Article

Reptiles

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Reptiles

Scope and Historical Definition

The reptilian fauna of the Malay Peninsula and Borneo was first systematically documented in the mid-nineteenth century, with Dr. Cantor’s 1847 paper establishing the earliest important checklist of the region’s species [1, p. 185]. By the turn of the twentieth century, the fauna was considered “well-known” in broad terms, though significant gaps remained, particularly in the Native States of the peninsula and the interior of Borneo [1, p. 185], [2, p. 44]. H. N. Ridley, Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, published in 1899 what remained one of the most comprehensive behavioural accounts of Malayan reptiles, organised taxonomically across tortoises, crocodiles, lizards, and snakes, and drawing on his personal observations across Singapore and the wider peninsula [1, pp. 185–210]. R. S. Shelford, Curator of the Sarawak Museum, consolidated nearly two decades of collecting activity into a definitive checklist of Borneo’s reptilian fauna in 1901, recording 87 genera and 212 species as of December 1900 [2, pp. 43–44]. Together, these works established the taxonomic and biogeographical framework within which subsequent research on the region’s reptiles was conducted.

Members & Sub-Topics

Taxonomic Composition and Endemism

The Bornean reptile fauna, as catalogued by Shelford, comprised 87 genera and 212 species across chelonians (including crocodilians and turtles), lizards, and snakes [2, pp. 43–44]. Of these, 64 species and six genera—Brookeia, Lanthanotus, Hydrablabe, Lepturophis, Oreocalamus, and Idiopholis—were identified as endemic to the island [2, pp. 44–45]. The genus Calamaria, comprising blind snakes, was the most species-rich endemic group, with 19 of the 64 endemic species falling within it, indicating a remarkable radiation in Borneo [2, p. 45]. The flying lizards of the genus Draco were represented by nine species on the island, five of which—D. cornutus, D. obscurus, D. cristatellus, D. maximus, and D. microlepis—were endemic, making it the most species-rich endemic lizard genus [2, pp. 45]. Among pit vipers, Lachesis was represented by five species, four of which were endemic or near-endemic, with L. wagleri being the only widely distributed form [2, p. 68]. The sole representative of the genus Lanthanotus, L. borneensis, was known from only two specimens at the time of Shelford’s publication: one in the Sarawak Museum, collected by Bampfylde at Plagus Rapids on the Rejang River, and the type in the Vienna Museum [2, p. 52].

On the Malay Peninsula, Ridley recorded no fewer than 110 species of snakes, more than half of which had been found in Singapore alone, of which 31 were poisonous, nearly half of those being sea snakes [1, pp. 195]. The lizard fauna included the monitor Varanus salvator, attaining a length of seven feet, three smaller Varanus species, the sand lizard Liolepis bellii, the chameleon lizard Calotes cristatellus, the flying lizard Draco volans, the common scinc Mabuia multifasciata, and at least eight species of house geckos belonging to four genera [1, pp. 190–193]. Among chelonians, Ridley described several land tortoises, snapping turtles, and four species of sea turtles [1, pp. 185–188].

Behavioural Ecology and Economic Significance

Ridley’s 1899 account provided detailed observations on the behaviour of the region’s reptiles that went well beyond mere taxonomic listing. The monitor lizard, known to the Malays as Biawak, was described as always living near water, diving well when pursued, and galloping at great pace when frightened, though clumsily, making a noise “out of all proportion to its size” [1, p. 190]. When cornered, it defended itself by lashing out with its tail and making a puffing noise like a spitting cat [1, p. 190]. The flying lizard Draco volans was observed to move about in flights, appearing in numbers after periods of absence, and selecting trees with grey smooth bark matching its own colouring [1, pp. 191–192]. The longest measured flight was twenty-five yards from a height of not more than fifteen feet [1, p. 192].

Among snakes, Ridley documented the python Python reticulatus as perhaps the largest snake in the world, with specimens of 20 feet by no means uncommon and 26 feet occasionally met with [1, p. 196]. A python over seventeen feet long consumed two black swans at the rate of one per month, and a 15- to 16-foot python was found having just swallowed twelve ducks [1, pp. 196–197]. A 20-foot python fed on a pariah dog refused all food for nine months before passing the remains [1, p. 197]. The local cobra, Naja sputatrix, was noted for its habit of spitting accurately at a distance of eight feet, striking Ridley all over the face; a student examining one was struck in the eye, causing inflammation lasting several hours [1, p. 201]. Ridley challenged the popular reputation of the green viper Lachesis wagleri as a deadly snake, citing multiple documented bites—on a Java sparrow, a cooly’s toe, and a pariah dog’s thigh—that produced only local swelling and pain, with full recovery within hours [1, pp. 202–203].

