Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake, Toxicocalamus ernstmayri O'Shea et al., 2015 (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) with the description of its coloration in life

Abstract

A series of photographs of the recently described Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake, Toxicocalamus ernstmayri O'Shea et al., 2015, taken at the Ok Tedi Mine in the Star Mountains, North Fly District, Western Province, Papua New Guinea, represents only the second record of this poorly-known species. Toxicocalamus ernstmayri was hitherto only known from its holotype, collected in December 1969 at the village of Wangbin approximately 13.2 km ESE of the photo locality. The Ok Tedi snake was observed and photographed during the day in October 2015 as it moved across a section of active mine workings, before retreating into dense montane rainforest. This series of photographs constitutes the first sighting of this snake in 45 years and the first sighting of a living animal, providing evidence of the species' continued existence in an area of considerable environmental and demographic changes brought about by human development. These images also provide evidence of its startling coloration in life.

Full text

27
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
12(1) [General Section]: 27–34 (e154).
Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating
Snake, Toxicocalamus ernstmayri O’Shea et al., 2015
(Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) with the description
of its coloration in life
1Mark O’Shea, 2Brian Herlihy, 3Blaise Paivu, 4Fred Parker, 5Stephen J. Richards,
and 6Hinrich Kaiser
1Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 1LY, UNITED KINGDOM; West Midland Safari
Park, Bewdley, Worcestershire DY12 1LF, UNITED KINGDOM, and Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010,
AUSTRALIA 2,3Ok Tedi Mining Limited, P.O. Box 1, Tabubil, Western Province 332, PAPUA NEW GUINEA 4P.O. Box 5623, Townsville, Queensland
4810, AUSTRALIA 5Herpetology Department, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, AUSTRALIA 6Department
of Biology, Victor Valley College, 18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, California 92395, U.S.A.; and Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, U.S.A.
Abstract.—A series of photographs of the recently described Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake, Toxicocalamus
ernstmayri O’Shea et al., 2015, taken at the Ok Tedi Mine in the Star Mountains, North Fly District, Western
Province, Papua New Guinea, represents only the second record of this poorly-known species. Toxicocalamus
ernstmayri was hitherto only known from its holotype, collected in December 1969 at the village of Wangbin
approximately 13.2 km ESE of the photo locality. The Ok Tedi snake was observed and photographed during the
day in October 2015 as it moved across a section of active mine workings, before retreating into dense montane
rainforest. This series of photographs constitutes the rst sighting of this snake in 45 years and the rst
sighting of a living animal, providing evidence of the species’ continued existence in an area of considerable
environmental and demographic changes brought about by human development. These images also provide
evidence of its startling coloration in life.
Keywords. Elapidae, Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, snake, Star Mountains, Western Province, Papua New Guinea
Citation: O’Shea M, Herlihy B, Paivu B, Parker F, Richards SJ, Kaiser H. 2018. Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake,
Toxicocalamus ernstmayri O’Shea et al., 2015 (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) with the description of its coloration in life. Amphibian & Reptile
Conservation 12(1) [General Section]: 27–34 (e154).
Copyright: © 2018 O’Shea et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use for non-commercial and education purposes only, in any medium, provided
the original author and the ofcial and authorized publication sources are recognized and properly credited. The ofcial and authorized publication
credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows: ofcial journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; ofcial journal website <amphibian-
reptile-conservation.org>.
Received: 07 November 2017; Accepted: 07 March 2018; Published: 18 June 2018
Ofcial journal website:
amphibian-reptile-conservation.org
Correspondence. 1m.oshea@wlv.ac.uk (Corresponding author); 2brian.herlihy@bigpond.com; 3blaise.paivu@oktedi.com;
4fred_p1@bigpond.com; 5steve.richards@samuseum.sa.gov.au; 6hinrich.kaiser@vvc.edu
The genus Toxicocalamus Boulenger, 1896 currently
comprises fteen taxa (fourteen species and one subspe-
cies) of diurnal, semi-fossorial to terrestrial, secretive,
vermivorous elapid snakes that are endemic to the island
of New Guinea and nearby islands. Several species are
poorly represented in museum collections, and the most
recently described species, Toxicocalamus ernstmayri
O’Shea et al., 2015, is one of four species known only
from their holotypes, the others being T. grandis (Bou-
lenger, 1914), T. mintoni Kraus, 2009, T. pachysomus
Kraus, 2009, and T. cratermontanus Kraus 2017. The
holotype of T. ernstmayri (Museum of Comparative Zo-
ology, Harvard University, accession number R-145946)
is also the largest specimen so far recorded for the genus,
with a snout-vent length (SVL) of 1,100 mm, and a total
length of 1,200 mm (O’Shea et al. 2015).
