World Journal of Zoology 7 (4): 303-305, 2012 ISSN 1817-3098 © IDOSI Publications, 2012 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wjz.2012.7.4.65112

Range Extension of Slender Racer (Coluber gracilis Gunther, 1862) in

12Nitin Walmiki, Amol Kumbhar and 3 M. Bubesh Guptha

1Eco-Echo, D/55, Meghwadi, Dr. S.S. Rao Road, Lalbaug, Mumbai -400012, India 2Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Office of Field Director, Mul Road, Chandrapur- 442401, Maharashtra, India 3Wildlife Management Circle, Tirupati andhra Pradesh-517 507. India

Abstract: Newly recorded presence of Slender Racer Coluber gracilis in Vansada National Park is second locality record in state. This species is endemic to India and recorded only from few places in northern Western Ghats and Central India. Recent distribution and range extension of slender racer in India also provided.

Key words: Distribution Gujarat Rajasthan Vansada National Park

INTRODUCTION Observations: During nature trail in Vansada National park we encountered live specimen of Slender racer In India, the genus Coluber represents three species C. gracilis dated 15 February 2011 at 11:42h, near Waghai C. gracilis (Gunther 1862), C. vettacoudatus (Blyth 1854) river (20° 41’ 50.7” N - 73° 31’ 47.9”E) in compartment and C. bholanathi (Sharma 1976) the rare snakes native to number 10, the weather was bright and sunny. Habitat India. We reported second new locality record and range was riparian mixed moist deciduous forest nearby extension of Slender racer Coluber gracilis in Vansada grassland dominated by trees Terminalia orenulata, National Park, Gujarat. Park situated (20° 51’16” - 21° 21’ Albizia procera, Dalbergia latifolia, Adina cordifolia, 22”N & 73° 20’ 30” - 73° 31’ 20”E) in Vansada Taluk of Madhuca indica. Grasses Sarphum halepense, Cenchrus District, Gujarat. Park has gentle undulating setigerus andropogon pumilus, Bambusa arundinacea. terrain with hills of the moderate elevations from We photographed and released specimen after collecting 110 - 360m, an extension of Sahyadri Range. After 1986 the scale count and morphological data and identified the forest area of 23.99 Km2 from south Gujarat was declared same on basis of key available in literature [3, 4]. This is as high biodiversity protected area under Indian Wildlife second new locality record in Gujarat state after Protection Act 1972, by the state forest department. Vyas et al. [5] near Narmada Dam and town of Kevadiya. The northeastern boundary of the park is formed of Vyas [1, 6] did not report this species in his herpetofauna Waghai - railway line running parallel to study in Vansada National park. Ambika-Khapri River while the Navtad - Waghai state highway binds the southern boundary [1]. The forest of Description: Specimen was light grayish brown above, Vansada National Pak (Image 1) is southern Indian with narrow white black edged, cross bars which expand tropical moist deciduous forest types and further on the outer sides of the body & tail where they are classified as southern moist mixed deciduous forest, replaced by short, narrow, black cross bars or spots. bamboo break and tropical riparian forest [2]. A bar across the snout in front of the eye & forward Geological formation that of Deccan traps - Plateau basalt, pointing V-shaped marks on the top of the head (Fig. 1), Climate is tropical with distinguished seasons. Maximum lower parts whitish or yellowish, the outer margins of the and Minimum temperatures are 43.8°C and 8.8°C, ventral’s with black spots. Snake identified on the key respectively. available in [3, 4]. Maxillary teeth 13, head very distinct

Corresponding Author: Amol Kumbhar, Research Fellow, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Office of Field Director, Mul Road, Chandrapur- 442401, Maharashtra, India. 303 World J. Zool., 7 (4): 303-305, 2012

Image 1: Map showing the distribution of C. gracilis reported (red) in four states of India and newly recorded location (black) in Vansada National Park, Gujarat and forest corridor between distribution.

from neck, rostral as broad as high, not separating the internasal, which are nearly as long as the prefrontal, 2 anterior and 3 posterior temporals, 9 supralabials, 5th and 6th touching the eye, 6th highest and in contact with the anterior lower temporal. Postocular 2, Supraocular1, Scales in 21: 21: 15 rows, smooth, Ventral 214, sub caudals121. Total snout-vent length measured 808mm and tail length 250mm. In India distribution of C. gracilis known from adjoining areas of Pune, Satara, Koyana, Matheran, Borivali, Lonavala, Asirgarh [3] and recent record from area between Narmada Dam and town of Kevadiya, Gujarat [5] interestingly species also reported beyond the northern Western Ghats, western and central Satpura Mountain ranges. Sharma & Nagar [7] reported in Udaipur, Rajasthan and Ingle [8] reported in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh in central India. Status of the Coluber gracilis in Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 is under schedule IV and it’s categorized by the CAMP workshop as “Lower Risk, near Threatened” according to IUCN criteria [9]. This is the first published study to provide recent complete distribution of Slender Racer C. gracilis in India. Species is endemic to India Vyas et al. [5] Fig 1: Dorsal head (top) and Full body (bottom) view of thus the present record from Vansada National Park, Slender Racer Coluber gracilis of the specimen Gujarat suggests that species natural distribution in India from Vansada national Park, Gujarat, India. is greater than was previously thought, it extend the

304 World J. Zool., 7 (4): 303-305, 2012 known distribution range in Gujarat. From past published 3. Smith, M.A., 1943. The Fauna of British India, literature on distribution it addresses that need to study Including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. III Serpents, habitat ecology of Slender Racer to understand possible Taylor and Francis London, pp: 583. distribution in other parts of India in similar habitat. 4. Whitaker, R. and A. Captain, 2008. Snakes of Also forest cover and corridor suggest habitat India - The Field Guide. Draco Books, Chennai, fragmentation can influence the distribution of Slender Xiv+ pp: 481. Racer in India so protection of habitat is an important 5. Vyas, R., V. Vijay. N. Mahul and N. Thakur, 2011. aspect in the conservation of such species. Records of slender Racer Coluber gracilis (Gunther, 1968) from Gujarat state with notes on its ACKNOWLEDGEMENT distribution. SAURIA Berlin, 33(2): 51-56. 6. Vyas, R., 2000. A Review of Reptile Studies in Authors would like to express their sincere thanks Gujarat State. Zoo’s Print Journal, 15(12): 386 -390. to Prof. Vaishali Somani, Deapartment of Zoology, M. D 7. Sharma, S.K. and S. Nagar, 2007. First record of College for her cooperation and encouragement. We Slender Racer Coluber gracilis (gunther, 1862) thank to Aniket Jhadhav for sharing photographs. We (Serpents: Colubridae) from Rajasthan. Journal of personally thanked to Ninad Shastri for his help in GIS the Bombay Natural History Society, 104(3): 355. mapping. 8. Ingle, M., 2002. Ecology and status of Ophiofauna of eight districts of Malwa region of Madhya REFERENCES Pradesh. Cobra, 5(1): 1-5. 9. Molur, S. and S. Walker. (eds), 1998. Reptiles of 1. Vyas, R., 2004. Herpetofauna of Vansada National India Report summery, CAMP workshop. Zoo’ Park,Gujarat. Zoo’s Print Journal, 19(6): 1512-1514. Print Journal, 13(7): 226. 2. Champion, H.G. and S.K. Seth, 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Publish by Gov. of India Press, pp: 404.

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