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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):65–67 • APR 2019
Assessment of the Reptilian Fauna
in the Brahmaputra Plains of Two Districts
in Assam, India
Debaprasad Sengupta1, Chandra Gupta Borah2, and Jyotima Phukon2
1Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun-248001, Uttarakhand, India (debaprasad.sengupta40@hotmail.com)
2Department of Zoology, Dibru College, Dibrugarh-786002, Assam, India
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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE ARTICLES
Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin:
On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190
The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada:
A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198
RESEARCH ARTICLES
The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204
The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida
............................................. Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212
CONSERVATION ALERT
World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220
More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223
The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225
HUSBANDRY
Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226
PROFILE
Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234
COMMENTARY
The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238
BOOK REVIEW
Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox,
R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243
CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245
NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247
NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248
EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251
FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252
Front Cover. Shannon Plummer.
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Back Cover. Michael Kern
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IRCF
REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS
CONSERVATION AND NATURAL HISTORY
Copyright © 2019. Debaprasad Sengupta1. All rights reserved.
WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL
India is one of the top twelve nations of the world in terms
of mega-biodiversity, boasting a rich reptilian fauna rep-
resented by 506 currently recognized species (Das 2003), of
which 199 are lizards (Venugopal 2010). Reptiles occupy a
diverse range of both natural and human-altered habitats and
microhabitats.
Seven states in northeastern India are popularly known
as the “seven sisters.” The total forest cover in this region is
Fig. 1. The study area in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia Districts of Assam, India.
IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians ISSN 1098-6324
66
164,043 km2, which represents 25% of the total forest cover
of India (FSI 1997). The region can be broadly differenti-
ated into the Eastern Himalayan (Olson and Dinerstein
2002) to the north, the Northeastern Hills (Meghalaya
and Mizoram-Manipur Kachin forest zones) to the south,
and the Brahmaputra River Basin (BRB) separating the
two (Mani 1974). Our study area (Fig. 1) consisted of the
Municipal Area of Dibrugarh District with an area of about
15.5 km2 (27°27'0"N–27°31'20"N x 94°52'0"E–94°57'0"E)
and the Municipal Area of Tinsukia District with an area
of about 10.54 km2 (95°19'20.00"E–95°24'00.00"E x
27°31'20.00"N–27°28'80.00"N).
From September 2012 to August 2017, we engaged in
Visual Encounter Surveys (VES), supplemented with a thor-
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):65–67 • APR 2019SENGUPTA1 ET AL.
Table 1. Species recorded during the survey period with IUCN Red List status (IUCN) and national status according to the Wildlife
Protection Act of 1972 (WPA).
Family Scientific Name and Authority Common Name IUCN WPA
Agamidae Calotes versicolor (Daudin 1802) Indian Garden Lizard Not Assessed Not Listed
Calotes jerdoni Gunther 1870 Jerdon’s Forest Lizard Not Assessed Not Listed
Cristidorsa planidorsata (Jerdon 1870) Smooth-scaled Mountain Lizard Not Assessed Not Listed
Gekkonidae Hemidactylus frenatus Dumeril & Bibron 1836 Common House Gecko Not Assessed Not Listed
Hemidactylus brookii Gray 1845 Brook’s House Gecko Not Assessed Not Listed
Hemidactylus flaviviridis Rüppell 1835 Northern House Gecko Not Assessed Not Listed
Gekko gecko (Linnaeus 1758) Tokay Gecko Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Mabuyidae Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl 1820) Many-lined Sun Skink Not Assessed Not Listed
Eutropis macularia (Blyth 1853) Bronze Skink Not Assessed Not Listed
Sphenomorphidae Sphenomorphus maculatus (Blyth 1853) Spotted Forest Skink Not Assessed Not Listed
Varanidae Varanus bengalensis (Daudin 1802) Bengal Monitor Least Concern Schedule-I
Typhlophidae Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin 1803) Brahminy Blindsnake Not Assessed Not Listed