The holotype of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, an adult
female, was collected by one of us (FP) at Wangbin Village
in the Star Mountains (5°14’26.72”S, 141°15’31.92”E,
elev. 1,468 m), North Fly District, Western Province,
Papua New Guinea, on 23 December 1969. The snake
had been killed by a villager and handed to FP, a kiap1
patrolling the area. It was originally accessioned into
the museum collection as Micropechis ikaheka Lesson,
1830, due to its supercial resemblance to that taxon.
We here report on the second individual of T. ernst-
mayri, the rst seen and photographed in life. The snake
was sighted by one of us (BP) at 0750 hrs on 9 October
1Kiap is a pidgin word derived from the German word Kapitän, which
was applied to Australian pre-independence government patrol ofcers.
Fred Parker served as a kiap from 1960–73, being based in Western
Province from 1968–73.

28
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
O’Shea et al.
Fig. 1. Satellite map (derived from Google Earth) of the southern Star Mountains, North Fly District, Western Province, Papua New
Guinea, with yellow dots on the larger map indicating two localities (Wangbin and Ok Tedi Mine), approximately 13 km apart,
where Toxicocalamus ernstmayri has been recorded. The main town is Tabubil at the conuence of the Ok Tedi and Ok Mani, which
ow into the Fly River. Scale = 5 km. The inset map illustrates the location of the larger map in relationship to the rest of New
Guinea.
2015, as it crawled across an area of active mine workings
along the west wall at the Ok Tedi Mine (5°12’53.77”S,
141°08’38.57”E, elev. 1,670 m) approximately 13.2 km
WNW of Wangbin, in the North Fly District where the
holotype was collected (Fig. 1). It was observed for ap-
proximately 20 min and photographed several times.
The snake was not captured and measured, but as it
can be seen completely spanning a 747 mm tire track
(Fig. 2A) its total length is certainly > 750 mm (estimated
as ca. 850 mm). It was observed and photographed as it
crossed open ground (Fig. 2B), rubble piles (Fig. 2C),
and passed underneath a stationary digger (Fig. 2D), until
it disappeared into the vegetation on the steep slope at the
top left of Fig. 3.
The snake can be identied as a member of the genus
Toxicocalamus by the presence of six supralabials and
the lack of the temporolabial scale (Fig. 4B’). The only
other terrestrial Papuan elapid genus to lack a temporo-
labial scale is Pseudonaja. An anterior body dorsal scale
count of eight, from the vertebral scale row to the lowest
dorsal scale row, can also be discerned from the images
(Fig. 4C’, D’), indicating an anterior dorsal scale count
of 15. There does not appear to be any head scute fusion
although this is harder to discern with certainty from the
images. The patterning of this snake in life can be seen
clearly: it has a yellow body with large grey basal spots
on each dorsal scale, and a grey cap to the head. This
description agrees very closely with that given by Parker
(1982: 55) for the aberrant Micropechis ikaheka, which
would become the holotype of Toxicocalamus ernst-
mayri:
“One snake taken at Wangbin (1500 m above sea
level) in the Star Mountains differed so much in co-
louring from those at Kiunga and Ningerum that it
may well represent another species. It was brought
in already dead by a Wangbin villager. People there
agreed with him that it was extremely rare in the area.
The head was black, the lips bright yellow. The body
scales were a deep yellow, each having a grey ante-
rior tip. The amount of pigmentation on each scale de-
creased from the vertebral row towards the outermost
laterals, and increased evenly along the body, with the
tail darkest. There were no indications of any bars on
the body. The ventral surfaces were uniform yellow.”
