Laudankia vine snake

description

Description of holotype (ZSI-CZRC- 6403). (Figure 3; Table 3). A medium sized snake (maximum recorded TL 1237 mm), ochre-brown dorsum speckled with black dots, brick-red ventral scales, tail 32.4 % of the TL. Specimen partially dehydrated; 7 cm longitudinal ventral incision into coelom at 500 mm from snout tip. Body subtriangular, slightly flatten on venter, widest at midbody, gently tapering anteriorly and sharply tapering posteriorly; tail much more strongly tapered; head broader (11.9 mm) than tall (7.9 mm), distinctly wider than neck. In dorsal view, head elongate and triangular anterior to eye, ends with an elongated dermal appendage; temporal region gently converging posteriorly; in lateral view, head steeply tapering downwards from eye to nostril; scales on top of head smooth, abutting along midline rather than imbricate / overlapping. Length of dermal appendage smaller (2.1 mm) than horizontal eye diameter (4.7 mm) and 6 % of head length (HL 34.0 mm); canthus rostral is prominent; nostrils situated anteriorly to snout, closer to snout than eye (EN 7.1 mm, NS 6.2 mm); nasals elongate and roughly lanceolate (6.1 mm), nostril squarish located on posterior end of nasal scale; f

A new species of Ahaetulla Link, 1807 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Ahaetullinae) from India

diagnosis

Diagnosis A medium-sized Ahaetulla (largest TL 1184 mm (male), 1237 mm (female )) with dermal appendage; 192 – 202 ventrals, 154 – 185 divided subcaudals; 8 teeth on maxilla and 9 on palatine; dorsal scale reduction from 15 to 13 rows occurs between ventrals 143 – 147; ochre brown / chestnut brown dorsum with black spots, paler supralabials, white lower lip, and light orange / brick red venter with a pair of whitish line on both sides of the mid venter. Morphologically, Ahaetulla laudankia can be distinguished from all its congeners except Ahaetulla nasuta sensu lato (see discussion), A. pulverulenta and A. anomala in having a long dermal appendage (vs. snout without dermal appendage) (Figure 5). Ahaetulla laudankia differs from A. nasuta sensu lato in having a higher number of ventrals: explicitly – 192 – 202 (vs. 168 – 184 in A. nasuta from Sri Lanka (both with long and short dermal appendages); vs. 171 – 181 in A. nasuta from India (both with long and short dermal appendages); 169 – 181 in A. nasuta cf isabellina (see discussion), and 168 ventrals in Wall ’ s type of Dryophis mycterizans isabellinus = A. nasuta isabellina) (Tables 2, 3 and S 4). Ahaetulla laudankia can be distin

A new species of Ahaetulla Link, 1807 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Ahaetullinae) from India

materials_examined

Holotype. ZSI-CZRC- 6403, adult female, Bangriposi, Mayurbhanj district, Odisha state (22.142167 N, 86.520025 E), collected by Manoj V. Nair and S. K. Dutta, 15 June 2010. Paratypes (2). ZSI-CZRC- 6404, adult male, Nilagiri, Balasore district, Odisha state (21.471232 N, 86.634096 E), collected by Vivek Sarkar, 15 March 2013; ZSI-R- 26412 (Figure 4), subadult male, Madhapur, along Khajuriakata-Madhapur road, Harabhanga Tehsil, Boudh District, Odisha state (20.442518 N, 84.503152 E), collected by Pratyush P. Mohapatra on 5 May 2009.

A new species of Ahaetulla Link, 1807 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Ahaetullinae) from India