Observations on Abundance and Diet of the Sunbeam Snake Xenopeltis Unicolor in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.


 

THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL
VOL LV NO.76 DECEMBER 2000

 
 
Title : 
Observations on Abundance and Diet of the Sunbeam Snake Xenopeltis Unicolor in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Author : 
Anke Maria Hofer and Mark Auliya

Abstract:
The Sunbeam Snake is a non-venomous, nocturnal, ground dwelling snake which is distributed throughout Southeast Asia, reaching Nicobars and Myanmar in the west, and the Philippines in the east. Within Indonesia, the species is abundant in Sulawesi and the Greater Sundas (Sumatra, Java & Borneo), but not on the Lesser Sundas (Brongersma 1934; Saint-Girons 1972; Manthey & Grossmann 1997). The english name “Sunbeam Snake” refers to the highly iridescent scales, which reflect the spectrum light colors (Lim & Lee 1989) whereas the latin name “unicolor” describes its uniform dark to black-brownish color in the shade (Van Hoesel 1959). Various publications about Xenopeltis unicolor, mainly focus on the taxonomic status within the monotypic family Xenopeltidae, with hypothesis supported by the morphology of the skull and the head pholidosis (Mertens 1943; Lim & Lee 1989). This note contains observations on its diet and abundance in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

DOI:
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How to cite:
Anke Maria Hofer and Mark Auliya. (2000). Observations on Abundance and Diet of the Sunbeam Snake Xenopeltis Unicolor in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LV (76): 255-258

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