The characters observed in the photographs of the
newly observed individual are clearly diagnostic of T.
ernstmayri and allow us to make an unequivocal species
determination. The only other genus with which this
snake can be confused is Micropechis, which exhibits
a temporolabial scale (Fig. 5). Although entirely yellow
specimens of M. ikaheka are known, they are conned
to the Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua Province,
western New Guinea; all specimens of M. ikaheka
known from PNG are strongly banded on the posterior

29
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake
Fig. 2. The rst live individual of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, observed and photographed in broad daylight at the Ok Tedi Mine,
North Fly District, Western Province, Papua New Guinea. (A) The individual’s serendipitous crossing of a 747 mm wide tire track
allowed an approximation of its total length as near 850 mm. (B) The snake moves in a straight line across open ground. (C) Slower
movement across a rubble pile allowed a more detailed examination of head and body scales (see Fig. 4). (D) The individual moving
under the tracks of a stationary digger. Photos by Blaise Paivu.
body. At an SVL > 750 mm total length this individual
of T. ernstmayri would appear to be a subadult, as it is
considerably shorter than the holotype (SVL 1,200 mm).
The encounter with an unusual, “golden” snake at the Ok
Tedi Mine was sufciently noteworthy, even in Papua
New Guinea where snake encounters are commonplace,
that it was presented in the mine’s own magazine (Ok
Tedi Weng magazine, Issue 1, 2017, p. 6).
Topography
The source of the Ok Tedi2 lies at approximately 2,900
m elevation in the central Star Mountains (Hyndman and
Menzies 1990), just north of the provincial border be-
tween Western and Sandaun (formerly West Sepik) Prov-
inces of PNG, and approximately 28 km east of the in-
ternational border with Papua Province, Indonesian New
Guinea. From its source the Upper Ok Tedi ows rapidly
south through extremely rugged mountainous terrain to
meet the Ok Mani, owing in from the southern slopes of
Mount Fubilan, at an elevation of 400 m, just to the west
of Tabubil. The distance travelled from the source of the
Ok Tedi to the Ok Mani conuence is only ca. 28.5 river
kilometers (23 km in a direct line), but the river has al-
ready lost 2,500 m in elevation. The distance from Tabu-
bil to the conuence of the Ok Tedi with the Fly River
at d’Albertis Junction3 is a further 170 river kilometers
(100 km in a direct line) with a further drop in elevation
to 70 m, from where the Fly meanders rst southwest,
then southeast to the Gulf of Papua. The town of Kiunga
on the Fly River, (upstream by 45 river kilometers, 20
km in a direct line) east of d’Albertis Junction, lies at an
elevation of only 20 m, yet it is approximately 375 km
from the Fly delta, while the actual distance is closer to
800 river kilometers due to its meandering course across
the low-lying ood plains (Halse et al. 1996).
The Ok Tedi Mine is located on the slopes of Mount
Fubilan (2,084 m), “a copper mountain with a gold cap”
(Knox 2013), at an elevation of approximately 1,700 m.
It is approximately 12 km northwest of the nearest popu-
2Ok = river, in the local Wopkaimin language (Keig 2001), the river
is therefore known as the Ok Tedi, not the Ok Tedi River. In 1876 the
Italian naturalist-explorer Luigi Maria d’Albertis (1841–1901) was the
rst foreigner to discover and navigate the lower reaches of the Ok
Tedi, which he named the Alice River (d’Albertis 1879, 1880), in honor
of an acquaintance, Miss Alice Hargrave.
3D’Albertis originally called the conuence of the Alice River (Ok
Tedi) with the Fly “Snake Junction” because he captured a python there
(d’Albertis 1880) but today it is named in his honor.

30
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
lation center, the town of Tabubil which was established
to support the mine, yet the mine lies over 1.2 km higher.
Tabubil, located at only 457 m elevation, is approximate-
ly 450 km from the coast. The steepness of the southern
Star Mountains, rising by 1,200 m in elevation over only
12 km in horizontal distance, contrasts with the almost
imperceptible south-north increase in elevation (< 500 m
over 450 km) of the Trans-Fly Region as a whole.
At 1,700 m elevation, the Ok Tedi Mine is approxi-
mately 230 m higher than Wangbin Village (1,468 m ele-
vation), the type locality of T. ernstmayri, suggesting that
this snake is probably conned to mid-montane eleva-
tions in the Star Mountains. It is unlikely that it occurs
as low as Tabubil (elevation < 500 m), given the com-
plete lack of any specimens from there despite the large-
scale development and burgeoning human population
(see below). Even within its known range, this relatively
large, diurnally-active snake would seem to be rare, as
this region has been fairly thoroughly investigated by bi-
ologists, including by one of us (SJR), yet no specimens
have been collected or reported.
