Green Vine Snake

distribution

An individual of this species was observed at Mahadev Khola basking on grasses and flew to the bush when approached. Another individual was observed at Shitalpur on a Mallotus philippensis tree approximately 3. 5 m from ground level. We report this species for the first time from the park.

Amphibians and reptiles of Parsa National Park, Nepal

description

Description of Referred material. Adult female of total length 1055 mm; broken in its current state of preservation; very slender, partially laterally compressed body with snout to vent length 651 mm; tail length 404 mm; relative tail length 0.63; ventrals 182 notched with keels; subcaudals 158 (with a part of the tail missing), divided; cloacal scale divided; relatively long and slender tail; dorsal scale rows in 14 (forebody) - 15 (midbody) - 13 (hindbody) rows of smooth, obliquely disposed scales; head very distinct from neck with head length 27.2 mm; transversely oval eyes with horizontal pupil; with a horizontal diameter of 6.3 mm and vertical diameter of 4.1 mm; distance from nostril to eye 8.4 mm; distance from snout tip to eye 11.6 mm; supralabials 9 (both left and right) with the 5 th supralabial being the largest, in contact with the eye; 4 th supralabial divided; infralabials 7 (both left and right); 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd infralabials in contact with anterior genials; 3 rd and 4 th infralabials in contact with the posterior genials; mental scale wedged in between 1 st pair of infralabials; nasal scale 1 (both left and right), entire; loreals absent; pre-subocular 2 (both l

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 nasuta (L 2) is phylogenetically basal to the clade comprising 4 other new lineages (L 3, L 4, L 5 & L 6) from the Western Ghats and separated from the Indian lowland A. oxyrhyncha clade (L 1). 2. The Western Ghats cluster of Ahaetulla are genetically divergent from A. nasuta — Ahaetulla isabellina comb. nov. (L 5) (7.5 % & 9.9 %), A. farnsworthi sp. nov. (L 4) (7.9 % & 9.7 %), A. malabarica sp. nov. (L 6) (7.4 % & 10.3 %) and A. borealis sp. nov. (L 3) (8.9 % & 10.8 %) at Cytb and ND 4 genes, respec-tively. 3. This is a species of Ahaetulla with a rostral appendage (vs. absent in A. dispar, A. perroteti, A. travancorica sp. nov.; vs. long multi-scaled rostral appendage in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov. & A. ano-mala), possessing a white ventrolateral stripe (vs. absent in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov.); lacking a loreal scale (vs. present in A. dispar and A. travancorica sp. nov.); 6 pre-diastemal and 6 post-diastemal maxillary teeth (vs. 7 and 9 in A. isabellina comb. nov., vs. 6 and 7 in A. malabarica sp. nov., vs. 6 and 11 in A. farnsworthi sp. nov., vs. 6 and 8 in A. borealis sp. nov., vs. 7 and 7 in A. oxyrhyncha comb. nov.); h

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

discussion

Comments. The type locality of Coluber nasutus was originally mentioned as “ à Malabar, à Ceylan, à Pondichery, au Bengale, à Java, aux îles Philippines et aux Mariannes ”, but restricted to Ceylon by Smith (1943) (fide Wallach et al. 2014). But the only Asian country with an Ahaetulla population mentioned by Lacépède (1789) in his text dealing with this taxon as ‘ La Nasique’ in Ceylon, barring New Guinea and Carolina (USA). The type locality of the synonym Dryophis mycterizans rhodonotus is also in Sri Lanka (see Wall 1921; David & Dubois 2005) (Fig. 8 & 9). Coluber nasuta Lacépède, 1789 [as Ahaetulla mycterizans Link, 1807] is the type species of the genus Ahaetulla Link, 1807 by subsequent designation (Meise and Hennig 1932) (see Savage 1952; Savage & Oliver 1956). Link’s (1807) concept of A. mycterizans was different from that of Linnaeus’ (1758) Coluber mycterizans, a predominantly Malayan species. Linnaeus’ (1758) name being a senior nomen takes precedence over Link’s (1807) junior nomen. Thus Coluber mycterizans Linnaeus, 1758 becomes a senior secondary homonym of A. mycterizans Link, 1807. Therefore, as these two nominate taxa are now considered congeneric (Wallach et al.

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