84 Hamadryad [Vol. 32, No. 1

102. [In Japanese.] Hamadryad Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 73-75, 2007. Copyright 2007 Centre for Herpetology, INGER, R. F. & M. LAKIM. 1998. Rediscovery of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. agamid lizard Calotes kinabaluensis de Gr- ijs (Lacertilia: Agamidae) in Borneo, with HEHllDACmUS KARENORUHl (SQUAMATA, notes on its habitat. Herpetological Review GEKKONIDAE)- NOT IN INDIA? 29(3): 143-144. & R. B. STUEBING. 1994. First record of the In 1868, Theobald recognized the Burmese spot- lizard genus Pseudocalotes (Lacertilia; Ag- ted gecko, Hemidactylus karenorum, as a new amidae) in Borneo, with description of a species Irom the Sittaung Valley of south-cen- new species. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology tral Burma. Its reported distribution remained 42(4):961-965. confined to the Pegu area (now encompassed MALKMUS, R., U. MANTHEY, G. VOGEL, P. HOFFMANN by the Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Districts) & J. KOSUCH. 2002. Amphibians & reptiles of until De Rooij (1915) gave a Borneo occurrence Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). Koeltz Sci- in addition to the Burmese one. Malcolm Smith entific Books, Konigstein. 424 pp. (1935) briefly noted that De Rooij's specimen MANTHEY, U. & W. DENZER. 2000. Description of "does not appear to be this species..." Although a new genus, Hypsicalotes gen. nov. (Sau- Smith did not see the specimens, De Rooij pro- ria: Agamidae) Irom Mount Kinabalu, North vided a detailed description in her book (1915) Borneo, with remarks on the generic identity that permitted him to recognize her misidenti- of Gonocephalus schulzewestrumi Urban, fication. Many aspects of her specimens match 1999. Hamadryad 25(1): 13-20. H. karenorum, e.g., dorsum of small granular & W. GROSSMANN. 1997. Amphibien und scales and numerous small tubercles, number Reptilien Siidostasiens. Natur und Tier Ver- of fore- and hindfoot digital lamellae, but the lag, Miinster. 512 pp. number of precloacal-femoral pores does not. OTA, H. & T HIKIDA. 1991. Taxonomic review of She described a male with a small chevron of 6 the lizards of the genus Calotes Cuvier 1817 precloacal pores; Burmese H. karenorum have (Agamidae Squamata) from Sabah, Malay- 26-38, usually >34 pores (Zug et al., 2007). sia. Tropical Zoology 4:179-192. While Smith removed this erroneous distribu- & . 1996. The second specimen of tional record, he added a new and puzzling lo- Calotes kinabaluensis de Grijs (Squamata: cality, "Cachar in Assam." He did not identify Agamidae) from Sabah, Malaysia, with com- the source of this information, and The Natural ments on the taxonomic status of the species. History Museum, London does not possess a Journal of Herpetology 30(2):288-291. Hemidactylus specimen from this locality. WELCH, K. R. G. 1994. Lizards of the world. A The Assam locality is puzzling owing to checklist. 5. Agamidae, Chamaeleonidae, its distance and habitat difference from south- Cordylidae and Gerrhosauridae. R & A Re- central Myanmar. The puzzle has been largely search and Information Limited/KCM Books, ignored because there have been few voucher Taunton. 97 pp. specimens to delimit the distribution of H. karenorum. The joint California Academy of Indraneil Das' and Maklarin Lakim^ Sciences-Nature and Wildlife Conservation Di- 'Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental vision-Smithsonian Institution's Myanmar Her- Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, petofaunal Survey has obtained adequate vouch- 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia. er specimens to define this species distribution Email: [email protected] as central and south-central Myanmar, hence a distribution with its northern limit distant from ^Zoology Unit, Sabah Parks, Gunung Kinabalu Assam and potentially isolated by the mountain Park, Ranau District 88806, Sabah, Malay- ranges separating Myanmar and India. sia. One of us (SM) recently visited the Zoo- Received: 16 June 2007. logical Survey of India (ZSI) collection to ex- Accepted: 2 July 2007. amine lizard specimens, and discovered four specimens (ZSI 6402, 12050, 12075, 21712) of December, 2007] Notes 85