The Vegetation and Climate
Ok Tedi Mine’s elevation is close to the boundary be-
tween Lower Montane Rainforest (1,000–1,800 m el-
evation), and Low-altitude Midmontane Rainforest
(1,800–2,200 m elevation), Zones 2 and 3 respectively of
Hyndman and Menzies (1990). Lower Montane Rainfor-
est comprises mixed evergreen forest with a 20–30 m tall
canopy, dominated by emergent white oak (Castanopsis
acuminatissima) at tree height of up to 40 m, whereas
Low-altitude Midmontane Rainforest is dominated by
moss-covered Myrtle (Syzygium) and Screw Palm (Pan-
danus) with a 25–30 m canopy height.
Rainfall is high in the Upper Ok Tedi-Mount Fubilan
region, with as much as 10,000 mm being recorded annu-
ally at the mine (Hearn 1995), with little seasonal varia-
tion, the lowest rainfall averaging 433 mm in Novem-
ber, and the highest averaging 576 mm in June (Merkel
2017). The area lies in a belt known as the “midaltitude
fringe high rainfall zone” (Hyndman and Menzies 1990),
which experiences continual heavy rain, dened as over
50 mm per week (Brookeld and Hart 1971), although
the previous gures amount to 100–140 mm of rainfall
per week. Sometimes rainfall is excessive, and on at least
four days a year there will be over 100 mm of rainfall
over a 24-hour period, and once every 1–3 years rain-
fall will exceed 150 mm in a single day (McAlpine et
al. 1983). The Upper Ok Tedi-Mount Fubilan region is
one of the wettest places, not only on the island of New
Guinea but in the world4.
The almost constant rainfall, and accompanying
heavy cloud cover, results in lowered ambient tempera-
tures. Temperatures recorded at several sites, at differ-
ent elevations from Tabubil to Mount Fubilan, are lower
than those expected for central New Guinea (Hyndman
and Menzies 1990). Maximum daily temperatures range
from 23.0–24.7 °C, while minimums at night range from
13.8–14.6 °C (Merkel 2017). The nights above 2,200
m are even colder with lows of 6.4 °C being recorded
at Finimterr (2,300 m) (Hyndman and Menzies 1990),
which means temperatures fall by 1 °C with every 200
m increase in elevation. This combination of relatively
cold nighttime temperatures, almost continual rain, and
dense cloud cover could in part account for the diurnal
activity cycle of a relatively large snake species such as
T. ernstmayri.
Human Development
Until the late 1960s Tabubil did not exist as a settlement.
Shortly after the holotype of T. ernstmayri was collected
by FP (late 1969) a small mining camp was established
besides an airstrip (O’Shea et al. 2015: Fig. 9H) by the
Kennecott Copper Corporation, who were engaged in the
exploratory drilling on Mount Fubilan. Wangbin was a
small neighboring hamlet on the edge of Lake Wangbin
(O’Shea et al. 2015: Figs. 9A–C). During 1976–1980 the
Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton negoti-
ated with the Government of Papua New Guinea to es-
tablish the mining town of Tabubil and they subsequently
established Ok Tedi Mining Limited to operate the gold
and copper mine.
The population of the Star Mountains Tabubil “census
division” increased by 201%, from 556 to 1,676, in the
decade 1980–1990 (Keig 2001), directly as a result of the
establishment of the Ok Tedi Mine and the development
of Tabubil. Over the same period Keig (2001) reported
that the population of Western Province increased from
64,623 to 74,834, which amounts to only a 15.8% popu-
Fig. 3. View of an actively worked area of the Ok Tedi
Mine. The observed individual of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri
eventually disappeared into the vegetation on the slope in the
top left of the photograph. Photo by Blaise Paivu.
O’Shea et al.
4The annual rainfall at the Ok Tedi Mine is close to that received by the
wettest places on Earth, listed as Mawsynram, Meghalaya (11,873 mm)
and Cherrapunji, Meghalaya (11,430 mm), both in northeastern India
(Anonymous 2017).

