Following on from my trip to Peninsular Thailand in April, it was time to come back for more, this time in full monsoon season. Unlike the last trip, this one was 99% focused on reptiles and amphibians (mainly the former) and I managed to ensemble an equally enthusiastic team, two teams even. Team A consisted of Peter, Anniek and myself and Team B of Ian, Andy, Rushen and Ton. While some evenings we herped in different areas, the majority of the time we were in the same place and even the same locality in search of our various targets. Big snakes on the list this time included the Limestone eyelash pit viper (Trimeresurus ciliaris) which has obtained significant notoriety for its elusiveness. Peter and Ian were also after their first Wirot’s pit viper (Craspedocephalus wiroti). Ian and Andy also had various gecko targets in the harsh limestone landscapes of Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces.

Some notable finds from the trip included a Twin-barred flying snake (Chrysopelea pelias) which I spotted climbing a tree while I was driving the car one afternoon in Phuket. In Satun, while searching for the much desired pit viper, I found one of the few recently recorded Cave-dwelling wolf snake (Lycodon cavernicolus). Using his binoculars, Andy then managed to spot a tiny juvenile Limestone eyelash pit viper after what felt like monumental efforts to find this snake previously. Wangkulangkul’s bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus wangkulangkulae) was a notable gecko highlight which was found by Rushen moments after finding the Limestone eyelash pit viper.

Another snake highlight was observing three juvenile Banded kraits (Bungarus fasciatus) in Narathiwat province together with an Elephant trunk snake (Arcochordus javanicus) which was a new species for some of our group. Although most of the peninsula was having regular rainfall, the deep south was dry for the area and this no doubt resulted in less interesting finds than some of our previous trips there. Thankfully, Ton saved the day and found a beautiful female Wirot’s pit viper in an area where they had not previously been recorded. Despite long searches at known locations the previous nights we had no luck there.

Phuket

Phang Nga/Krabi

Trang/Satun

Narathiwat/Songkla

Phuket (again)

1. Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor) x1
2. Jodi’s pipe snake (Cylindrophis jodiae) x2
3. Elephant trunk snake (Arcochordus javanicus) x1
4. Blunt-headed slug eating snake (Aplopeltura boa) x1
5. Malayan slug-eating snake (Asthenodipsas malaccanus) x1
6. White-spotted slug eating snake (Pareas margaritophorus) x1
7. Schneider’s bockadam (Cerberus schneiderii) x2
8. Rainbow mud snake (Enhydris enhydris) x1
9. Cox’s water snake (Homalopsis mereljcoxi) x2
10. Plumbeous water snake (Hypsiscopus plumbeus) x3
11. Yellow-spotted keel back (Fowlea flavipunctatus) DOR
12. Black-banded keel back (Rhabdophis nigrocinctus) x1
13. Blue-necked keel back (Rhabdophis rhodomelas) DOR
14. Siamese red-necked keelback (Rhabdophis siamensis) x1
15. Triangle keelback (Xenochrophis trianguligerus)
16. Malayan vine snake (Ahaetulla mycterizans) 5+
17. Oriental vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina) 10+
18. Bengkulu cat snake (Boiga bengkuluensis) x2
19. Drapiez’s cat snake (Boiga drapiezii) x1
20. Dog-toothed cat snake (Boiga cynodon) x3
21. Mangrove cat snake (Boiga melanota) x7
22. Dusky wolf snake (Lycodon albofuscus) x1
23. Common wolf snake (Lycodon capucinus) x3?
24. Malayan cave wolf snake (Lycodon cavernicolus) x1
25. Davison’s bridle snake (Lycodon davisonii) x1
26. Malayan bridle snake (Lycodon subannulatus) x1
27. Malayan banded wolf snake (Lycodon subcinctus) x2
28. Ornate flying snake (Chrysopelea ornata) x1
29. Twin-barred flying snake (Chrysopelea pelias) x1
30. Striped bronzeback (Dendrelaphis caudolineatus) x1
31. Haas’s bronzeback (Dendrelaphis haasi) x1
32. Painted bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus) DOR
33. White-bellied rat snake (Ptyas fusca) x1
34. Indochinese rat snake (Ptyas korros) x10+
35. Copperhead racer (Coelognathus radiatus) x1
36. Yellow-striped racer (Coelognathus flavolineatus) x1
37. Cave racer (Elaphe taeniura) x1
38. Mock viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus) x1
39. Monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) x2
40. Sunda king cobra (Ophiophagus bungarus) DOR
41. Malayan krait (Bungarus candidus) x3
42. Banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus) x3
43. Red-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps) x2 *(found both times by the others while I wasn’t there!)*
44. Malayan pit viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma) x3
45. Wirot’s pit viper (Craspedocephalus wiroti) x1
46. Hagen’s pit viper (Trimeresurus hageni) x4
47. Phuket pit viper (Trimeresurus phuketensis) x7
48. White-lipped pit viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) x1
49. Limestone eyelash pit viper (Trimeresurus ciliaris) x1
50. Mangrove pit viper (Trimeresurus purpeomaculatus) x1
51. Beautiful pit viper (Trimeresurus venustus) x4
52. Wagler’s pit viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri) x3