Hemidactylus labelled H. karenorum. Three of gal, and Rajasthan, respectively. Woodmason's these, now in alcohol, are extremely brittle. The Cachar locality is presumably 25° 05'N 92° fourth specimen (ZSI 21712) is modestly well 55'E (for Cachar district) in the state of Assam. preserved. The dehydrated condition makes What is the likelihood that "true" H. karenorum identification difficult; nevertheless, tentative occurs at any of these four localities? The Orissa identification is possible. Two of the dried speci- and Rajasthan localities seem most unlikely to mens (ZSI 12050, 12075) and undehydrated one harbour H. karenorum owing to their great geo- (ZSI 21712) show characteristics distinctive of graphic distance from the known H. karenorum H. platyurus, i.e., digits webbed, ventrolateral distribution. The possibility of H. karenorum trunk fold well-developed, and no enlarged tu- in Assam and West Bengal is certainly greater bercles dorsally; however, of these three speci- because they are geographically closer. Nev- mens, we are confident of our identification as ertheless, we suggest that if a H. karenorum- H. platyurus on only ZSI 21712 (collected 1964 like gecko occurs at either or both locations, it at "Umtham, Upper, K. & J. Hills [presumably is likely an undescribed sibling species, as our Khasi & Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya State], Assam" ongoing studies of the central Burmese herpeto- by A.K. Nanda). The final dehydrated specimens fauna continue to demonstrate that lizards may (ZSI 6402; from "Govindpur, Burma, May 1866 share the same species names between Myan- and Oct. 1867") might represent H. karenorum. mar and India but they are not the same species For characters discemable from the specimen's (e.g., Zug et al., 2006). current condition, it has moderately large tuber- We wish to thank our colleagues at Zoologi- cles among the granular scale of the dorsum, cal Survey of India collection Kolkata [ZSI] lacks webbing between the digits and a ventro- (Dr. B.H.C.K. Murthy) and The Natural His- lateral fold on the trunk, and has 7 lamellae on tory Museum [BMNH] (C. J. McCarthy) for finger IV and about 8 on toe IV. The trunk tu- access to their respective collections. We also bercles, however, are arranged in 10-11 distinct appreciate S. Biswas' and J. Vindum's care- longitudinal rows, in contrast to our Myanmar ful reading and comments for improving this H. karenorum that show numerous scattered tu- manuscript. GZ's research into the biology and bercles without a longitudinal arrangement. The systematics of Asian herpetofauna has been sup- longitudinal rows of enlarged tubercles suggest ported by the Research Opportunity Fund and that this specimen may represent H. brookii or the Biological Survey and Inventory Program a member of the brookii complex (Zug et al., of the National Museum of Natural History, and 2007). the NMNH Department of Vertebrate Zoology. We have made several assumptions about The National Science Foundation - Biodiver- the ZSI "//. karenorum." First and foremost, sity Surveys & Inventories program has made that they represent the Assam record reported the comprehensive survey of the Myanmar her- by M. Smith, because two (ZSI 12050, 12075) petofauna possible through DEB-9971861 and derive from Cachar, Assam (collected by J. DEB-0451832. Woodmason, without date). Second, Smith did not include Govindpur because he already had LITERATURE CITED a Burma record or Smith was uncertain of the DE ROOIJ, N. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Aus- specimen's identification. tralian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, We are unable to locate Govindpur as a geo- Emydosauria. E. J. Brill Ltd., Leiden, xiv + graphic entity in Burma (Myanmar), but we 384 pp. have located several in India. Our gazetteer (US SMITH, M. A. 1935. The fauna of British India, Board ofGeographic Names. India, vol. 1.1952) including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and lists two Govindpur localities: one as a town at Amphibia. Vol. II—Sauria. Taylor & Francis 21° 29'N 85° 21'E, and the other as a canal/ Ltd., London, i-xiii, 1^40 pp. stream at 22° 33'N 88° 19'E. A third Govindpur THEOBALD, W. 1868. Catalogue of the reptiles of is listed on the web Global Gazetteer 2.1 (www. British Birma, embracing the provinces of fallingrain.com) as 25° 22' N 75° 32'E. These Pegu, Martaban, and Tenasserim; with de- localities are in the states of Orissa, West Ben- scriptions of new or little-known species. Hamadryad [Vol. 32, No. 1

Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology and Akola (20°44'0"N; 77°0'0"E), both in Ma- 10:4-67. harashtra State, western India. Wardha city lies ZUG, G. R., H. H. R. BROWN, J. A. SCHULTE III AND J. within a scrub forest. Around Akola lies exten- V. VINDUM. 2006. Systematics of the garden liz- sive dry deciduous forests, in addition to scrub ards, Calotes versicolor group (Reptilia, Sq- forests, and is a nesting site of many local bird uamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: central dry species. The following plant species are known zone populations. Proceedings of the Califor- from the two sites: Teak (Tectonal grandis) is nia Academy of Sciences 35(2):35-68. the dominant species with its common associ- ZUG, G. R., J. V. VINDUM & M. KOO. 2007. Burmese ate, Lendia (Lagestroemia parviflora), Moyan Hemidactylus (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekko- (Lanmea coromondolica), Ain (Terminalia to- nidae): taxonomic notes on tropical Asian mentosa), Dhawda (Anogeissus latifolia), Haldu Hemidactylus. Proceedings of the California (Adina cordifolia), Kalanb (Mitrigyna parviflo- Academy of Sciences 58:387-405. ra) and Dhaman (Grewia tiliafolia). Feeding habits of Elachistodon westermanni Stephen Mahonyl and George R. Zug2 reported here are based on observation made in '3 Park View Lawns, Greenpark, Clondalkin, situ in December, 2005 on two live individu- Dublin 22, Ireland als in the wild, and photographed with Nikon Email: [email protected] FMIO. Videos were taken with a Panasonic GS- 120 3CCD camera. ^Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Elachistodon westermanni is a small, slim Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian snake, with glossy chocolate brown to black col- Institution, Washington, D.C., USA our. Bluish-white flecks are present on posterior Email: [email protected] of body, black checkered marking on forebody, Received: 15 June 2007. and a florescent or cream stripe present along Accepted: 3 July 2007. the middorsal line from neck to tail tip. Head is brown in colour and dark black arrow mark present on it. Ventrals are white, with brownish dots. It is primarily nocturnal, but has also been Hamadryad Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. xx - xx, 2007. Copyright 2007 Centre for Herpetology, observed during the day. These snakes are not Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. aggressive but at times, assume an s-shaped po- sition. FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS OF ELACHISTODON For the present studies, I searched 13 nests WESTERMANNI REINHARDT, 1863 of sparrows (Passer domesticus), 51 nests of bayas (Ploceus philippinus), eight of munias (with one text-figure) (Lonchura malabarica) and 11 nests of doves Feeding habits of egg-eating snakes have been (Streptopelia senegalensis). Ultimately, I ob- described in the African egg eater, Dasypeltis served Elachistodon westermanni near the nest (Cans, 1952; 1974; Cans and Williams, 1954; of the sparrow. After continuous observation, I Das, 2002). However, there are no reports avail- recorded the following event. An individual of able on Indian egg eater, Elachistodon wester- Elachistodon westermanni, after entering a bird manni, which is known from Nepal, Bangladesh nest, examined all eggs in the nest, smelled them and India. Occurrence of the species in central and selected one of them, and swallowed it. The India was reported by Captain et al. (2005). time taken for selection, swallowing and glut- No specimens of Elachistodon westermanni ting was ca. 1 to 1.30 min. After taking the egg has ever been kept in captivity and there exists in the cervical region, a crushing sound ("Tiss") no notes on its habits, with the exception of Re- was heard. Peristaltic muscular movements of inhardt's (1863) specimen with egg yolk [?]. I esophageal wall to move the egg contents to- observed egg yolk in the stomach of a road-killed wards the tubular stomach followed. The cervi- specimen, and also report here observations of cal vertebrae probably aided the crushing of the live specimens feeding on eggs. Observations egg-shell. Similar observations are reported by were made at Wardha (20°45'0"N; 78°37'0"E) Gans (1952) for Dasypeltis. He suggested that