31
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
lation increase overall. Western Province is vast, cov-
ering 96,218 km2 (37,150 sq mi; Blake 1972), and it is
PNG’s largest province (by land area), and while a report
by the IUCN (1995) gave the population of the province
as 110,000, with a very low overall population density
of 1.14/km2, the same report provided a population of
12,000 for Tabubil. This indicates a 716% increase in
population size during the years 1990–1995, making
Tabubil the largest urban population in the province, ex-
ceeding even the 8,490 population of Daru, the provin-
cial capital in the south of the province. The 2011 census
(National Statistical Ofce of Papua New Guinea 2014)
Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake
Fig. 4. Conrming the individual’s identication as Toxicocalamus ernstmayri. (A) Close-up of the snake shown in Fig. 2C with
insets B, C, and D indicated. (B, B’) Head and neck in extreme close-up. Color coding of head scalation includes six supralabials
(orange), one anterior temporal (yellow), and two posterior temporals (blue), but no temporolabial (see Fig. 5). The head scutes
appear to comply with the colubrid-elapid nine dorsal scute arrangement (i.e., two internasals, two prefrontals, one frontal, two
supraoculars, and two parietals; therefore lacking any head scute fusion, although this is difcult to discern from the magnied
image with accuracy. (C, C’) Based on the visible dorsal scales, the dorsal scale count on the anterior body is 15. The count is
achieved by locating the vertebral scale row and counting down to the lowest dorsal scale row (eight scales), doubling the count,
and subtracting one scale to account for the single vertebral scale row. (D, D’) The dorsal scale count at midbody, performed as
described for the previous panel, is also 15.

32
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
provided a provincial population of 201,351 with 10,270
for Tabubil, 631 for Wangbin, and 15,142 for Daru, sug-
gesting a reversal in the relative populations sizes of
Tabubil and Daru. Regardless of this apparent decline
the population size and development of the Tabubil area
during the last 4.5 decades has been substantial. The de-
mographics of the Tabubil population are eclectic with
company employees from around the world. However,
the population of the Ok Tedi Mine remains relatively
small, with employees concentrated within the actual
mine compound. The surrounding midmontane rainfor-
est remains thinly populated and under-explored.
Conservation
The incursion of roads into remote rainforest areas could
lead to the persecution and disappearance of vulnerable
and misunderstood species like snakes. Toxicocalamus
ernstmayri has always been an infrequently encoun-
tered species, as exemplied by Parker’s (1982) com-
ment above: “People there agreed with him that it was
extremely rare in the area.” That it is also a diurnal spe-
cies, of moderately large size, and seemingly relatively
slow moving, would suggest that this species could be
more vulnerable to persecution than some other taxa. It is
therefore especially heartening that this snake was at no
time hindered or molested as it crossed the mine work-
ings, and that it was thought interesting and newswor-
thy enough to be photographed, the images then being
circulated to specialists for an identication, and then
nally the sighting was featured as a full-page article in
the company’s seven-page in-house publication, which
nishes with this plea to its readers:
“So should you be fortunate enough to see one of
these snakes in the wild, please observe it from a dis-
tance and let it go on its way. They are very rare and
recorded sightings are even rarer. Like all the wild life
in our foot print we should appreciate its diversity,
this snake and perhaps there are other animals out
there are unique to this part of PNG and the world
and should be appreciated and not killed.”
Fig. 5. Distinguishing Toxicocalamus from Micropechis. (A, A’) Holotype of T. ernstmayri (MCZ R-145946) from Wangbin, Western
Province, PNG. (B, B’) Holotype of T. grandis (BMNH 1946.1.18.34) from Setakwa River, Papua Province, Indonesian New
Guinea. (C, C’) Yellow phase of Micropechis ikaheka (BMNH 1909.4.30.12) from the FakFak Peninsula, West Papua Province,
Indonesian New Guinea. Color-coding of head scalation includes six supralabials (orange), a single anterior temporal (yellow), two
posterior temporals (blue), and a temporolabial (red). The individual we report here clearly has the same head scute arrangement
as T. ernstmayri.
O’Shea et al.

33
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
Acknowledgements.—The authors would like to
thank Ok Tedi Mining Limited for granting permission
for this specimen to be reported and for images of the
location to be published.
Literature Cited
Anonymous. 2017. Highest rainfall annually. Guinness
World Records Limited, London, England. Avail-
able: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-
records/highest-rainfall-annually/ [Accessed: 23 Sep-
tember 2017].
Blake DH. 1972. Western District. Pp. 1,187–1,193 In:
Encyclopedia of Papua and New Guinea. Volume
2 L-Z. Ryan P., editor. Melbourne University Press,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 1,231 p.
Boulenger GA. 1896. Description of a new genus of
elapine snakes from Woodlark Island, British New
Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History
18(104): 152.
