A survey of snake diversity in Bardiya National Park and associated corridor forest in Nepal

Abstract

However, many of the records from Nepal are based on either presence-only surveys or anecdotal information. Herein we provide a checklist of snakes found in and around Bardiya National Park (BNP) and its buffer zone.Bardiya National Park (28°15'-28°35.5'N, 80°10'-81°45'E; elevational range 152-1,564 m asl) (Fig. 1) covers an area of 968 km 2 in the southwestern lowlands of Lumbini Province, Bardiya District, Nepal (Bhuju et al. 2007; DNPWC 2021). A buffer zone of 327 km 2 with forested areas and farmland surrounding the park was added in 1996 and another 180-km 2 area in the north was included in 2011. The climate is temperate with dry winters and hot summers. Biomes include tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, shrublands, and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, although no forests are intact. The recorded biodiversity is 839 species of plants and 667 species of animals.We collected information on snakes collected from BNP and its buffer zone in 2010-2021 from the database of the National Trust for Nature Conservation, Bardiya Conservation Program (NTNC-BCP) rescue records and by reviewing the literature, recording opportunistic sightings, interviewing local residents, and gathering data posted on various social media platforms. We evaluated all data and included only reliable information documented by photographs acquired from snake handlers and nature guides of the Buffer Zone User Group (BZUG) or technicians and staff of the NTNC-BCP. We identified species using published guidebooks (Dutta and Manamendra-Arachchi 1996;Shah and Tiwari 2004;Sharma et al. 2013;Bhattarai et al. 2020).We recorded 24 species of snakes in eight families in and around BNP and its buffer zone (Table 1; Fig. 2). Twentytwo of the species were among the 27 recorded by Shah and Tiwari (2004) in and around Bardiya National Park, and 16 were among the 18 listed by Subedi et al. (2021) in the Chure Region. We recorded eight species not listed by Subedi et al. (2021) and three species that had not been recorded by Shah and Tiwari (2004). Subedi et al. (2021) listed two species and Shah and Tiwari (2004) six species we did not find during our survey. When compared to other areas in Nepal, the species diversity in the vicinity of BNP corresponds to the 19 (18 in common) recorded in Parsa National Park (Bhattarai et al. 2018), 25 (16) throughout the Chure Range (Bhattarai et al. 2020), and 30 (22) in Shuklaphanta National Park (Rawat et al. 2020).Nepal's snake diversity and that of BNP in particular are threatened by habitat degradation, nest damage, roadkills, and indiscriminate killing attributable to unfavorable perceptions of snakes (Shah and Gautam 2010). Many Nepalese do not distinguish venomous and non-venomous snakes and assume that all snakes are dangerous and must be killed (Thapa 2007

Integrative approach resolves the systematics of barred wolf snakes in the Lycodon striatus complex (Reptilia, Colubridae)

“…Lycodon striatus sensu stricto is distributed in Sri Lanka, southern and eastern India up to Nepal (Karunarathna et al, 2010; Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2011, 2012; Lohani et al, 2022; Mohapatra et al, 2021; Pandey et al, 2018; Rawat et al, 2020) and some parts of Central India (Figure 2), including northern parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and eastern parts of Madhya Pradesh. In addition, the populations in the eastern parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra states and western Madhya Pradesh might also represent the same species.…”

First report of death-feigning behavior in Twin-spotted Wolfsnake, Lycodon jara (Shaw 1802), from Nepal

“…In Nepal, the species was formerly described as rare in the Terai lowlands (Schleich and Kästle 2002). However, widespread observations from the Protected Areas network have been reported: Chitwan National Park (NP) and its vicinity (Pandey et al 2018), Parsa NP (Bhattarai et al 2018), Bardiya NP (Lohani et al 2022), and Shukla Phanta NP (Rawat et al 2020). Outside the PA network, few sightings have been reported, although reports exist for Sarlahi District (Chettri and Thapa Chhetry 2014) and Kaski District (Baral et al 2020).…”