EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Bornean Keeled Pit Viper

Bornean Keeled Pit Viper (Tropidolaemus subannulatus), Family Viperidae
Central Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia

Explanation:  Watch your head!  

While ducking under this low branch, I suddenly realized that the branch was moving.

Here I was, out at night on a jungle path, in Tanjung Puting National Park in south Borneo, Indonesia, on the hunt for ... whatever wildlife might be encountered (more on this in a future EPOW episode).  And here was a spectacular find.

This took me a little while to identify, but this is a Bornean keeled pit viper.  

It is, yes, venomous, a member of the viper family as indictated by its triangular-shaped head.  It is found widely throughout Borneo, Sulawesi, and Philippines.  It was identified as a distinct species in 2007 (see Vogelet al. 2007).  It is very much arboreal -- tree-dwelling -- and likely takes prey there, such as roosting birds, small mammals, and other wildlife.

The effect and degree of its venom bite is unknown but potentially lethal.  So, when out in these jungles at night, keep alert ... not just underfoot, but also overhead!

 

Note the triangular head, typical of venomous snakes of the viper family.

  
  
Information:
    Vogel, G., P. David, M. Lutz. van Rooijen & N. Vidal. 2007. Revision of the Tropidolaemus wagleri complex (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae). I. Definition of included taxa and redescription of Tropidolaemus wagleri (Boie, 1827). Zootaxa 1644: 1-40.

Acknowledgments:
     My thanks to Tanjung Puting National Park Ranger Aris, and our tour guides Ketut Trikaya W Manik and Erwin, as well as my adventuresome wife, for being on this night walk and helping spotlight the wondrous nocturnal critters we encountered.