Boulenger GA. 1914. An annotated list of the batrachi-
ans and reptiles collected by the British Ornitholo-
gists’ Union Expedition and the Wollaston Expedition
in Dutch New Guinea. Transactions of the Zoological
Society of London 20(5): 247–274.
Brookeld H, Hart D. 1971. Melanesia: A Geographical
Interpretation of an Island World. Methuen, London,
United Kingdom. 464 p.
d’Albertis LM. 1879. Journeys up the Fly River and in
other parts of New Guinea. Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society 1(1): 4–16.
d’Albertis LM. 1880. New Guinea: What I Did and What
I Saw (2 Volumes). Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, &
Rivington, London, England. X+406 p.
Halse SA, Pearson GB, Jaensh RP, Kulmoi P, Gregory
P, Kay WR, Storey AW. 1996. Waterbirds surveys of
the Middle Fly River oodplain, Papua New Guinea.
Wildlife Research 23: 557–569.
Hearn GJ. 1995. Landslide and erosion hazard mapping
at Ok Tedi copper mine, Papua New Guinea. Quar-
terly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeol-
ogy 28(1): 47–60.
Hyndman DC, Menzies JI. 1990. Rain forests of the Ok
Tedi headwaters, New Guinea: An ecological analy-
sis. Journal of Biogeography 17: 241–273.
IUCN. 1995. The Fly River Catchment, Papua New
Guinea: A Regional Environmental Assessment.
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. X+86 p.
Keig G. 2001. Rural population growth in Papua New
Guinea between 1980 and 1990. Asia Pacic View-
point 42(2–3): 255–268.
Knox M. 2013. Boom: The Underground History of Aus-
tralia, from Gold Rush to GFC. Penguin, Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia. 416 p.
Kraus F. 2009. New species of Toxicocalamus (Squa-
mata: Elapidae) from Papua New Guinea. Journal of
Herpetology 65(4): 460–467.
McAlpine JR., Keig G, Falls R. 1983. Climate of Papua
New Guinea. Australian National University Press,
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Xii+200 p.
Merkel A. 2017. CLIMATE-DATA.ORG. Available:
https://en.climate-data.org/location/19240/ AM On-
line Projects, Oedheim, Germany [Accessed: 03 July
2017].
National Statistical Ofce of Papua New Guinea. 2014.
2011 National Population & Housing Census: Ward
Population Prole: Southern Region. National Statis-
tical Ofce, Waigani, National Capital District, Papua
New Guinea. 33 p.
O’Shea M, Parker F, Kaiser H. 2015. A new species of
New Guinea worm-eating snake, genus Toxicocala-
mus (Serpentes: Elapidae), from the Star Mountains
of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, with a re-
vised dichotomous key to the genus. Bulletin of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology 161(6): 241–264.
Parker F. 1982. Snakes of Western Province. Division of
Wildlife, Department of Lands and Environment, Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 78 p.
Rediscovery of the rare Star Mountains Worm-eating Snake
Mark O’Shea is a British herpetologist with a specialist interest in the snakes of New Guinea. He wrote A
Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea (1996) and is currently working on the second edition, expanded to
encompass the entire New Guinea region, and he is also the author of four other books. Since 1986 he has made ten
expeditions to New Guinea to conduct herpetological eldwork, capture medically important elapids for snakebite
research, or made lms for Animal Planet or the BBC. He has worked in PNG for a variety of organizations
from Operation Raleigh to Oxford University’s Department of Clinical Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine, and the Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne. O’Shea has considerable eld
experience in other countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, and has been engaged in eldwork projects since
the 1980s. He presented four seasons of the herpetological television series O’Shea’s Big Adventure, for Animal
Planet and Discovery Channel, and has made lms with other companies and broadcasters. Mark was awarded
the Millennium Award for Services to Zoology by the British Chapter of the Explorers’ Club in 2000, and in 2001
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree by his alma mater, the University of Wolverhampton, for
services to herpetology. He is now Professor of Herpetology at the University of Wolverhampton and teaches the
“Animal Behaviour and Wildlife Conservation and Evolution” and “Origins of Life” courses at the University. He
also holds the post as Consultant Curator of Reptiles at West Midland Safari Park, in the United Kingdom. O’Shea
and Kaiser (below) are the leaders of the rst comprehensive survey of the herpetofauna of Timor-Leste, Asia’s
newest country. With ten phases of the project completed since 2009, the team has recorded upwards of 70 species,
with more than twenty of these new to science. O’Shea, Kaiser, and Fred Parker (also below) are the describers of
Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, the subject species of this paper.

