Asian Swamp Eel, Monopterus javanensis (La Cepède 1800), as natural prey for the Malayan Krait, Bungarus candidus (Linnaeus 1758), in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand

T he Malayan Krait (Bungarus candidus), a highly venom- ous elapid, has a distribution encompassing Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia (including Sumatra, Java, and Bali) (Das 2018).It is both nocturnal and terrestrial, occupying primary and secondary forest as well as disturbed habitats that include plantations and the surroundings of human settlements (Cox et al. 2018).Evidence from direct field observations and investigation of stomach contents suggests B. candidus feeds primarily on snakes, with further known natural prey including lizards, rodents, caecilians (Ichthyophis sp.), and anurans (Tweedie 1983;Slowinski 1994;Kuch 2001;Charlton 2019).Nonetheless, the full natural prey spectrum for this species remains largely unstudied.Ex-situ, Asian Swamp Eels (Monopterus javanensis) were accepted during feeding experiments by adult B. candidus collected from West Java (Kuch 2001).Another member of the genus Bungarus, the Manybanded Krait (B.multicinctus) has been reported to prey natu-rally on Monopterus eels in Taiwan (Mao 1970).Additionally, captive B. candidus are known to consume rodents, chicken, and purpose-made sausages comprising cooked and blended fish or pork (Kuch and Schneyer 1991;Chanhome et al. 2001).Herein, we report the first confirmed observation of B. candidus preying on M. javanensis in nature in Narathiwat Province in southern Thailand.At 2330 h (ICT) on 13 April 2023, we encountered an unsexed adult B. candidus (total length ~100 cm) on the bank of a small forest stream in the primary forest of Phukhao Thong, Sukhirin District, Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand (5.78205 N, 101.71545E; elev.203 m asl) (Fig. 1).Upon being disturbed, the snake regurgitated a freshwater eel approximately 30 cm in total length, which was later confirmed from photographs as M. javanensis (Fig. 1).The eel was alive at the time, indicating recent predation and consumption, although it died shortly after regurgitation, likely due to envenomation.The snake was released after taking photographs.