Southern Yunnan 2014

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

With the generous funding supports from CHS and MHS, I went back to my home province, Yunnan, for a little project, and I took the chance and did some herping along the trip.

First stop, Gejiu and Mengzi
As the major mining sites for tin and coal in China, the subsequent deforestation destroyed most of the natural habitats in those two places.
One of the entrances of the tin mines
Image
one of the open coal-mining sites
Image
Almost cleared mountains with very few patches of "forests"
Image
Image

Outside the major cities scattered with many slum towns, which were specifically built for the miners.
Image
Image
Image
Those STD medication ads (for all kinds of nasty STD and parasites like pubic louse) were very common in the poor mining district.
Image

Some herptiles found around these two localities:
Tiannan Knobby Newt
Image
Image

Verrucous Digging Frog, Kaloula verrucosa
Image[/url]
Tadpoles
Image

Burmese Keelback, Rhabdophis leonardi
Image

Black-headed Slugater, Pareas nigriceps
Image
Big-eyed False Cobra, Pseudoxenodon macrops
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/78660738@N05/14125001589/]Image

Image
Image
Image

And Jerdon Pit-viper, Protobothrops jerdonii
Image

The "kissing" in action
Image
Image
Image

Japalura varcoae
Image
Image

The second stop was a small town beside the Red River.
Image
Those fruits are AWESOME! lol specially the mangoes!!!
Image

Our driver, I called him "The Man" hahaha
Image
We drove about 2km away from the town and took the trail off-road along the stream into the mountain.

Night sky decorated with Fireflies
Image

Even though I did not have the chance to see the Yangtze Giant Solfshell Turtle, I did found my first Chinese turtle in the upper reach of the stream!
a Chinese Softshell, Pelodiscus sinensis
ImageImageImage

Some other herptiles found in the stream
Hemidactylus frenatus
Image

Odorrana livida
Image
Polypedates impresus
Image
Common Asian Toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus
Image
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

The third stop, Daweishan Natural Reserve at Pingbian.
We only stayed there for one night, and given that the herping results are not that bad.
Image
interesting slug
Image

gigantic spiny frog tadpole
Paa sp.
Image

Odorrana tiannanensis, very common and could be found almost everywhere at night
ImageImage

Road-killed Tylototriton daweishanensis
Image

Lycodon septentrionalis
Image
Image

I had never seen such a high density of Bamboo Pit-viper before: there were one coiling on the side of trail in every 5m at night!
Trimeresurus gumprechti
Image
Image
Image
Image

Courting and breeding Rhacophorus omeimontis
Breeding site
Image
Image
Image

And the last shot was the gift for this stop (the pair somehow managed to detect the snake and escaped from the side)
Image
User avatar
Kevin Messenger
Posts: 536
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 3:00 pm
Location: Nanjing, China
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Kevin Messenger »

awesome! loved seeing pics of the R. leonardi! and the Tiannan knobby newt. Seeing a jerdonii from that area is also very cool
Tim Leerschool
Posts: 20
Joined: May 28th, 2014, 9:01 am

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Tim Leerschool »

Very cool pictures! Love the last one especially!

Astounding to find those high densities of T. gumprechti. May I ask what time of the year was this? I've found high densities of snakes only in early spring, mating season or end of the season.

With kind regards,

Tim
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

Tim Leerschool wrote:Very cool pictures! Love the last one especially!

Astounding to find those high densities of T. gumprechti. May I ask what time of the year was this? I've found high densities of snakes only in early spring, mating season or end of the season.

With kind regards,

Tim
Thanks for your comment :)
That was in the early May, and I am not sure if that is the breeding season for the species. Those individuals seemed to be attracted by the abundant frogs and rodents along the trail.
User avatar
SurfinHerp
Posts: 653
Joined: October 18th, 2010, 8:55 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by SurfinHerp »

Great post Kai!

Lots of cool finds, but the false cobra is my favorite - that guy looks awesome 8-)


Looking forward to more of your posts...

Jeff
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

The last stop of the trip, Fenshuiling Nature Reserve at the China-Vietnam border. Like Daweishan, it also had good sub-tropical forests, and as I chatted with locals, it seemed like the herptiles here were more abundant than Daweishan.
Image
Image

Water snake, Sinonatrix percarinata
Very common in the rice plantations. When got caught on the tail, they would twist their body and roll like crazy, just like the death roll of the alligators. Two of the individuals we caught lost parts of their tail because of that suicidal movement.
Image
Amphiesma stolata was also common in the plantations
Image
Typical habitat
Image

Another Lycodon of the trip, Lycodon fasciatus
Image

Juvenile Yunnan Beauty, Orthriophis taeniurus
Image
Image

Hiked for 2 hours at midnight and almost fell from a 10m water-fall, I finally found this Trimeresurus stejnegeri
Image
Image

Psedocalotes microlepis
Image
Image
Image

Sphenomorphus sp., any suggestion?
ImageImage

Leptobrachium chapaensis
Image

Another Mr. Unknown, Leptolalax sp.
Image

Kurixalus odontotarsus
Image

Amolops chapaensis
Image

The most abundant amphibian species, Fejervarya limnocharis
Image

That's the end of the trip~ Sorry for the limited landscape shots (it's a pain to change lens all the time lol)
Hope you enjoy the photos as I do. :D

Cheers
Kai
User avatar
Hans Breuer (twoton)
Posts: 3230
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 3:19 am
Location: Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo)
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Keeper wrote:Hope you enjoy the photos as I do.
I sure did, man. Some glorious stuff there!
User avatar
sebastes
Posts: 7
Joined: March 12th, 2014, 8:03 am
Location: Upstate, NY

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by sebastes »

No beauty snakes yet? haha Awesome finds!
User avatar
Tuataurifer
Posts: 52
Joined: November 6th, 2013, 6:38 pm
Location: STL

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Tuataurifer »

Fantastic thread! You dont by chance have habitat shots of the first Tylototriton do you? Would love to see those if you do.
User avatar
chrish
Posts: 3295
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:14 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by chrish »

Great photos of some really neat stuff.

But the most "interesting" photo is that STD poster :shock: ! If they posted that somewhere in public in the US, there would be protests in the street!
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

chrish wrote:Great photos of some really neat stuff.

But the most "interesting" photo is that STD poster :shock: ! If they posted that somewhere in public in the US, there would be protests in the street!
lol that's indeed true! I was wandering why nobody comment about that SDT photos haha
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Keeper »

Tuataurifer wrote:Fantastic thread! You dont by chance have habitat shots of the first Tylototriton do you? Would love to see those if you do.
I do, but that will be used for a publication. Once the paper is out I will let you know. :)
Cheers
Kai
Lloyd Heilbrunn
Posts: 285
Joined: June 9th, 2010, 8:15 pm
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Fl

Re: Southern Yunnan 2014

Post by Lloyd Heilbrunn »

Since I am one of the few who keeps and breeds Yunnan Beauties, it was nice to see one in the wild.

Thanks.
Post Reply