SEAVR 2020: 040‐041
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 03 November 2020
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

First record of Boiga angulata (Peters, 1861) (Colubridae) inRomblon Island Group, Central Philippines
Ace Kevin S. AMARGA & Emerson Y. SY
ace_amarga061@yahoo.com (Amarga)

Observers: Ace Kevin S. Amarga, Reymark Manoy, Juniel Lucidos, Raymond Inocencio.
Photograph by: Ace Kevin S. Amarga .
Subject identified by: Emerson Y. Sy.
Location: Tablas Island, Calatrava‐San Andres‐San Agustin (CALSANAG) Watershed Forest Reserve, Barangay
Marigondon Norte, Municipality of San Andres, Romblon Province, Philippines .
Elevation: 200 metres ASL.
Habitat: Admixture of secondary lowland forest and agroforest.
Date and time: 20 September 2018, 10:00 hrs.
Identity of subject: Philippine Blunt‐headed Tree Snake, Boiga angulata (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae).
Description of record: A juvenile Boiga angulata (Fig. 1) coiled on a twig was encountered along an old logging
road. The snake adopted a defensive posture in the presence of observers, but remained in place whilst being
photographed.

Fig. 1.

© Ace Kevin S. Amarga40

Remarks: The snake was identified as Boiga angulata based on (i) head is short, blunt, brown in colour withminute dark spots, and distinct from neck, (ii) eyes are very large with vertical pupil, (iii) body is very thin andlaterally compressed, (iv) dorsal body colour is light yellowish brown with a series of transverse dark brown
blotches, (v) ventral body colour is light brown with a series of white edges (Taylor, 1922; Gaulke 2011).
Boiga angulata, known as Philippine Blunt‐headed Cat Snake or Leyte Cat Snake, was first described under thegenus Dipsas based on a male specimen collected on Leyte Island by the German naturalist Andreas Fedor Jagor(Peters, 1861), but was later transferred to the genus Boiga (Bauer et al., 1995). The snake is commonly found inlowland and montane tropical moist forest and has been reported to occur in disturbed habitats. Due to its
widespread distribution, postulated large population, and ability to tolerate habitat disturbance, the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed this species as Least Concern (Brown et al., 2009).
This endemic species has been reported on several islands in the Philippines (Oliveros et al. 2011) such as Barit(Babuyan island group), Bohol, Catanduanes, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Panay, and Polillo (Peters, 1861;Boettger, 1892; Ferner et al., 2000; Oliveros et al., 2011; Devan‐Song and Brown, 2012; Brown et al., 2012, 2013).
However, some reports may have misidentified the species (Leviton et al., 2018).
This report presents the first documentation of Boiga angulata on Tablas Island and in Romblon Island Group(Siler et al., 2012) and is part of the Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring System (BAMS) conducted inCALSANAG Watershed Forest Reserve through the Monitoring and Detection of Ecosystems Changes forEnhancing Resilience and Adaptation in the Philippines (MODECERA) Research Program with the Romblon State
University–Odiongan Campus and the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
References:
Bauer, A.M., Günther, R. and Klipfel, M. (1995). The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815‐1883). Facsimile reprints in herpetology by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 714 pp.
Boettger, O. (1892). Bericht über die Leistungeu in der Herpetologie während des Jahres 1892. Archiv fürNaturgeschichte Jahrg. 2(1): 1‐172.
Brown, R. Gaulke, M. and Paguntalan, L. (2009). Boiga angulata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009:e.T169815A6677589. Retrieved on 23 October 2020 from https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009‐
2.RLTS.T169815A6677589.en.
Brown, R.M., Oliveros, C.H., Siler, C.D., Fernandez, J.B., Welton, L.K., Buenavente, P.A.C., Diesmos, M.L.L. andDiesmos, A.C. (2012). Amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island (Philippines), VII: Herpetofauna of Ilocos NorteProvince, Northern Cordillera Mountain Range. Check List 8(3): 469‐490.
Brown, R.M., Siler, C.D., Oliveros, C.H., Welton, L.J., Rock, A., Swab, J., van Weerd, M., von Beijnen, J., Jose, e.,Rodriguez, D., Jose, E. and Diesmos, A.C. (2013). The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: theherpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range. ZooKeys 266: 1‐120.
Devan‐Song, A. and Brown, R.M. (2012). Amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VI: The Herpetofaunaof the Subic Bay Area. Asian Herpetological Research 3(1): 1‐20.
Ferner, J.W., Brown, R.M., Sison, R.V. and Kennedy, R.S. (2000). The amphibians and reptiles of Panay Island,Philippines. Asian Herpetological Research 9: 1‐37.
Gaulke, M. (2011). The herpetofauna of Panay Island, Philippines. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main. 390 pp .
Leviton, A.E., Siler, C.D., Weinell, J.L. and Brown, R.M. (2018). Synopsis of the snakes of the Philippines: a synthesisof data from biodiversity repositories, field studies, and the literature. Proceedings of the California Academy ofSciences 64(14): 399‐568.
Oliveros, C.H., Ota, H., Crombie, R.I. and Brown, R.M. (2011). The herpetofauna of the Babuyan islands, northern
Philippines. Scientific Papers Natural History Museum, University of Kansas 43: 1‐20.
Peters, W.C.H. (1861) Ein zweite Übersicht der von Hrn. F. Jagor auf Malacca, Java, Borneo und den Philippinen
gesammelten und dem Khl. Zoologischen Museum übersandten Schlangen. Monatsberichte der Königlichpreussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Berlin. pp. 683‐691.
Siler, C.D., Swab, J.C., Oliveros, C.H., Diesmos, A.C., Averia, L., Alcala, A.C. and Brown, R.M. (2012). Amphibians andReptiles, Romblon Island Group, central Philippines: Comprehensive herpetofaunal inventory. Check List 8(3): 443‐462.
Taylor, E.H. (1922). The snakes of the Philippine Islands. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources andBureau of Science, Manila. 312 pp. + 37 plates. .

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