Taiwan 2017 roundup

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
numpty
Posts: 80
Joined: September 26th, 2012, 6:45 am
Location: Taiwan

Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by numpty »

Hello all. Just thought I should post this hodgepodge of 2017 Taiwan herp photos before we get any further into 2018.

I was pretty happy with last year's haul. I didn't feel like my herping technique was really up to snuff in 2016 and while I can't honestly say that practice made perfect in 2017, perhaps I'd agree that practice made slightly better. Mind you, 2016 yielded somewhat more in the way of rarer species, so maybe beginner's luck trumps practice making perfect. I still have doubts about my herping skills, unfortunately, since several common species continue to elude me: I can count on the fingers of no hands the number of times I've spotted Sauter's grass snake or the checkered keelback, for instance.

But enough rambling. Snakes first. I'll list the pictures according to the frequency of species seen (hint: meaning the rarest is right at the end). There's a slight discrepancy between snakes spotted and number of individuals counted, since I probably saw individuals multiple times in slightly different locations or in the same locations but weeks apart, but I don't think this uncertainty affects the overall rankings too much.

The most common species I saw in terms of confirmed individuals was the red-banded snake. Despite their abundance, I like them. Chunky bruisers, they're generally pretty active and come in a variety of flavours. I see them all over the place, in contrast to some others with much more localised sightings. I definitely saw less of these as the year progressed though, and I was worried that green tree vipers might overtake them on my list. Happily that awful state of affairs didn't come to pass.

Dinodon rufozonatum
Image

Image

Image

Image

The Chinese green tree viper came second, but maybe first, on my list. I saw more of these in total than the red-banded snake, but I have to be honest ... they all look the same to me! So my gross total probably included a number of repeat sightings. I don't see these in the gargantuan numbers that some herpers do - some allegedly managing 50 or so in a single night, if you can believe that. Which I'm not sure I can. Well anyway, I'm not "some people", and that's more like the number I see over the course of an entire year. Cool, rainy weather is definitely when I saw these with the most frequency.

Trimeresurus stejnegeri
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Eating a frog!
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Next, the Taiwan habu. Is this one still in Protobothrops? I don't know ... I don't follow these raging taxonomy debates any more. It seems like that genus should have been renamed by now, or else this species should have been plopped into another one.

Protobothrops mucrosquamatus
Image

Image

Image

Eating a frog! A very small juvenile eating quite a big frog. And with a leech to contend with too.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

The many-banded krait sneaks into the coveted fourth place in the list. They're fun to watch as they don't usually seem too perturbed by spectators, and even when they do decide to beat a retreat it's seldom a hasty one ... they often just twist lazily into miniscule cracks you didn't even know were there. Sometimes I can't find the cracks afterwards, even though I'm staring right at the place where the snake just vanished. Krait magic!

Bungarus multicinctus
Image

Image

Image
Image

Eating a skink! Or trying to anyway. The skink was still there and the snake nowhere to be seen when I returned an hour later. I hope I didn't scare it off. Maybe forget all that stuff about kraits not being perturbed by onlookers. Anyway, I've seen kraits eating three times, and it's always been skinks they've been working on.
Image
Image

The greater green snake. These are mostly diurnal, though like a few other diurnal species they'll hunt at night (for worms, in this case) if conditions are right. I've only seen them asleep in the trees or on their way to their sleeping berths though. No complaints there; they're gorgeous snakes and easy to photograph when their chosen bunks are at eye level, which they often are.

Cyclophiops major
Image

Image

Image

Image

The square-headed cat-eyed snake. A lovely, long, wiggly species, which comes in a few different colour patterns.

Boiga kraepelini
Image

Image

Image
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Another one steadily encountered, at least in cool rainy weather, was the local slug-eating snake. This species is only mildly different from the other two Pareas species on the island - eye-colour, jaw length, etc - but it's the only one I've seen due to my inability to get my backside far enough away from Taipei.

Pareas atayal
Image

Image

Image

Image

Eating a slug!
Image
Image

RAARH!
Image

The Taiwan wolf snake, a.k.a. Ruhstrat's wolf snake, known locally as the plum blossom snake. I struggled to see this one for the first few months, despite seeing them relatively frequently in 2016, but numbers picked up as the year wore on.

Lycodon ruhstrati
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

For the Taiwan kukri snake, as for the wolf snake, it was a similar case of drought followed by deluge, or at least drizzle. After months of not seeing any I was pretty chuffed about spotting my first of the year worming its way out of a crack in the paving at - for me - the relatively far-flung destination of Taoyuan's Hutou Mountain.

