First record of the Island Wolfsnake, Lycodon capucinus, from New Guinea, with comments on its widespread distribution and confused taxonomy, and a new record for the Common Sun Skink, Eutropis multifasciata
Abstract
We report the first records of the Island Wolfsnake, Lycodon capucinus (H. Boie in F. Boie 1827) at Timika, Mimika Regency, Papua Province, Indonesian New Guinea. These are of considerable interest since they pro-vide further proof for the ability of this species to disperse via human transport, and the expansion into New Guinea represents a significant milestone, a distance of 675 km (by air) from the closest known population on Seram Island in the Moluccan Archipelago. Of even broader interest is the fact that one of the specimens contained a prey item, a Common Sun Skink, Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl 1820), in itself a significant territorial expansion for that species. We preface our reports with a comprehensive review of the available information on the Island Wolfsnake’s taxonomy and distribution. We also discuss the expansion of E. multifasciata across Wallacea and into New Guinea.Citation
O'Shea, M., Kusuma, KI., Kaiser, H. (2018) 'First record of the Island Wolfsnake, Lycodon capucinus, from New Guinea, with comments on its widespread distribution and confused taxonomy, and a new record for the Common Sun Skink, Eutropis multifasciata', ICRF Reptiles and Amphibians Conservation and Natural History, 25 pp. 70-84Publisher
IRCF.orgJournal
ICRF Reptiles and Amphibians Conservation and Natural HistoryAdditional Links
http://www.ircf.org/journal/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/RA-25.1_70-84_OShea-etal.pdfType
Journal articleLanguage
enISSN
1098-6324Collections
The following licence applies to the copyright and re-use of this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/