Tropidolaemus subannulatus (Gray, 1842)

Photo figures 115–119

Philippine Temple Pitviper; Northern Philippine Temple Pit Viper; Bornean Keeled Green Pit Viper

Trimesurus subannualtus Gray, 1842:48 .

Trimeresurus wagleri (part), Taylor, 1922a:296.— Leviton, 1964c:265.— Toriba, 1993b:108.— David & Ineich, 1999:295.

Trimeresurus wagleri alboviridis Taylor, 1917:366 (type locality Isabela, Occidental Negros, Negros Id., Philippines; holotype: CM R2433).

Trimeresurus wagleri wagleri, Taylor, 1922c:302 .

Tropidolaemus wagleri, Burger, 1971:2, 20, 41, 86 (part).— Gaulke, 1994b:141 (part); 1996:51, figs. 5–6.— McDiarmid, Campbell, and Touré, 1999:349 (part).— Gumprecht, Tillack, Orlov, Captain, and Ryabov, 2004:41–42 (part), 8 col. photos (pp. 339–340).

Tropidolaemus cf. wagleri, Ferner, Brown, Sison, and Kennedy, 2001:55 [22], figs. 51–52.

Tropidolaemus subannulatus, Vogel, David, Lutz, van Rooijen, and Vidal, 2007:23, figs. 12–16.— Gaulke, 2011:340–341, figs. 234–236.— McLeod, Siler, Diesmos, Diesmos, Garcia, Arkonceo, Balaquit, Uy, Villaseran, Yarra, and Brown, 2011:190.— Brown, Siler, Oliveros, Welton, Rock, Swab, Van Weerd, van Beijnen, Jose, Rodriguez, Jose, and Diesmos, 2013:93.— Leviton, Brown, and Siler, 2014:519, figs. 5A–B, 11, 12A–C, 52A, C–D.— Sanguila, Cobb, Siler, Diesmos Alcala, and Brown, 2016:109, fig. 79.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE SPECIMEN (S).— Philippines. Syntypes (2): BMNH 1946.1.19.32–33 (formerly BMNH i.2.7a).

PHILIPPINE DISTRIBUTION (Map 36D [p. 147]).— Balabac; Basilan, Bohol, Dinagat, Leyte, Luzon (Prov.: Albay, Bulacan, Cavite, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Isabela, Laguna, Quezon), Mindanao (Prov.: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga City), Negros (Prov.: Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental), Palawan, Panay (Prov.: Alkan, Antique), Samar, Sulu Archipelago (Jolo, Siasi, Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi), Tumindao.

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER THAN PHILIPPINES).— Malaysia (Borneo [Sabah, Sarawak]); Indonesia (Belitung, Borneo [Kalimantan], Buton, Kalimantan, Sangihe Archipelago, Sulawesi) (see Vogel, et al. [2007:23, 31] for details).

REMARKS.— Given the variation observed among samples of this species studied by Vogel et al. (2007), they concluded, “We refrain from giving a more detailed description here, as the variation among this species or complex of species will be discussed in the next and forthcoming paper of the series. A splitting into several taxa seems to be likely.” (Vogel et al., 2007:23). As noted by Gaulke (1994:141), these seemingly non-aggressive but dangerously venomous snakes are actually beneficial to humans because their dietary preferences include agricultural pest species, rodents, and even large rats.

CONSERVATION STATUS [IUCN].— Least Concern [2016] ver. 3.1.