Victor Valley College Tropical Research Initiative
Herpetofauna of Timor-Leste
Phase IV

Nancuro, Manatuto District

To reach Nancuro it was necessary to cross the Sahen River back into Manatuto District and then turn south at the crossroads where north went back to Manatuto and east went to Viqueque.

The bridge over the Sahen River forms the border between Manufahi and Manatuto Districts

Nancuro is a thin strip of coastal forest which may be gazetteered as a nature reserve. It was gifted by local people to the President for this purpose and the VVC team was requested to carry out an inventory of the herpetofauna. However at 4 kms long but only 500 m wide, we are of the opinion that the area should be expanded to link up with neighbouring protected areas, and a coastal lagoon, as well as being extended further inland to provide a more substantial buffer zone.

Nancuro proposed reserve mouse-over to view Google Earth satmap click to view large topomap

At the time we visited the road to the edge of the reserve was fairly good, but beyond that point bridge-building and treefalls have made the road impassible to all but 4x4 vehicles. If the area is to attract tourists its access facilities will also need improvement. The exceptionally muddy route into the reserve was filmed as we drove it and the video will soon be posted on this website.

The straight grassy road to Nancuro	Bridge building demanded an off-road detour
The team examine a smaller bridge l-r: Paul, Hinrich, Luis & Benny	The interior of Nancuro

The beach at Nancuro

Click to enlarge image

The Students: back row (l-r) Benny, Luis, Caitlin, Zito, Robert, front row (l-r) Scott, David, Joanna, Kyle, Laca and Paul	The Mentors: Hinrich and Mark

We made several visits to Nancuro and were very successful in our fieldwork. Although we did not capture every species we saw we still found more species here than at any other location during Phase IV. This was a good sign for the proposed reserve.

We found the usual suspects: Striped treefrog (Polypedates cf. leucomystax), Rice-paddy frog (Fejervarya sp.) and Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) but we also collected the Mutilated gecko (Gehyra mutilata), a Four-fingered skink (Carlia sp.), Leschenault's snake-eyed skink (Cryptoblepharus leschenault), both green and brown phases of Emerald tree skink (Lamprolepis cf. smaragdina), a Sun skink (Eutropis cf. multifasciata) and a Forest skink (Sphenomorphus sp.). Also captured were several Timor flying lizards (Draco timoriensis).

Two snakes were sighted at Nancuro. A Timor bronzeback (Dendrelaphis inornatus timorensis) was surprised while it was coiled on the forest floor just in from the beach. The entire group spread out to corral this snake but somehow it evaded capture. This was not of huge importance since we know the species well from Loré and other southern coastal locations, and we did manage to capture a much more important snake at Nancuro. Caitlin saw it and called and everyone came running. Laca and Mark pursued the snake towards a fallen trunk where Mark grabbed it by hand, recognising it as a harmless ground snake of the genus Stegonotus. A key importance of this find was that this genus is not recorded for Timor. The genus Stegonotus contains six species from New Guinea and northern Australia, one from Borneo, one from Makulu (the Moluccas of eastern Indonesia) and one from Flores in the Lesser Sundas to the north of Timor. This last species is known from only three specimens but our Timorese snake did not belong to that species, based on scale counts. At this time we believe that the Stegonotus from Nancuro constitutes not only a new generic record for the island/country, but also a new species to science.

We also found two large centipedes of the family Scolopendridae, not something you want to put your hand on by mistake.

HERPS from NANCURO click on images to enlarge
Rice paddy frog Fejervarya sp.
Mutilated gecko Gehyra mutilata
Four-fingered skinks Carlia sp. (l = male, r = female)
Sun skink Eutropis cf. multifasciata
Emerald tree skink Lamprolepis cf. smaragdina (brown phase)
Forest skink Sphenomorphus sp.
Timor flying lizard Draco timoriensis
Timor ground snake Stegonotus sp.

Not illustrated above - click on links to view specimens from Loré, Lautem District
Striped treefrog (Polypedates cf. leucomystax) - click here to view example
Green phase of Emerald tree skink (Lamprolepis cf. smaragdina) - click here to view example
Leschenault's snake-eyed skink (Cryptoblepharus leschenault) - click here to view example
Timor bronzeback (Dendrelaphis inornatus timorensis) - click here to view example

In the coastal woodland Caitlin found the remains of a Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) bony carapace which we were able to reconstruct using beach sand for support. Although the shell bore several marks from harpoon wounds that had started to heal, we believe this turtle was the victim of deliberate human predation because no plastron, head, limbs or other parts were found despite an intensive search by several members of the team, yet the entire carapace, sans actual turtle-shell veneer, was present. The bones were retained as a voucher specimen.

Remains of Green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Reconstructed carapace bones of Green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Note harpoon punctures
Click to enlarge images

It certainly looks like we will be returning to Nancuro during future phases of the project, it has a rich herpetofaunal diversity with some real surprises thrown in for good measure.