Yunnan Olive Keelback

description

Description of the lectotype of Fowlea yunnanensis (Fig. 1, B – E). An adult female, in a relatively good state of preservation after more than 157 years in ethanol. Morphology. Snout-vent length 449 mm, tail length 157 mm, total length 606 mm, ratio tail length / total length 0.26. Head moderately large (head length 24.8 mm, head width 12.0 mm), distinct from neck; snout broad, obtuse as seen from above; eye large (eye diameter 3.6 mm, eye-snout distance 6.1 mm, eye-nostril distance 3.9 mm); pupils round; nostrils crescent shaped, piercing in the middle of the nasal, oriented dorsolaterally. Body scalation. Dorsal scales in 19 – 19 – 17 rows; scales keeled, notched at apex; Dorsal scale rows reduction: scales around the body reduced from 19 to 17 by fusion of 3 rd and 4 th rows of dorsal scales at the levels of the 83 rd ventral on the right side and 82 nd ventral at left side; 151 ventrals (plus three preventrals); cloacal plate divided, right side over the left side; 83 subcaudals, paired. Head scalation. Rostral wider than high, wide, approximately twice as wide as high, visible from above; nasals slightly elongate, completely divided by a suture; nostrils located in the middle

Lectotype designation for Fowlea yunnanensis (Anderson, 1879) (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) and the first report of the species from India

diagnosis

Diagnosis. Based on Cheng et al. 2021 and the present study this species is characterized by: body cylindrical; dorsal scale rows 19 – 19 – 17, keeled; ventrals 138 – 151; subcaudals 65 – 89, paired; internasals 2 – 3, triangular; prefrontals 2 (rarely 3 – 4, only in the case of two paralectotypes); postoculars 3 (rarely 4); supralabials 9 (rarely 8), 4 th – 5 th entering orbit; infralabials 10 (rarely 9); hemipenis bilobed, longitudinal folds present, papillae present on the apex of both lobes; lateral sides of the head having two black, oblique, parallel stripes that are either absent or vague; olive brown with a black reticulate pattern on the dorsal surface and creamish-white on the ventral surface.

Lectotype designation for Fowlea yunnanensis (Anderson, 1879) (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) and the first report of the species from India

materials_examined

Lectotype (hereby designated): ZSI-R- 4192, adult female, from Hotha, now Husa, Longchuan County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China; collected during the Yunnan Expedition, 1868. Paralectotypes (Fig. 1, F-G): ZSI-R- 4191, adult female, and ZSI-R- 4196, adult male from Muangla, now Jiucheng, Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China; collected during the Yunnan Expedition, 1868.

Lectotype designation for Fowlea yunnanensis (Anderson, 1879) (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) and the first report of the species from India