34
Amphib. Reptile Conserv. June 2018 | Volume 12 | Number 1 | e154
O’Shea et al.
Brian Herlihy is a New Zealander, and a Senior Safety Advisor for Ok Tedi Mines Limited (OTML). He holds
an MBA in Technology Management from Deakin University/APESMA (Association of Professional Engineers,
Scientists and Managers, Australia). He has worked for OTML since 2016.
Blaise Paivu is a Papua New Guinean citizen, and a Senior Mining Engineer for Ok Tedi Mines Limited (OTML).
He has been employed by OTML from 1995 to 2010, and from 2013 until the present. He holds a Bachelor in
Mining Engineering from University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
Fred Parker was born in India and migrated to Australia in 1949. While working at the Healesville Sanctuary
in the late 1950s he met the herpetologist Charles Tanner and became interested in herpetology. From 1960
until 1973 he worked as a kiap on Bougainville, in the Central Highlands, and Western District, Papua New
Guinea. Derived from the German word kapitän, it is the tok pisin name for a Government Patrol Ofcer, usually
an Australian, in Pre-Independence Papua New Guinea. During this time Parker collected many herpetological
specimens for Ernest Williams, at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard, and Richard Zweifel, at
the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York. He also collected a large number of death adders
for venom research and antivenom production by Tanner at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL),
Melbourne, Australia. From 1973 he worked for the Wildlife Division in Port Moresby, on projects as diverse as
crocodiles and butteries, and rose to the position of Head of the Division, before returning to Australia in 1979.
He has authored and coauthored numerous papers on the herpetofauna of PNG, including the original description
of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri. Two frogs (Cornufer parkeri and Xenorhina parkerorum), one turtle (Chelodina
parkeri), a skink (Tribolonotus parkeri), and three snakes (Bothrochilus fredparkeri, Gerrhopilus fredparkeri, and
Tropidonophis parkeri) are named in his honor.
Stephen J. Richards is an Honorary Research Associate at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia
with a special interest in the herpetofauna of New Guinea. Since 1991 he has made approximately 50 expeditions
to New Guinea to conduct herpetological eldwork, and he has co-authored more than 130 publications about
frogs and reptiles of that region, including the formal descriptions of nearly 100 new species discovered during
these expeditions. He has published three eld guides to frogs of local regions in New Guinea and the Solomon
Islands. Stephen is the Regional Chair for Melanesia of the IUCN’s Amphibian Specialist Group and a member of
the Papua New Guinea Government’s Biodiversity Expert Group. Richards has two frogs (Hylophorbus richardsi
and Litoria richardsi) and a skink (Cryptoblepharus richardsi) named in his honor.
Hinrich Kaiser is a German-American herpetologist and educator with a research focus on biodiversity and
conservation of tropical environments. A passion for scuba diving with experiences in the arctic and the tropics
led Hinrich to study marine biology at McGill University and the University of Victoria in Canada. After an
inspiring semester learning about amphibians and reptiles in David Green’s herpetology class in the Redpath
Museum, Kaiser found his true calling and earned his Ph.D. at McGill with a dissertation on the systematics and
biogeography of Lesser Antillean frogs. After a Boehringer Ingelheim postdoctoral fellowship at the University
of Würzburg, Germany, he spent ve years as Professor of Biology at La Sierra University, Riverside, California,
USA, before accepting his current position in the Department of Biology at Victor Valley College in Victorville,
California, USA. Kaiser holds an appointment as Research Associate with the United States National Museum
of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA. He currently serves as an Editor-in-Chief
of Herpetology Notes, but his interests in international affairs and music also led him to memberships on the
International Advisory Board of the Foundation for Post-Conict Development, New York, and on the Advisory
Council of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras. Kaiser serves as a member of the Executive Committee
of the World Congress of Herpetology. His most recent publications have focused on the herpetofauna of Timor-
Leste and nearby areas of Wallacea, as well as on the defense of herpetological taxonomy against taxonomic
vandalism. He was also a coauthor on the original description of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri. His educational
specialty is to expose community college students to biological, cultural, and historical experiences overseas,
including canopy walks in Brunei, cooking classes in Bali, tracking Komodo dragons on Rinca Island, homestays
in Cuba, and surveying Pacic atolls.