Jampea Island Pipe SnakeCylindrophis isolepis

Conservation Actions

Efforts to remove invasive species, protection of remaining forest and ensuring connectivity between forest patches are recommended. No protected areas exist on this island.

Location Information

This species appears to be endemic to Tanahjampea Island, to the south of Sulawesi in Indonesia (de Lang and Vogel 2005).

Geographic Range

Extant

Indonesia

Population Information

This species is known only from a few specimens. De Lang and Vogel (2005) assume that it is rare. Amarasinghe et al. (2015) examined available material of this species and reported only seven specimens from existing collections or literature J. McGuire and co-workers found three specimens in a day-long survey (VertNet records), without using survey methods targeted at fossorial species. There is little information available about population trends.

Threats

This species is reliant on some degree of shade-producing vegetation that helps retain moisture, but the most important constraint on its persistence is likely to be the presence of loose, moist soil, particularly rainforest soil, that requires a degree of forest structure to maintain (S. Reilly pers. comm. 2019). A related species in Sulawesi, Calamaria melanotus, can survive in selectively-logged forest, but will not survive in more heavily degraded, regenerating or secondary forest (G. Gillespie pers. comm. 2019). Recent rates of overall forest loss appear to be low, but unquantifiable, based on data from Global Forest Watch, but the pattern of land clearance indicates a high and increasing degree of fragmentation. Over 50% of the island is agricultural, apparently mainly for corn and rice (A. Stubbs and S. Reilly pers. comm. 2019) but also for coconut palm. Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus) have been introduced throughout these islands and would prey on small snakes; civets may also be present on this island as they have been introduced to much of the archipelago (G. Gillespie pers. comm. 2019). Cats will penetrate into good forest and are likely to prey on this species (A.A.T. Amarasinghe pers. comm. 2019).

IUCN Red List Account Link

Please click here to see the species' IUCN Red List Account page.