A Naturalist’s Guide to the snake of Southeast Asia : including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali

Das, Indraneil (2018) A Naturalist’s Guide to the snake of Southeast Asia : including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. 2nd edition . John Beaufoy Publishing Limited, Oxford, England. ISBN 978-1-912081-92-9

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Abstract

Snakes form one of the major components of vertebrate fauna of Southeast Asia. They feature prominently in folklore, mythology and other belief systems of the indigenous people of the region, and are of ecological and conservation value, some species supporting significant (albeit often illegal) economic activities (primarily, the snake-skin trade, but also sale of meat and other body parts that purportedly have medicinal properties). They fascinate city-dwellers as much as they engage rural folks, but often suffer prejudices, perhaps borne out of fear, ignorance, and religious and other early teachings. As at the end of 2018, a total of 418 species of snakes were recorded from the region. This guide describes and illustrates over half (245 species, or about 59 per cent) of the snake fauna of Southeast Asia (here including Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and within the insular region, Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Bali, as well as the smaller islands and archipelago systems of the Greater Sundas). All other regions are termed extralimital in this work (although the natural distribution of species that spill over political boundaries of these countries may not necessarily be biologically extralimital). The aim of this work is to permit rapid field identification of each species covered via descriptive text and one or more live photographs. In particular, details of colour and form are noted in the descriptions. A few species in this work have never been illustrated in a publication before, and for all I have made an effort to use previously unpublished images. In several species, accurate identification in the field is not possible without detailed scale counts or other morphological examination, for which users will have to refer to more technical works (see Further Reading, p. 170).

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