Found but Forgotten: On the Records, Misidentification, and Potential Rediscovery of the Rare Bromo Tengger Semeru Mountain Endemic Snake (Serpentes: Colubridae: Tetralepis fruhstorferi)

Abstract

Tetralepis fruhstorferi is a snake currently only known to be endemic to a single active volcano complex of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java of Indonesia. Its taxonomic identity and natural history are poorly known, as the most recent collection was in 1978 and limited to only a few collection records. We investigated two recently published surveys that have misidentified this species. This may indicate that T. fruhstorferi is still present in its type locality and our future surveys would focus on finding this species to assess its taxonomy and population status.