Oligodon formosanus
Image

Then on my way back home later that night I decided to walk across the croquet lawns at the end of my street. And of course there was a kukri snake poking around the wall.
Image
Image

And the next day, in the little dog-walking park at the other end of my street, there was another one. And so on ... I got a couple more before the end of the year.
Image

Image

Image

The cross-looking mock viper next. (That's not an actual name ... I added the "cross-looking" part as a descriptive. It's cross-looking because of the supra-ocular scales.) I don't know how well I'd say they mimic vipers ... actually I'd say that in my opinion they don't do a very good job at all, but give them a million or so years and maybe they'll get there. Mind you, what might the vipers look like in a million or so years?

Psammodynastes pulverulentus papenfussi
Image
Image
Image

As in 2016, this was one of the rare snakes I saw during the day. (My seeing a snake during the day was rare, that is, not the species. It's actually quite common.)
Image
Image
Image

By happy coincidence, following the mock viper in the rankings is the false viper, a.k.a. the false habu. Compare and contrast. I'd say they do a somewhat better job of mimicking vipers than the previous species, to my eye at least, and of course they do that thing where they puff up their heads to look more habu-ish. That's very cool, I think you'll agree. They look a little bit cross, but not as cross as the mock vipers, and certainly nowhere near as cross as the actual pitvipers. We're getting down to pretty low numbers here, and I didn't think I was going to get a decent picture of this one, especially after blowing a brief encounter mid-year. But all's well, etc, as I came across a nice big specimen in the middle of a stream at the end of June, and then a beautiful juvenile in September.

Macropisthodon rudis
Image
Image
Image

Image
Image
Image

And down to a species of which I managed only a couple of sightings in Taiwan in 2017, plus one on a very quick non-herping trip to Okinawa: the Brahminy blind snake, which I see has moved to a new genus since I last looked it up. I love this snake, and I don't care what anybody says about it.

On a side note: in common with most herpers I have a mysterious sixth sense which tells me when conditions are perfect for snake-spotting success. Unfortunately, my sixth sense seems to be very finicky, and generally won't work if conditions are wet, dry, windy, still, cool or warm. But anyway, these pictures were taken on one of the rare occasions when my instincts actually held true. I had a feeling I was going to see a blind snake, and so I did. Nothing to do with coincidence.

Indotyphlops braminus
Image
Image
Image

Now, rat snakes. I have a thorny relationship with these. The bulk of 2017 followed the same pattern as 2016, i.e. a pattern of not seeing any at all, but then towards the end of the year I managed a few frustrating encounters. I do almost all my prowling at night, but occasionally diurnal species such as rat snakes will put in an appearance after dark. Most nocturnal snakes I see are quite easy to follow and photograph, either because they're motionless, slow-moving, brazen, sleeping in trees or just so small that you can easily manouevre around them. Diurnal snakes are just completely alien beasts to me, with their rapid motion and squirrely behaviour. When I see one of these, my reaction is generally just to stand there with my mouth hanging open, not chasing and not taking pictures. As a strategy for getting good photos it works about as well as you'd expect.

The rat snake I saw most (ha ha ... three times) was the Oriental rat snake / Dhaman rat snake, which is apparently less common in the north than in the tropical south. As described above, a couple of these encounters involved me either standing there immobile or lumbering ineffectually after a disappearing tail, and I was starting to think I'd have to make do with a couple of fuzzy snaps I'd managed to grab on one such dispiriting encounter. Luckily on my last day of herping in 2017 I finally stumbled across an obedient juvenile in a ditch.

Ptyas mucosa
Image
Image
Image

The first rat snake of the year I encountered was actually the King rat snake. It was a frustrating event that left me with a stinking hand and a single photo of the tail. (I shouldn't be so prejudiced against tail pictures, I suppose ... who says photos have to be of heads?) Luckily I was able to get a couple of grainy pictures of another one skulking at the back of a drainage pipe in the Baling area a month or so later. Still not great stuff, but I'll take what I can get. And at least these are head shots.

Elaphe carinata
Image
Image

Next, the Taiwan beauty snake, which I'd previously only seen dead in ditches or on roads. Under pressure for traditional medicine because - the thinking goes - beautiful snake skin obviously corresponds with beautiful human skin. Again, this one was skulking in a drainage pipe. Presumably the only reason it was so agreeable to being photographed was it that it couldn't see me. I saw another in a drain a little later and it skedaddled into a crevice as soon as I shone my light in.

