A taxonomic Reinvestigation of the Collared Manytoothed Snake Sibynophis collaris Gray (Reptiles: Serpentes: Colubridae) from Jeju Island, Korea

摘要

In this study we reinvestigated the taxonomy of the collared many-toothed snake (Korean name: Bibari-bem) of Jeju Island, Korea. The Bibari-bem is a colubrid indigenous to Jeju Island and was first assigned to S. collaris Gray. However, the geographicdistribution of S. collaris is not continuous with the Korean peninsula, making it doubtful that Bibari-bem should be assigned to it. Some herpetologists have suggested that Bibari-bem may instead belong to the closely related S. chinensis Gunther. To resolve this conflict, we compared the diagnostic characteristics of S. collaris and S. chinensis as described in the literature with the characteristics of individuals collected on Jeju Island. We collected six individuals with one preocular, two postocular, two anterior temporal, and no lower ocular scales. Five individuals had nine (3-3-3 form) supralabials, among which fourth to sixth are touching the orbit and the ninth is the largest. One individual had eight (2-3-3 form) supralabials, third to fifth touching the orbit, with the eighth being the largest. These data suggest that Bibari-bem is not S. collaris, but S. chinensis.