New records of snakes (Squamata: Serpentes) from Dien Bien province

Based on a new herpetological collection from Muong Nhe Nature Reserve we added 13 new provincial records of snakes found in Dien Bien province, viz., Boiga cyanea, Dendrelaphis ngansonensis, Gonysoma prasinum, Lycodon futsingensis, Oligodon fasciolatus, Oreocryptophis porphyraceus, Rhabdophis nuchalis, R. subminiatus, Psammodynastes pulverulentus, Pareas carinatus, P. hamptoni, Pseudoxenodon macrops and Ovophis monticola. Our findings increase the species number of snakes to 46 in Dien Bien province. | TAP CHI SINH HOC 2014, 36(4): 460-470 New records of snakes (Squamata: Serpentes) DOI: NEW RECORDS OF SNAKES (Squamata: Serpentes) FROM DIEN BIEN PROVINCE Le Trung Dung1*, Nguyen Lan Hung Son1, Pham The Cuong2, Nguyen Quang Truong2 1 Hanoi National University of Education, *letrungdung_sp@ 2 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, VAST ABSTRACT: Based on a new herpetological collection from Muong Nhe Nature Reserve we added 13 new provincial records of snakes found in Dien Bien province, viz., Boiga cyanea, Dendrelaphis ngansonensis, Gonysoma prasinum, Lycodon futsingensis, Oligodon fasciolatus, Oreocryptophis porphyraceus, Rhabdophis nuchalis, R. subminiatus, Psammodynastes pulverulentus, Pareas carinatus, P. hamptoni, Pseudoxenodon macrops and Ovophis monticola. Our findings increase the species number of snakes to 46 in Dien Bien province. Keywords: Distribution, morphology, new records, snakes, redescription, Dien Bien province. INTRODUCTION Muong Nhe Nature Reserve is located in the extreme northwest of Vietnam. The nature reserve is bounded by the international border with Laos in the west and the international border with China in the north [14]. The total area of this nature reserve is approximately 46,000 ha, consisting of 26,000 ha of evergreen forest in the core zone and 20,000 ha of disturbed secondary forest [3]. In terms of the herpetofaunal diversity, Dien Bien province is one of the most poorly studied provinces in Vietnam. Nguyen Van Sang (1991) [6] reported a total of 36 species of reptiles from Dien Bien province, including 24 species of snakes. Do Thanh Trung and Le Nguyen Ngat (2009) [4] documented 39 reptile species with a list of 23 species of snakes from Tua Chua district. We herein report 13 additional species for the snake fauna of Dien Bien province based on newly collected specimens from Muong Nhe Nature Reserve, comprising 12 species of the family Colobridae and one species of the .