Gongylosoma baliodeirus – Orange Bellied Snake

Gongylosoma baliodeirus (um)

Rupert L. from the United Kingdom was out herping in Thailand a couple nights ago and came upon this little beauty. It’s Gongylosoma baliodeirus or possibly a subspecies. I say possibly because I can’t find any information about the snake online at all. A Google search on image and text of the name of the snake produces nothing but the name, classification and who first found it (Boie). I did find one report of this snake being found in Borneo at 2,000 feet elevation on Mt. Penrissen, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Rupert had an illustration he found in a book that identified it as Gongylosoma, but that’s about all we know from information found in books or online.

The snake was caught at night in Krabi Noi rainforest (Krabi province, Thailand) after midnight on a half-moon night. The elevation was roughly 100 meters above sea level.

This snake is about 40 cm in length and under 5 cm in girth at its thickest. It is smooth-scaled and Rupert counted 8 diagonal scales to the vertebral column.

The snake was cooperative and did not attempt to bite.

This is a new range for this snake, as previously they have not been found in Krabi province. They are rare in Thailand at all, and have only been found in some of the southernmost provinces.

The photos are copyright 2013 Vern Lovic, with thanks to Rupert for sharing this snake with me. First published May 22, 2013. Updated Aug 15, 2015.

Video of Gongylosoma baliodeirus: