Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

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jonathan
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Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

I got to spend several weeks in Chiang Mai at the tail end of the rainy season. I didn't get the chance to travel around northern Thailand as I had hoped, but Doi Suthep/Doi Pui National Park is right on the edge of Chiang Mai within easy biking range, so I made four trips up the mountain to see what I could see. My big goal was to find the Crocodile Salamanders, Thailand's only salamander species. Unfortunately, I never could catch a rainstorm (I've been staying 10+ km from the mountain and it's impossible to guess when and where the rain will hit) and never found a breeding pool. Still, I got some cool lifers up there.

This is not an area where I'm very good with ID's, especially the frogs and skinks, so please help me out on any of them if you can and correct any incorrect guesses.


Chiang Mai is at an elevation of about 1,000 feet, while Doi Pui peaks out at close to 5,500 feet. That meant some abrupt habitat differences in only a space of 5-10 miles. On my very first trip up the mountain, I saw an interesting lizard in the undergrowth:

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I snagged it and saw that it was quite a cool species that doesn't show up at the lower elevations:


Mountain Horned Dragon (Acanthosaura lepidogaster)

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habitat shot

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This first one was a strikingly colored male, but I later would see many somewhat draber females and juvis.

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On that first trip it took only a few minutes to find my first snake.

Green Keelback (Rhabdophis nigrocinctus) - lifer

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habitat shot

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The day was quite misty, and there were several very small frogs hopping around:


Dwarf Bushfrog (Philautus parvalus)

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Reeve's Smooth Skink (Scincella reevesii)

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On my second trip up the mountain I explored a lower elevation. Again, it only took a few minutes before our first snake sighting. This was a really, really funny-looking snake, with a heavy body and a tiny narrowing head. I didn't get the best pictures because it was moving through vegetation and I didn't have a clue what it was. My wife didn't want me to touch it if I couldn't ID it, and even though it looked quite non-venomous, that was probably good advice. I looked it up afterwards and found it to be a quite harmless diurnal earthworm eater.


Assam Mountain Snake (Plagiopholis nuchalis) - lifer

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Another small skink running around. - also Reeve's Smooth Skink (Scincella reevesi)?

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The frogs hopping around the forest at this elevation looked somewhat different too - Limnonectes limborgi

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On that hike we got to a waterfall with this pretty little frog hanging out below it.


Northern Torrent Frog (Amolops marmoratus)

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habitat shot

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These footprints were below the waterfall - guesses? I'm pretty sure it must be water skinks.

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At a much lower elevation, I found several frogs near the side of a stream. They were so well-cameoflagued that I couldn't spot them before they jumped into the water, but I got lucky and flipped one under a rock:


Taylor's Stream Frog (Limnonectes taylori (formerly L. kuhlii))

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Common Indian Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) flipped under a log nearby

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My third trip up I checked out an area where several park employees had told me the "salamanders" could be found. I found that they were somewhat mistaken, but it was still pretty cool - the area was filled with semi-aquatic skinks! As far as I could tell they occupied the same habitat niche as Torrent and Dunn's Salamanders in the Pacific Northwest - around and under rocks in the splash zone of a waterfall, often fully underwater. Their population density was very high and they were pretty cool to observe.


Berdmore's Water Skinks (Tropidophorus berdmore)

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I didn't see the second one until I took the photo:

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tourists taking a look:

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habitat shot

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A little further downstream I saw another torrent frog hop into a rocky overhang next to the water. It was at least four feet back in a little mini-cave, but I eventually got sort of a picture.



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habitat shot

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On a trail close to the waterfall I caught this terrestrial skink


Speckled Forest Skink (Eutropis macularia)

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On my fourth and final trip I decided to try to summit on my bike. About halfway up I heard a noise to the side. I jumped out and spotted a large snake, but it disappeared into a rock wall before I could get an ID. Unfortunately, that was the herping highlight of the day - I saw about half-a-dozen DOR snakes and a DO, but the summit was much cooler than I expected (and wore me out much more) and I saw little else. I did see about half-a-dozen DORs, including an Assam Mountain Snake, a Yellow-spotted Keelback, a kukri snake, a Tokay Gecko, and a few I couldn't identify.


Here's an Oriental Garden Lizard (Calotes versicolor) I saw on the way up

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hill tribe village from very high up:

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Near the summit there are lots of conifers, which feels strange in Thailand

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And here's one last little skink, found at over 5,000 feet elevation. It's head looks slightly different than the other two I photographed, but it is also Scinella.

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Finally, throwing them all at the end so you can skip down if you want, here are a few invertebrates from the mountain:



This little jumper flashed red whenever it landed

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Is this sexual dimorphism?

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Gnawing on me

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First flatworm that I've seen out and about in the open

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awesome beetle my wife accidentally hit when it landed on her leg

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Daddy Longlegs on steroids

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damselfly

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small scorpion

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tarantula found under cover

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Gorgeous damselfly - but you could only see the wing color when it was flying

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Kevin Messenger
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by Kevin Messenger »

Great stuff! LOVE the Tropidophorus shot in the water - that genus is really hard to photograph in my opinion - well, photograph well I should say.
jonathan wrote: Another small skink running around. - ID?
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Genus is Sphenomorphus - I don't know the local sp. for the area you were in though
jonathan wrote: The frogs hopping around the forest at this elevation looked somewhat different too - ID?
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And this guy looks like he could be a juvenile Limnocharis - at least that is what my gut reaction to him says, but juveniles of several frog species can be quite tough.
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Ruxs
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by Ruxs »

Was quite excited when I saw this was a Thailand post, although I live on the opposite side of the country (Trang - Deep south).
Nice array of critters and I was really surprised by the Assam Mountain Snake, maybe thats a first for the forum? Shame you didn't get any better photo's but still, the higher elevations in South east asia always yield some refreshingly new species for the forum :)

Great post,
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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Thanks for the direction on the ID's Kevin!

Ruxs wrote:Nice array of critters and I was really surprised by the Assam Mountain Snake, maybe thats a first for the forum? Shame you didn't get any better photo's but still, the higher elevations in South east asia always yield some refreshingly new species for the forum :)
I'm really disappointed I don't have better pictures of it too, especially since I've seen two live ones plus a couple DOR. Unfortunately, I didn't know the ID with that one, and I didn't have my camera with me when I saw the other one (just outside Chiang Mai, surprisingly). I think they're actually rather common around here.


p.s. - Chiang Mai and Payao posts (all city stuff) coming soon.
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by hellihooks »

Way Cool Jonathan!
I really like the Mt Dragon and (for some reason) the last butterfly. And 'Water Skinks' :shock: Who'd a thunk it... :crazyeyes: :lol: :lol: jim
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by sawfish »

Nice water skinks!
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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Thanks sawfish! Since so many people commented on the skinks, I'll add a few more pics.

They are indeed hard to photograph, and I didn't manage to get the first four I saw. This was the first one that finally stopped for me:

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Mostly I was flipping them, but the cool ones were the ones that I found exploring among the rocks in the water (like the big adult in the water earlier and this following one):

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This was the first one I found away from the water - under a moist log about 35 feet from the stream:

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And this was the really weird one. In a completely different locale several miles away (I only saw one other one in any other locale besides the waterfall hot spot). I found it in a trash pile at least half a kilometer from the nearest water, if not further:

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hellihooks wrote:I really like the Mt Dragon and (for some reason) the last butterfly.
Not "for some reason" jim - that butterfly is awesome! There's a reason I made it my last picture. I just saw another amazing butterfly a couple minutes ago but missed the pic - hopefully I'll get one of those for the next post.

For now, here is a worm:

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Owen
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by Owen »

Nice Macrochenus isabellinus :D

and as others have said... nice water skinks!
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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Owen wrote:Nice Macrochenus isabellinus

Ah, interesting! I rarely get arthropod ID's. That's actually a pretty common species around here.
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Kevin Messenger wrote:
jonathan wrote: Another small skink running around. - ID?
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Genus is Sphenomorphus - I don't know the local sp. for the area you were in though



It looks like the Indian Forest Skink (Sphenomorphus indicus) and Spotted Forest Skink (Sphenomorphus maculatus) are both known from that mountain. From the little bit of research I can find, I would go with S. maculatus. I have some dorsal and ventral pictures if anyone knows specific ID keys.

Do you think all three little skinks are Sphenomorphus? The 3rd one looks different from the first two, but I don't know how much variation they have. The 3rd one was found at over 5,000 feet elevation, while the other two at around 4,000 feet and 3,000 feet.
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Michael
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by Michael »

Jonathan- your ID requests for this post:
Your small frogs in the leaf litter- Philautus parvalus.
Your two skinks (before/after Plagiopholis) along with the one later in the post are Scincella reevesii.
First frog after the skink- Limnonectes (formerly Taylorana limborgi).
Correct on the Amolops.
Your Limnonectes laticeps is a Limnonectes taylori (formerly L. kuhlii).
Frog on rock overhang: Amolops marmoratus.
I think that I posted this picture of Plagiopholis nuchalis in 2009, before the site crashed.
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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Thank you much Michael! That's some awesome help on those ID's.

Nice Plagiopholis nuchalis picture. I really wish I had gotten good pictures of one of the two that I found.
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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Michael wrote:Your Limnonectes laticeps is a Limnonectes taylori (formerly L. kuhlii)
I'm a little confused by that one. Do you have pictures of taylori/kuhlii? Looking at the following link, I would have thought it looks a lot more like laticeps.

http://rvision.daydreamlabs.com/user/73 ... size=small


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jonathan
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Re: Biking and Hiking up Doi Suthep

Post by jonathan »

Kevin Messenger wrote:
jonathan wrote: Another small skink running around. - ID?
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Genus is Sphenomorphus - I don't know the local sp. for the area you were in though
How about this one?
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