Calliophis bivirgatus flaviceps (Cantor, 1839)

Teynié, Alexandre, David, Patrick & Ohler, Annemarie, 2010, Note on a collection of Amphibians and Reptiles from Western Sumatra (Indonesia), with the description of a new species of the genus Bufo, Zootaxa 2416, pp. 1-43 : 26

Calliophis bivirgatus flaviceps (Cantor, 1839)

Material examined. MNHN 2002.0443 (male; SVL 722 mm, TaL 82 mm), Monts Tigapulan, Province of Riau, elev. ca 150 m.

Taxonomic comments. The genus Maticora Gray, 1835 (Type species: Maticora lineata Gray, 1835 by monotypy) was synonymized with Calliophis Gray, 1835 (Type species: Calliophis gracilis Gray, 1835 by monotypy) by Slowinski et al. (2001).

Three subspecies of Calliophis bivirgatus (Boie, 1827) are currently recognized of which only one occurs on Sumatra.

Scalation: DSR 13-13-13, vertebral row not enlarged; VEN 276; SC 46.

Distribution on Sumatra. Provinces of Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Sumatera Barat, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Sumatera Selatan, and Lampung; also the islands of Bangka and Nias, and Mentawai Archipelago and Riau Archipelago ( David & Vogel, 1996).

Biology. The sole specimen of this superb species was collected at 2100 hours during a rainy night in November while it was quickly crossing a road in an open forest with a dense layer of tall grasses. This snake did not show any aggressivity when it was collected and tried to bite only in the last resort.