SEAVR 2019: 033‐034
ISSN : 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 24 February 2019
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

Red‐tailed Green Ratsnake Gonyosoma oxycephalum predation on
White‐bellied Woodpecker in the Philippines
Allan Gil S. FERNANDO & Emerson Y. SY
aagsfernando@yahoo.com (Fernando), emersonsy@gmail.com (Sy)Observer: Allan Gil S. Fernando.
Photograph by: Allan Gil S. Fernando.
Subjects identified by: Allan Gil S. Fernando, Emerson Y. Sy.
Location: : Nabasan Trail, Municipality of Subic, Zambales Province, Luzon Island, Philippines.
Elevation: 40 metres.
Habitat: Lowland secondary forest.
Date and time: 26 January 2019, 10:14 hrs.
Identity of subjects:i) Red‐tailed Green Ratsnake, Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae).
ii) White‐bellied Woodpecker, Dryocopus javensis (Aves: Piciformes: Picidae)
Description of record: A green snake wasobserved hanging from a horizontal branchapproximately three meters above the ground,whilst constricting a White‐bellied Woodpecker.
Another White‐bellied Woodpecker nearby wasmaking non‐stop alarm calls. The bird ceasedstruggling after three minutes and the snake
started its attempt to swallow it head first.
The snake was able to swallow the head of thebird, but regurgitated it after a few minutes. It
made another attempt to swallow the bird, but
this was also unsuccessful. The two swallowing
attempts lasted for 17 minutes. Observation wasdiscontinued immediately after the second
regurgitation, thus the actual consumption of thebird by the snake was not observed.
Remarks: The snake was identified as
Gonyosoma oxycephalum based on (i) uniformgreen colour, (ii) tail is light reddish brown colourand (iii) head is elongated and distinct from theneck (Taylor, 1922).
The bird was identified as Dryocopus javensis
based on (i) back and tail are black in colour, (ii)face and throat are black with white streaks, (iii)crown, crest, and malar stripe are scarlet red, and(iv) abdomen is yellowish white (Kennedy et al.,2000).
Fig. 1.

33© Allan Gil S. Fernando

The Red‐tailed Green Ratsnake has a wide distributional range in Southeast Asia, including Andaman Islands. Thesnake occurs in the Philippines on the islands of Balabac, Batan, Bohol, Bongao, Calayan, Camiguin Norte,Dinagat, Leyte, Lubang, Luzon, Marinduque, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Sabtang and Sibuyan (Sy & Tan,2013; Leviton et al., 2018) and predates on unidentified birds, lizards, and small mammals (rodents, bats) (Taylor,1922; Gaulke, 2011). The snake is reputed to capture bird prey in mid‐air. This note possibly provides the firstidentified bird in the diet of the Red‐tailed Green Ratsnake in the Philippines.
References:
Gaulke, M. (2011). The herpetofauna of Panay Island, Philippines: an illustrated field guide. Edition Chimaira,Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 390 pp.
Kennedy, R.S., Gonzales, P.C., Dickinson, E.C., Miranda, H.C. Jr., Fisher, T.H. (2000). A guide to the birds of thePhilippines, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom. xx + 369 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.
Sy, E.Y. and Tan, E.K. (2013). Geographic distribution: Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Red‐tailed Green Ratsnake):
Philippines, Romblon Province, Sibuyan Island. Herpetological Review 44(2): 275.
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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