Newly Discovered Snake Species Hypsiscopus Indonesiaensis Adds to Sulawesi’s Biodiversity

MAKASSAR – The new species of water snake is called Hypsiscopus Indonesiaensis found in Lake Towuti, South Sulawesi. This discovery increases the total number of snake species in Sulawesi to 60 species.

This snake is grey-brown in color with a flat tail on the back and more rows of scales on the middle of its body. Interestingly, this snake has more ventral scales but fewer tail scales compared to other Hypsiscopus species. This snake has a unique color pattern compared to other species.

H. indonesiensis is a freshwater snake known as the “smooth-tailed water snake”. According to a researcher from the Biosystematics and Evolution Research Center at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, BRIN, Amir Hamidy, this group of snakes generally lives in freshwater environments and preys on small fish, tadpoles or crabs.

Physically, they are relatively small, rarely exceeding 1 meter or 700 millimeters, and are only found in Lake Towuti. Their presence indicates a higher level of endemism compared to H. matannensis.

“Further research on its population and distribution is needed to assess its conservation status,” Amir said.

He explained that of the four species in the genus, three of them are found in Sulawesi, two of which are endemic. One of them is H. indonesiensis which is only found in Lake Towuti, and the other is H. matanensis which is found in Lake Matano and several other places in Sulawesi.

Amir noted that nearly 60 percent of all snakes in Sulawesi are endemic species, a much lower figure than in the Sundaland Islands. However, the endemic rate of Sulawesi snakes is higher.

“Sumatra has 127 types of snakes, of which 16 percent are endemic, while Kalimantan has 133 types (23 percent endemic), and Java-Bali has 110 types (6.4 percent endemic),” he explained.

Amir then told about Den Bosch’s notes in 1985 which recorded that there were 55 species of snakes in Sulawesi. However, in 2005, the authors of the book “The Snakes of Sulawesi: A Field Guide to the Land Snakes of Sulawesi”, Ruud de Lang and Gernot Vogel, revised the number to 52 species. Over time, seven new snake species have been identified in Sulawesi, bringing the total number of snake species there to 59. This latest discovery brings the diversity of land snake species in Sulawesi to 60 species.

Amir also shared an interesting story about the discovery of H. indonesiensis. According to him, this snake sample came from six samples collected in 2003 and one sample collected in 2009, over a very long period of time, about 16 years. Amir said that the identification process was delayed due to the small number of samples at that time.

He said that after 2019, members of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) at that time succeeded in collecting new samples from Lake Towuti which were very helpful in confirming the identification process. As a result, these findings were published in the journal Treubia Volume 50 Number 1 of 2023.

For additional information, Sulawesi – an island in the Indo-Australian archipelago – is known for its unique geological history and is a center of biodiversity for many species. There are several ancient lakes on the island that separated during the Pliocene, including Lake Matano, Lake Towuti, and Lake Mahalona.

(wbs)