Snakes of Sulawesi: checklist, key and additional Biogeographical remarks

A checklist with concise synonymy and a key to the snakes of Sulawesi is presented, comprising 63 species in 38 genera; 3 subspecies and 15 species, of which one constitutes a monotypic genus, are considered endemic. There is a strong Indo-Malayan relationship. Sea-snakes and Candoia carinata excluded, no Philippine, Papuan or Australian affinities were found. Geological and ecological barriers, together with a low immigration pressure from the south and east, are considered causal factors. Although Sulawesi has been an instable island region at least since the Late Cretaceous as compared with most surrounding islands, which were parts of Sundaland or Sahulland and as such were formed relatively recently, the species richness in Wallacea is of the same order as in the neighbouring islands and more dependent of the Asian relationships of the snakes and the present day distance from landmasses.