Aplopeltura boa (H. Boie in F. Boie, 1828)

Photo figure 12

Blunt-headed Tree Snake; Blunt-headed Slug Snake

Amblycephalus boa H. Boie in F. Boie, 1828:1034.

Aplopeltura boa, Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854:444 .— Wallach, Williams, and Boundy, 2014:48.— Sanguila, Cobb, Siler, Diesmos Alcala, and Brown, 2016:105.— Sanguila, Cobb, Siler, Diesmos Alcala, and Brown, 2016:105, fig. 77.— Sy and Binaday, 2016:261.— Supsup, Guinto, Redoblado, and Somez. 2017:7, fig. 5b.

Haplopeltura boa, Boettger, 1892:134 .— Taylor, 1922a:281, pl. 34, figs. 7–9.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE SPECIMEN (S).— Parang, western Java, Indonesia. Holotype: RMNH 984.

PHILIPPINE DISTRIBUTION (Map 3B [p. 114]).— Balabac, Bohol, Basilan, Dinagat, Leyte, Mindanao (Prov.: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Davao City, Davao Oriental, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, Zamboanga del Sur [Zamboanga City]), Palawan, Samar (Prov.: Eastern, Western).

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER THAN PHILIPPINES).— Southeastern Asia, Myanmar, southern Thailand, West and East Malaysia, western Indonesia.

REMARKS.— Reported for the first time from Luzon by Sy and Binaday (q.v., 2016) from a single observation (photo voucher). The species’ natural occurrence on Luzon is unlikely (the taxon is otherwise restricted to the Mindanao faunal region islands of Mindanao, Samar, Leytre, Bohol, etc), and photo vouchers are not always reliable, so we withhold judgment. However, we note that the Sy and Binaday (op. cit. supra) record comes from the extreme southern tip of the Bicol Peninsula, directly across from northern Samar Island, where the species has been documented. Therefore, the Sorsogon record is worth further investigation.

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

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES.— Guo et al., 2011.