Orthriophis taeniurus friesei
Image

And down to single sightings now. This one's a water snake, which I assume is a Sinonatrix percarinata, but if anybody wants to convince me it's the rarer Sinonatrix annularis I'll be very easy to talk to. Bad photos, I know, but better than I thought I'd get as I fought a losing battle with the camera's autofocus. Happily for me, the snake popped up ten minutes later, periscope-style, and then went about its business as I took marginally less-crummy shots at my leisure.

Sinonatrix percarinata
Image
Image
Image
Image

One of the last snakes of the year, and by far the rarest I managed in 2017, the Alishan habu. This would have had me jumping for joy on the backwoods track where I saw it, except I'd just taken a phone call with some bad news and felt a bit unmotivated about stopping to take pictures. It was even striking at passing bats, though I didn't manage to capture that. I feel better about the pictures now, but this encounter will always trigger slightly less happy memories for me. A gobsmackingly beautiful snake though.

Ovophis monticola makazayazaya ... or Ovophis makazayazaya, depending on your taxonomic preferences
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

And I will leave on that high point for now. Thanks for looking. Anurans and sundry other lifeforms later, when I can find the time.
DanW
Posts: 103
Joined: November 4th, 2010, 8:02 pm

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by DanW »

Great post, thanks for putting in the time to share your pictures. One of these days I'll have to stop visiting Latin America and make it over that way, lots of cool stuff.

Dan
User avatar
numpty
Posts: 80
Joined: September 26th, 2012, 6:45 am
Location: Taiwan

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by numpty »

Thanks for the comment Dan. Nothing wrong with Latin America either, in my opinion.

A couple more pics I could have uploaded at the time, but which failed quality control standards of the day.

A freshly killed Sauter's grass snake found by the side of the road ... probably by the wheel of a scooter, possibly by the tip of a walking stick.

Amphiesma sauteri
Image

And where's Waldo? There's Waldo! And he's probably a buff-striped keelback, Amphiesma stolatum (I can't cross this one off the list, not on the basis of this glimpse.)
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
numpty
Posts: 80
Joined: September 26th, 2012, 6:45 am
Location: Taiwan

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by numpty »

A few more pics. Sundry reptiles, in no particular order.

The first turtle - or terrapin, as I was brought up to call them - lives in the little pond at the end of my street, along wih a small Ocadia sinensis. I can't imagine they came to be there naturally, in a little park surrounded by residential buildings, but who knows.

The yellow pond turtle, Mauremys mutica
Image

The Chinese stripe-necked turtle, Ocadia sinensis
Image

Five-striped blue-tailed skinks, Plestiodon elegans. Always a good time, especially when they have their blue tails, which they don't always.

Blue-tailed five-striped blue-tailed skink
Image

Non-blue-tailed five-striped blue-tailed skink
Image

Japaluras. I had kind of a plan to make one of those little lizard-catching noose contraptions last year, so I could have a closer look at these guys, but it never happened.

The endemic Swinhoe's japalura, Japalura swinhonis.
Image

Image

Image

The yellow-mouthed japalura, Japalura polygonata xanthostoma, the subspecies endemic to Taiwan.
Image

Image

And some kind of gecko or other. I see geckos everywhere, but to my discredit I just tend to keep on walking. I'm hopeless with gecko identification ... one of the many things in my life of which I feel deeply ashamed.
Image

Thanks for looking. Still working on those frog pics.
User avatar
John Martin
Posts: 515
Joined: June 9th, 2010, 10:57 pm
Location: North end of Lake Okeechobee, Florida

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by John Martin »

Great stuff numpty! That was a supersized helping of eye candy for sure. I was especially captivated by the exquisite "paint job" on the face of the Ovophis, which you captured beautifully in the last two close ups. :thumb: :beer: :thumb:
User avatar
numpty
Posts: 80
Joined: September 26th, 2012, 6:45 am
Location: Taiwan

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by numpty »

Thanks John. Couldn't agree more about the Ovophis, though I really can't take any credit for the photography. Strictly point and shoot stuff.

Anyway, to finish off, some amphibians. I didn't manage to make it up to the high hills to look for salamanders last year, but I've been finding it an increasingly depressing experience to go up to the mountains to find Hynobius habitat in worse and worse shape, so maybe I'm happy I spared myself that mental stress.

Frogs though ... plenty of them. In no particular order. Apologies if the names are out of date ... I just can't keep up with taxonomy.

Bufo bankorensis. This one's quite a nifty climber, as seen on the following vertical surface. I don't seem to have taken many photos of this species last year, which is a shame.
Image

The common Asian toad / spectacled toad, Duttaphrynus melanostictus.
Image

Image

Image


LaTouche's frog, Hylarana latouchii. I always assumed that La Touche must have been some French naturalist, but now I find out he was an Irish ornithologist.
Image

Image

A rice field frog / Asian grass frog ... part of the complicated Fejervarya complex, but for now we'll go with Fejervarya limnocharis. I can't believe this is the only pic of this species I bothered to upload from last year. Oh well, familiarity breeds contempt, I guess.
Image

The Chinese edible frog / East Asian bullfrog, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, spotted just up the road from my apartment after an unseasonal mid-year deluge that seemed to encourage a few individuals to explore new territories.
Image

Gunther's frog, Hylarana guentheri.
Image

Image

The Fujian large-headed frog, Limnonectes fujianensis, looking particularly large-headed here, I think.
Image

The gorgeous Odorrana swinhoana, in a few different patterns.
Image

Image

Image

There are a few narrow-mouthed frogs in Taiwan, but the one up here in the north is Microhyla fissipes.
Image

Image

Here's an allegedly different Microhyla snapped in Okinawa, Japan. I don't know ... it looks the same as M. fissipes to me ...

Microhyla okinavensis
Image

A new one for me, an American bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus, I think. Invasive obviously ... booo!
Image

And on the topic of invasives, I imagine you're all as worked up as I am about the ever-growing population of spot-legged tree frogs in Taiwan, right? Every year I see more and more of these, either in places where I never saw any tree frogs before, or in places where I previously only saw indigenous species such as the white-lipped tree frog. I even see the invasive Polypedates in the little park at the end of my street now, and that's completely surrounded by buildings and tarmac. Quite impressive for a stowaway that's apparently only been on the island for ten years or so. Much as I resent it, I seem to take a lot of photos of it ...

Polypedates megacephalus
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

And the indigenous counterpart, Polypedates braueri.
Image

Image

Some more tree frogs.

Our sole representative of the Hyla mob, Hyla chinensis.
Image

Image

Image

Kurixalus idiootocus, endemic but very common.
Image

Image

The not-really-but-almost-endemic Kurixalus eiffingeri (it also appears on a few nearby Japanese islands). Known for the parental care practiced in the tree holes or crevices in which it lays its eggs (male egg guarding, female trophic egg feeding). There are a couple of newly described sister species scattered around the island, but I haven't made it far enough to see them yet.
Image
Image

Image

The robust Buerger's frog, Buergeria robusta. (Is there a fragile Buerger's frog?) This one comes in a variety of pretty colours.
Image

Image

Image

The emerald green tree frog, Rhacophorus prasinatus. Endemic.
Image

Image

Image

Moltrecht's green tree frog, Rhacophorus moltrechti. Endemic. Probably my favourite of the local green tree frogs on account of the spectacular red legs, which through expert positioning I managed not to capture here.
Image

Image

The Taipei green tree frog. Another endemic. This is a species I usually have to travel a little way to see, but this first one appeared not far from my apartment after a week-long deluge that drenched the island at the start of June, and which seemed to encourage some frogs to move to hitherto uncharted territory. Or something.

Rhacophorus taipeianus
Image

And a couple of others up in Yangmingshan National Park.
Image

Image

And some other random stuff that probably has no right being on a herping Website. Nonetheless, I'm especially proud of the first pic, which I'm pretty sure will prove to be one of the first photos of a mythical beast previously known only from Latin America. If confirmed, this will be an exciting East Asian extension of its presumed hypothetical distribution in the Americas.

Chupacabra ...
Image

A grimy shot of a lounging masked palm civet, Paguma larvata, watching me at its leisure.
Image

Not a great picture, but a giant flying squirrel, Petaurista philippensis.
Image

Chinese ferret-badger, Melogale moschata.
Image
Image

An owl, owl.
Image

And some stuff I'm not even going to bother putting names to, but which might be of passing interest nonetheless.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Thanks for making it this far. Hope you found something worthwhile!
User avatar
VinceAdam2015
Posts: 31
Joined: February 15th, 2015, 8:13 pm
Location: Malaysia

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by VinceAdam2015 »

The Ovophis monticola and Blue-tailed five-striped blue-tailed skink are my favourite. I havent seen them yet in Taiwan or anywhere else
User avatar
Keeper
Posts: 118
Joined: May 25th, 2011, 11:13 pm
Location: OKlahoma
Contact:

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by Keeper »

Nice post with amazing photos! Thanks for sharing!

That Sinonatrix is definatly S. annularis, given the clear ventral bands and reddish coloration on the venter. I heard they are very rare in Taiwan now, you are very lucky!

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

Re: Taiwan 2017 roundup

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

What a haul! Love the ferret-badger ... great shots! How did he allow you to get this close, and why did he hold still this long?
Post Reply