Borneo Report Part 2.

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weigi
Posts: 22
Joined: March 19th, 2013, 3:04 am

Borneo Report Part 2.

Post by weigi »

Continuing on from part 1 http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =2&t=24712 this post covers some more Sabah and Sarawak. This post was long so I decided to divide it again and include a 3rd final post to wrap things up later on.
Now back into it

After recovering in Sandakan we set of to cover some ground road cruising in East Sabah. Cruising was incredibly slow.
This Malayan Box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) was the only herp photographed that night.
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After hours of road cruising through to the wee hours and little more than shots of the one turtle, we decided to head to our accommodation. The moment that followed will stick with me for life.
After seeing little all night, seeing this thing shuffling across the road was incredible. Thankfully he hung around long enough for some shots. These things are wickedly cool and photographing one in the wild was beyond phenomenal.
Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica)
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We piled into our tiny rental and headed up into the Kinabalu area. The weather was cold and miserable with a serious weather front moving past the North of Borneo.

We managed to get out a few times and found some cool stuff.
Kobayashi's horned frog (Megophrys kobayashii)
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A less pretty but bigger M.kobayashiiImage

Balu Bow-fingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus baluensis)
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Mocquard's Eyebrow Lizard (Phoxophrys cephalum)
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Leptobrachium montanum or gunungense
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Trilobite Beetle
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Kinabalu giant red leech (Mimobdella buettikoferi) the notorious worm-eating leech.
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Sticky frog (Kalophrynus sp)
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There were lots of cool beetles around including this monster.
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A very special snake. Bright green with the ruby eyes. Sabah Pit Viper (Popeia sabahi)
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For Christmas eve we headed down to some lower altitude forest and were rewarded with a juvenile T.subannulatus and this stunning Reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus)
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We headed down into the lowlands of Sarawak but could not escape the torrential rain.
We saw lots but photography was limited due to the weather and concern from staff.
Malayan dwarf toad (Ingerophrynus divergens)
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The toad was sitting on a rotting log covered in fungi which was being munched upon by the giant snails.
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Another of my targets of interest in Borneo were the Nepenthes or Tropical pitcher plant species. I know this is a herp forum so i'll only add two of the coolest.

N.bicalcarata. This species has very large fang like glands which produce nectar to attract potential prey.
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N.hemsleyana. This species upper pitchers(Left) are used by microbats as refuge and in turn feed upon their waste.
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Anyway back to herps. Snakes were abundant here, like this White-spotted cat snake (Boiga drapiezii)
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Xenochrophis maculatus
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Striped Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis caudolineatus)
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The best snake of them all sadly evaded my camera due to difficult circumstances, lucky my mate got these shot.
Red-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps) thanks to Henry stoetzel. Has anybody else witnessed this species climbing low vegetation?
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Collett's tree frog (Polypedates colletti)
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The Blunt-headed tree snakes (Aplopeltura boa) made more welcome appearances.
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Cool colour variation.
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Toad sp ?
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Cheers and keep an eye out for the final malaysian post soon. :beer:
dendrelaphis
Posts: 172
Joined: February 28th, 2014, 12:10 am

Re: Borneo Report Part 2.

Post by dendrelaphis »

Wonderful finds and amazing pictures, thanks!!
DanW
Posts: 103
Joined: November 4th, 2010, 8:02 pm

Re: Borneo Report Part 2.

Post by DanW »

Looks like a blast, Pangolin is super cool.

Dan
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