Argyrophis diardii (Schlegel 1839) Diard’s Blindsnake Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Pythonidae Python bivittatus Kuhl 1820 Burmese Python Vulnerable Schedule-I
Colubridae Lycodon aulicus (Linnaeus 1758) Common Wolf Snake Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Ptyas mucosa (Linnaeus 1758) Oriental Ratsnake Not Assessed Schedule-II
Coelognathus radiatus (Boie 1827) Copper-headed Trinket Snake Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Natricidae Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider 1799) Checkered Keelback Not Assessed Schedule-II
Rhabdophis subminiatus (Schlegel 1837) Red-necked Keelback Vulnerable Schedule-IV
Amphiesma stolatum (Linnaeus 1758) Buff-striped Keelback Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Ahaetuliidae Ahaetulla nasuta (Bonnaterre 1790) Green Vine Snake Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Chrysopelea ornata (Shaw 1802) Golden Flying Snake Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Dendrelaphis pictus (Gmelin 1789) Painted Bronzeback Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Elapidae Bungarus niger Wall 1908 Greater Black Krait Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Bungarus fasciatus (Schneider 1801) Banded Krait Not Assessed Schedule-II
Naja kaouthia Lesson 1831 Monocled Cobra Least Concern Schedule-II
Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor 1836) King Cobra Vulnerable Schedule-II
Viperidae Daboia russelii (Shaw & Nodder 1797) Russel’s Viper Not Assessed Schedule-IV
Geomydidae Geoclemys hamiltonii (Gray 1831) Spotted Pond Turtle Vulnerable Schedule-I
Pangshura sylhetensis Jerdon 1870 Assam Roofed Turtle Endangered Schedule-I
Pangshura tecta (Gray 1831) Indian Roofed Turtle Not Assessed Schedule-I
Pangshura tentoria (Gray 1834) Indian Tent Turtle Not Assessed Not Listed
Trionychidae Nilssonia gangetica (Cuvier 1825) Ganges Softshell Turtle Vulnerable Schedule-I
Lissemys punctata (Bonnaterre 1790) Indian Flapshell Turtle Least Concern Schedule-I
67
IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • 26(1):65–67 • APR 2019SENGUPTA1 ET AL.
ough review of the relevant literature and reliable photo-
graphic records, to record the reptilian species diversity. Active
searches involving turning rocks and logs, peeling bark, and
digging through leaf litter. Turtles were recorded on the basis
of bycatches by fishermen and also by active searches along
river banks and sacred temple ponds. For each observation,
we recorded data on locality using a Garmin GPS 12, noted
habitat, microhabitat, and the presence of sympatric species (if
any), employed morphometric data and keys in Smith (1935,
1943), Das (2002), and Daniel (2002) to confirm the identi-
ties of species, and released animals at their respective capture
sites. We also spoke with local residents to make them aware of
the local reptilian fauna and to supplement field observations.
We recorded 34 species in 27 genera and 14 families dur-
ing the survey period (Table 1). The most commonly encoun-
tered lizard species was Hemidactylus frenatus, whereas Gekko
gecko and Cristidorsa planidorsata were extremely rare and
had patchy distributions. Lycodon aulicus and Ptyas mucosus
were the most frequently sighted snakes, whereas Rhabdophis
subminiatus was sighted only three times during the entire
study period. Among turtles, Lissemys punctata was frequently
recorded in the Dibrugarh Municipal Drain and in ponds in
the vicinity of the Brahmaputra River.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Zoology, Dibru College for pro-
viding an opportunity to carry out our work. We also thank
the Assam Forest Department and DFO of the Dibrugarh
and Tinsukia Districts for their support.
Literature Cited
Daniel, J.C. 2002. The Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. Bombay Natural
History Society and Oxford University Press, Mumbai.
Das, I. 2002. Snakes and other Reptiles of India. New Holland, London, UK.
Das, I. 2003. Growth of knowledge on the reptiles of India, with an introduction
to systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature. Journal of the Bombay Natural
History Society 100: 446–501.
FSI (Forest Survey of India). 1999. State of forest report 1999. Forest Survey of
India (Ministry of Environment and Forests), Dehra Dun < http://fsi.nic.in/
documents/sfr_1999_hindi.pdf>.
Mani, M.S. 1974. Ecology and Biogeography in India. Dr. W. Junk B.V. Publishers,
The Hague, The Netherlands.
Olson, D. and E. Dinerstein. 2002. The Global 200: Priority ecoregions for global
conservation. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89: 199–224.
Smith, M.A. 1935. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the
Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. II. Sauria.
Taylor and Francis, London, UK.
Venugopal, P.D. 2010. An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia:
Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian
reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2: 725–738.
