NatureFiji-MareqetiViti

The Fiji burrowing snake is very distinct from the more widely known Pacific Boa, Candoia bibroni. The Fiji burrowing snake is much smaller, growing up to a maximum snout-vent length of 30 cm. It has a small head which is indistinct from the neck, a short tail, and smooth body scales. The body is a uniform dark brown or mid-brown in colour with lighter sides. The belly is generally pale brown or white blotched with black or brown in colour. Younger snakes can be distinguished by the yellowish mark on the back of the head (see picture). The eyes are small and dark, and do not have a vertical pupil.

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The Fiji burrowing snake, is, as the name suggests, a burrowing snake that lives within loose soil, under leaf litter or beneath termite nests. They have been found as deep as 1 m under rock rubble, in lowland rainforest and inland valleys. More specifically, they are found on valley floors and on low mountain slopes. There have been reports of the snake from plantations, when farmers dig out the soil for planting. They have also been found on the ground surface after heavy rain. Male and female Fiji burrowing snakes attain sexual maturity between 180-200mm SVL. The Fiji burrowing snake is oviparous, meaning that females produce eggs. The eggs are ellipsoidal in shape. The size of hatchlings is unknown as is everything else about the reproductive biology of Fiji's only endemic snake. They feed on worms, soft-bodies insects and other soil arthropods. The burrowing snake is presumed to be nocturnal, though this has not been confirmed. Even though it produces neurotoxic venom it is very placid and, as reported by Ryan (2000), do not seem to mind being handled. These snakes probably only bite when handled too aggressively.

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It is very probable that this small snake has been under great threat ever since the pig was introduced to Fiji and went feral in the forests. The introduced Indian Mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) is also a threat when the snake emerges to the surface and rats may well predate on its eggs. All of these introduced species pose an on-going threat to the survival of this rare endemic snake. Other threats have materialised more recently, much of the land in its known geographic range is being logged, drilled for prospects of mining and converted to agricultural land. The area from which the majority of the burrowing snakes have been collected is within the Wainikoroiluva valley in the province of Namosi, which is within the prospect for the proposed Namosi copper mine. Exploration surveys and drilling for copper deposits have been ongoing within this area since the late 1960s.

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Other then its listing as a 'Vulnerable' species in the IUCN list of endangered species, there are no other known efforts to conserve Fiji's only endemic snake. To survive this snake will require a large area of mixed forest from which pigs, mongooses and other introduced predators are permanently excluded. The impacts of the proposed copper mine surveys and drilling as well as the potential impact of the mining venture on the native and endemic plants and animals that occur within and outside of the Namosi valley will also need to be assessed.

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The existence of the Fiji burrowing snakes is known in most Fijian villages in the Namosi and Naitasiri province. The Fiji burrowing snake was first introduced to the science community by Mr. Eduard Graeffe in 1862, who upon encountering it on the slopes of Mt. Nabukelevu in the Medrausucu Range during his expedition in Fiji, sent it to Professor Peters of Berlin for identification. The villagers of Raravatu had captured the Fiji burrowing snake for Mr Graeffe and informed him that it was poisonous.

The presence of the Fiji burrowing snake in Fiji is a mystery that to this date still baffles biogeographers. The Fiji burrowing snake belongs to the family Elapidae along with cobras, kraits, mambas, coral snakes and sea snakes. The members of this family are known for their poisonous, fatal venom. However, our Fiji burrowing snake is placid, lives underground, and is very rare. The Fiji burrowing snake's closest relatives (genetically and ecologically) are in the genus Toxicocalamus in New Guinea; they are the only two members of the Australo-Papuan region snakes that feed almost entirely on earthworms while other snakes mainly feed on vertebrates. Recent molecular research on the snakes of the Australo-Papuan region has revealed that these snakes originated from Asia and suggests that they belong to a group of snakes that came into the region after Gondwanaland had broken up, when the Australian plate collided with the Asian plate approximately 15 million years ago. This however, does not explain the occurrence of this burrowing snake in Fiji; it does not explain why this distribution skips the Solomon Islands and other islands in between, smilar to the distribution of Fiji's endemic frogs.

The Fiji burrowing snake is the animal totem of the tribe Nasalia, and is called Balei in their dialect.

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