 1. Different body parts of amphibia 1 2 the hills gives rise to its own stream, garlanding the landscape with a glistering network of life giving rivulets. Majority of INTRODUCTION these streams are perennial and join to give rise to ten large rivers, namely Balanga, Ganahar, Sono, East Deo, Sanjo and Orissa is treasured with a diversified topography and bestowed Palpala towards the east; Khairi and Bhandan towards the north; with an array of vegetation types, thus providing suitable West Deo to the north west and Salandi to the south west. The habitats to a variety of interesting herpetofauna. For example, perennial nature is partly because of high and well-spread out it is the only state in India where all the three species of rainfall (an average of 2200mm of rain in about 135 days) and crocodilians are found in nature. In addition, the longest also due to the high water retention capacity of these hills. In poisonous snake (King cobra), the largest Indian snake (Rock fact, its geological layout of having three huge concentric cups Python), the largest Indian lizard (Water monitor) and the of impervious quartzite rocks with their interspaces filled with limbless lizards are found in the state. The herpetofauna of pervious volcanic rocks is an unique feature in itself. Orissa is represented by more than 155 species (26 species of frogs and toads, 3 species of crocodilians, 16 species of turtles, The hills, with their numerous peaks and valleys, rise steeply 30 species of lizards and 80 species of snakes). from plains of Udala in the south and Baripada in the southeast and extend up to Jashipur in the northwest, Bisoi in the north If someone looks at the satellite imagery of the district of and Thakurmunda to the west. The riparian zones, perennial Mayurbhanj, one cannot but be overawed by the oval patch of streams and meadows form the key areas. The Bhadragoda dark green, occupying almost its entire central area- the verdant valley, Tarinivilla area, Patbil and numerous small swamps forests of the Similipal hills.