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Farnsworth's Vine Snake
Ahaetulla farnsworthi Mallik, Srikanthan, Pal, D'Souza, Shanker & Ganesh, 2020
First described in: Mallik, A. K., Srikanthan, A. N., Pal, S. P., D’Souza, P. M., Shanker, K., & Ganesh, S. R. Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India.
Farnsworth's vine snake (Ahaetulla farnsworthi) is a species of tree snake endemic to the central Western Ghats of India.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
description
Description of Holotype. Adult of total length 1021 mm; very slender, partially laterally compressed body with snout to vent length 626 mm; tail length 395; relative tail length 0.38; ventrals 172 notched with keels; subcaudals 150 divided; cloacal scale divided; relatively long and slender tail; dorsal scale rows in 15 - 15 - 13 rows of smooth, obliquely disposed scales; head very distinct from neck with head length 26.5 mm; transversely oval eyes with horizontal pupil, with a horizontal diameter of 4.6 mm and vertical diameter of 3.8 mm; distance from nostril to eye 6.45 mm; supralabials 8 on left, 8 on right, with 6 th supralabial being the largest, 5 th supralabial in contact with the eye; 4 th supralabial divided; infralabials 9 (both left and right); 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th infralabials in contact with anterior genials; 4 th and 5 th infralabials in contact with posterior genials; mental scale wedged in between 1 st pair of infralabials not in contact with genials; nasal scale 1 (both left and right); loreals absent; pre-suboculars 2 (both left and right); pre-ocular 1 (both left and right); post-oculars 2 (both left and right); sub-oculars absent; temporals 2 + 3 on right
Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India
diagnosis
Diagnosis. 1. Ahaetulla farnsworthi sp. nov. (L 4) is nested within the clade comprising three other new lineages (L 3, L 5 & L 6) and a lineage from Sri Lanka (L 2). It is genetically sister to A. isabellina comb. nov. with low bootstrap support. 2. It shows a low to moderate level of genetic divergence from A. borealis sp. nov. (4.7 % in ND 4, 4.6 % in Cytb and 1.7 % in 16 S) and A. malabarica sp. nov. (3.7 % in ND 4, 4.6 % in Cytb and 1.9 % in 16 S). 3. A species of Ahaetulla characterised by having short rostral appendage (vs. long in A. oxyrhyncha comb. nov.; A. anomala, A. laudankia; vs. multi-scaled rostral appendage in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov., A. anomala); possessing white ventrolateral stripe (vs. absent in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadren-sis nom. nov.), possessing 6 prediastemal and 11 postdiastemal maxillary teeth (vs. 7 and 9 in A. isabellina comb. nov., vs. 6 and 7 in A. malabarica sp. nov., vs. 6 and 8 in A. borealis sp. nov., vs. 7 and 7 in A. oxyrhyncha comb. nov.); usually green body colouration in both sexes (vs. usually grey-brown in A. sahya-drensis nom. nov., adult females brownish in A. anomala, A. dispar and A. perroteti) (Fig. 17, Table 2).
Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India
distribution
Distribution and Habitat. This species is distributed in the Central Western Ghats in mid-elevation forests from 500 to 850 msl from Coorg to Agumbe-Kodachadri range in Karnataka (Fig. 18). This species may be sympatric with A. malabarica sp. nov. in Coorg.
Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India
etymology
Etymology. Dedicated to the physicist Dr. Hubert Farnsworth of the world of Futurama, for his efforts in resurrecting barking snakes from extinction. Name latinized and coined in the genitive singular case.
Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The body is very slender. Adults can reach a total length of 1 m. Dorsum is uniform bright green to olive green. Rostral, infralabials and venter are yellowish green to light green at mid body; yellow to white ventral stripe along notched ventral keels; slight discolouration in the pre-ocular scale; inter-scalar skin white with black and white anteriorly-converging bars; white replaced by reddish brown inter-scalar skin posteriorly; eyes golden yellow with black speckles; concentration of black speckles both in the anterior and posterior ends of a horizontal pupil; slight discolouration around the pupil; tail, subcaudals green. In general, scalation follows intraspecific variations: ventrals 167–177 notched with keels; subcaudals (males) 141–165, divided (females) 126–150, divided; anal divided; dorsal scale rows in 13/15/16–15-13/11 rows of smooth, obliquely disposed scales; supralabials 7–8, 5th supralabial in contact with the eye; 4th supralabial divided; loreal absent; infralabials 8–10; pre-suboculars 1–2; pre-ocular 1 (both left and right); post-oculars 2; sub-oculars absent; temporals 1+2 or 2+2 or 2+3.
Range & habitat
This species is endemic to the state of Karnataka, where it is distributed from Coorg to the Agumbe-Kodachadri range. It may be sympatric with A. malabarica in Coorg, but is largely separated from the species by rivers. Near the northern edge of its range it is flanked by A. borealis, from which it is likely separated by the Sharavathi River basin.
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ahaetulla farnsworthi in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 10730223.