The economic significance of reptiles in the region was evident in several respects. The snapping turtle Trionyx cartilagineus, known to the Malays as Labi-Labi, fetched a high price in the markets, the Chinese being “very fond of these turtles” [1, p. 187]. The python’s flesh was eaten by the Chinese, and its fat was a popular native medicine [1, p. 197]. A Chinese superstition held tortoises to be emblems of longevity, and they would write their names on tortoises and release them, the animals being supposed to bear away the sins of their owners; no Chinese person would kill or buy a tortoise so inscribed [1, pp. 187–188]. The green tree-snake Dryophis prasinus was used in a Malay custom in which its fat was made into a lamp with a floating wick; on lighting it in the evening, the room became full of green snakes, a diversion employed on festal occasions [1, p. 200].

Research and Documentation

The documentation of reptiles in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo followed a trajectory from foundational checklists to increasingly detailed behavioural and biogeographical studies. Cantor’s 1847 paper provided the earliest important list, though a number of the species he mentioned had not been met with since, some perhaps erroneously identified or wrongly localised [1, p. 185]. Flower’s 1896 paper in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society gave a list of all species recorded from the peninsula and served as the basis for Ridley’s 1899 behavioural survey [1, p. 185]. Shelford’s 1901 checklist for Borneo synthesised the collections of A. H. Everett, John Whitehead, and C. Hose, whose fieldwork across Sarawak, North Borneo, and the Dutch territories provided the bulk of the locality data [2, p. 44]. A distinctive feature of Shelford’s work was his practice of recording colouration from living or freshly dead specimens where it differed markedly from published descriptions, which he attributed to the deterioration of spirit-preserved material [2, p. 44].

The 1920s saw the extension of herpetological documentation to previously unexplored regions. E. R. Dunn’s 1923 note on a collection from the upper Baram River in north-western Sarawak, assembled by J. C. Moulton and Harrison W. Smith during September to November 1920, documented 57 lizard specimens (13 species) and 53 snake specimens (24 species), and formally described three new snake species: Natrix frenata sp. n., Calamaria moultoni sp. n., and Calamaria smithi sp. n. [3, pp. 1–4]. The lizard assemblage represented roughly one-seventh of the total lizard species then recorded for Borneo [3, p. 2]. Moulton’s field note recorded that only two poisonous snakes were captured out of a total of 54, which he interpreted as evidence of the general harmlessness of Bornean snakes [3, p. 3].

Island faunas received attention in the late 1920s. N. Smedley’s 1928 note recorded the first faunal list of reptiles from the Anamba Islands in the South China Sea, noting that these islands formed a faunal outpost of Malayan territory, in contrast to the nearby Natunas, which showed a closer affinity with the Bornean fauna [4, p. 76]. Chasen and Smedley’s 1927 list of reptiles from Pulau Galang and other islands of the Rhio Archipelago documented several observations of taxonomic interest, including a well-constituted red-ventral colour variety of Gecko verticillatus found abundantly on P. Galang where no typical specimens occurred, and two specimens of Dipsadomorphus cynodon found to have swallowed birds, supporting earlier reports of this species’ predation on birds [5, pp. 352]. The authors noted that more systematic collecting would likely reveal additional forms not listed [5, p. 352].

Throughout this period, the distributional data for the Native States of the peninsula and the interior of Borneo remained explicitly acknowledged as incomplete, reflecting the limited penetration of Western natural history into those territories [1, p. 204], [2, p. 44]. The locality-based checklist format remained standard, and the work of curators at the Sarawak Museum and the Raffles Museum in Singapore provided the institutional backbone for the accumulation and synthesis of herpetological knowledge in the region.

MBRAS Sources

References

  1. H.N. Ridley (1899). The habits of Malay reptiles JSBRAS 32: 185–210.
  2. R.S. Shelford (1901). A list of the reptiles of Borneo JSBRAS 35: 43–68.
  3. E.R. Dunn (1923). On a collection of reptiles from Sarawak JMBRAS 1(1): 1–4. Read on JSTOR
  4. N. Smedley (1928). Some reptiles and amphibia from the Anamba Islands. Records of the Raffles Museum, No. 35 JMBRAS 6(3): 76–77. Read on JSTOR
  5. F.N. Chasen et al. (1927). A list of reptiles from Pulau Galang and other islands of the Rhio Archipelago. F.N. Chasen and N. Smedley. Records of the Raffles Museum, No. 30 JMBRAS 5(2): 351–355. Read on JSTOR