Liopeltis frenatus (Günther, 1858): Günther’s stripe-necked snake / Ran dai ma

We found an adult male specimen (VNUH 9.7.'06-1, SVL 270, TaL 116, TL 386 mm) as roadkill during the dry season at an altitude of ca. 600 m above sea level. The specimen was discovered at noon of 9 July 2006 in the U Bo region. Scalation features are as follows: seven supralabials (only visible at left side), of which third and fourth supralabials are in contact with eye; ca. seven infralabials; one loreal; one preocular; two postoculars (only visible at left side); one anterior temporal, followed by two posterior temporals (only visible at left side); 15 smooth dorsal scale rows at midbody; four preventrals and 126 ventrals; anal divided; 69 divided subcaudals. The ventral number of our specimen (4 + 126) falls distinctly below the minimum value of 140 given in Whitaker & Captain (2004); however, it must be noted that the ventral scales of the in part heavily destroyed roadkill specimen were relatively difficult to count. Despite, the characteristic large eyes of the slender-bodied and long-tailed snake were still well discernible, as well as the two broad black stripes stretching from behind the eyes. The dorsum was olive-brown with in part black-edged scales (see Figure 11). In Vietnam, the species was previously only reported from Lao Cai Province in the North and from the provinces Quang Nam / Da Nang and Gia Lai / Kon Tum in central and southern Vietnam (Nguyen & Ho 1996, Szyndlar & Nguyen 1996, Orlov et al. 2003, Nguyen et al. 2005). In addition, we could record the first L. frenatus from Thua Thien Hue Province, which borders Quang Nam and Da Nang Provinces in the South (Ziegler & Hoang, submitted). Thus, we herein can add with our most recent finding the first record of that species for Quang Binh Province and for the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in particular.