First observation of male combat in the greater black krait Bungarus niger

Abstract

T greater black krait Bungarus niger Wall, 1908 (Serpentes: Elapidae) is a venomous snake distributed from north-east India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to Myanmar (Whitaker & Captain, 2004; Leviton et al., 2008; Lalremsanga & Lalronunga, 2017; Uetz, 2020). It is easily identified by its coloration (iridescent black to dark chocolate dorsally and off-white ventrally) and presence of enlarged hexagonal vertebral scales (Whitaker & Captain, 2004). Little information is available on the natural history of B. niger especially its reproductive behaviour and no intraspecific competition had been recorded previously. Male combat has been observed and described in many species of snakes from different families, with varying rituals and behaviours (Shine, 1978; Senter et al., 2014) including the Malayan krait, Bungarus candidus (Shine, 1978). Herein, we report the first record of male combat behaviour in B. niger. On the 2nd October 2017 at 13:53 h, we witnessed two adult male B. niger engaging in male combat (Fig. 1) near Lamchhip village, Aizawl District, Mizoram, north-east India (23 ̊ 26.497’ N, 92 ̊ 47.114’ E; 1,177 m asl). The snakes were caught in the act and the bout was observed for about 10 minutes, until they moved out of sight into a thicket along the road, continuing with the combat. The two snakes intertwined their bodies while moving forward (Fig. 1A D), raised their head almost up to a fifth of their total length (Fig. 1D) and tried to push the head of the opponent to the ground (Fig. 1A B). One male was observed biting the neck of its opponent (Fig. 1C), which is an apparently rare phenomenon in male combat (Senter et al., 2014). During the encounter, no female was sighted nearby although this would be expected as male combat in snakes is normally associated with competition to mate with a The Herpetological Bulletin 155, 2021: 32-33