Wolfsnakes, genus Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826, are
known to prey upon rodents and frogs (Fritts, 1993),
and they may even endanger the survival of bird species
(Khamcha and Gale, 2020). However, their biggest
impact as a predator is most likely on the broad variety
of lizards they consume, including house geckos,
skinks, and agamids (Fritts, 1993; Pauwels et al., 2005;
Vogel et al., 2009; Zhang and Wang, 2014). Lycodon
aulicus (Linnaeus, 1758) in particular is known to feed
on common house geckos (Daniel, 2002; Jackson and
Fritts, 2004) and, consequently, it may frequently be
seen in and around residential buildings where these
prey species are most commonly encountered (Shroff,
2016).
Behavioural information about L. aulicus is rather
scarce, although a few studies on some populations
and its distribution have been carried out (Ganesh and
Vogel, 2018; Deshmuk et al., 2020; Ganesh et al., 2020).
The species is chiefy nocturnal and known to be partly
arboreal, sometimes utilizing tall trees (Harrington et
al., 2018), but is most frequently observed in crevices
or depressions, under objects, or moving near human
settlements. These are generally shy and alert snakes,
but they may exhibit more aggressive behaviour
than other wolfsnakes (Harris et al., 2010). Several
specimens encountered on the campus of the College
of Natural Resources, Punakha, Bhutan, coiled up when
provoked and tried to escape. Repeated attempts to bite
while being handled have been observed by the frst
author.
Hemidactylus frenatus Duméril & Bibron, 1836 is a
common house gecko that occurs throughout most of
tropical Asia eastwards into the western Pacifc, with
introduced populations in parts of Africa, the Americas,
and many islands of the Indian and Pacifc Oceans
(Kraus, 2009). These moderate-sized geckos (maximum
snout-to-vent length 65 mm) were identifed using
identifcation keys in Smith (1943), Vyas (2005), Giri
and Bauer (2008), and Lajmi et al. (2016). In this article,
we report the observation of Lycodon aulicus preying
upon Hemidactylus frenatus and provide a description
of how the attack happened in a sequence of photos with
textual commentary.
The second author’s neighbour sought his help to
remove a snake found in her ceiling on 11 November
2018 at Burichhu, Tsirang District, Bhutan (27.0823°N,
90.0762°E, elevation 470 m). The atmospheric tempera-
ture at the time was ca. 14°C while the room tempera-
ture was slightly higher at ca. 17°C (NCHM, 2017). We
suspect that the usually nocturnal snake became active
during the warm morning and took the opportunity en-
ter the warmer, two-storied traditional Bhutanese house
to hunt. Both prey availability and warmth could have
attracted the snake, which scaled the building’s walls,
as also reported by Ganesh et al. (2020). A common
wolfsnake (total length ca. 800 mm) was found on one
of the ceiling joists, holding a common house gecko in
its jaws (Fig. 1). The series of behaviours by the snake
associated with predation on the gecko during the fol-
lowing several minutes were observed and are reported
in detail as follows:
The snake was frst encountered strongly biting the
central body of the gecko with two coils compressing
the anterior part of the body, likely making it diffcult
for the gecko to infate its lungs to breathe (Fig. 1).
Upon detection of our presence the snake released
the gecko (presumably to allow it to react to the
disturbance), which dropped to the foor of the home.
Unlike normal house gecko behaviour, the seriously
Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 749-753 (2021) (published online on 10 May 2021)
Predation by the wolfsnake Lycodon aulicus (Linnaeus, 1758) on
the house gecko Hemidactylus frenatus Duméril & Bibron,
1836 in Tsirang District, Kingdom of Bhutan
Jigme Tshelthrim Wangyal
1,*
, Pema Khandu
2
, and Gyeltshen Gyeltshen
3
1
University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales
2350, Australia. Present address: Jigme Khesar Strict Nature
Reserve, Haa 15001, Bhutan.
2
Wangbama Central School, Genekha, Thimphu, Bhutan.
3
Mendrelgang Primary School, Tsirang, Bhutan.
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: jigmewangyal@gmail.com
© 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.