Borneo in its range
The 2024 revision restored Ophiophagus bungarus for Sunda-region king cobras. Its material includes a museum specimen from Sebulu, East Kalimantan. Bornean king-cobra records should therefore be checked under this newer species concept.
Sources & references · 1
European Journal of Taxonomy · Das et al. 2024 king cobra revisionA new assessment boundary
Older accounts often use Ophiophagus hannah for the entire complex. Their global conservation category cannot automatically be assigned to O. bungarus. A specimen establishes historical presence at Sebulu, not a present visitor encounter.
Sources & references · 2
European Journal of Taxonomy / Zenodo · Ophiophagus bungarus treatment and Borneo voucher USNM 200500European Journal of Taxonomy · Das et al. 2024 king cobra revisionA hunter of other snakes
This cobra belongs to a lineage that specialises in other reptiles. At Singapore's Sungei Buloh, a daytime observer watched one search a fallen trunk, locate a dog-faced water snake among mangrove roots, and seize it. Current museum accounts identify Singapore's king cobras as Ophiophagus bungarus, making this a relevant comparison from outside Borneo.
Sources & references · 2
Tay / Singapore Biodiversity Records 2019:80–81 · A king cobra hunting at Sungei Buloh Wetland ReserveNUS Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum / Nature in Singapore · Attempted cannibalism between two king cobrasHunting beyond daylight
Although usually described as largely diurnal, this lineage also has documented nighttime feeding. In Singapore in April 2018, a roughly three-metre cobra held an apparently dead clouded monitor by its head, then dragged it into roadside vegetation. Observers did not see the complete swallowing sequence; the event does not establish routine nocturnal behaviour in Borneo.
