Barnes’s Cat Snake

description

Redescription of the holotype. A small-sized snake reaching 572 mm total length, with slender habitus, thin neck, wide head; long tail (relative tail length 22.6 %); 19 – 19 – 14 dorsal scale rows; rostral visible from above; preoculars 3 on each side of head; postoculars 2; loreal 1; supralabials 8, with 4 th, 5 th touching eye; infralabials 10 / 9, with 1 – 4 touching chin shields; temporals 10; preventral 2; ventrals 217, angulate laterally; cloacal 1; subcaudals 96 pairs. Dorsum dark greyish-brown, with 47 (32 on body, 15 on tail) blackish-brown, oblong blotches; interspaces often with sparse dark dots; a large dark wash covering the entire top aspect of head from rostrum to occiput; very broad postocular stripe up to jaw angle; labials, chin and venter ashy white, getting darker posteriorly; underside finely spotted with darker hue; venter edged along both sides with a series of large adjacent white and black blotches, alternating at an interval of every 3 – 4 ventrals. Variation. Other specimens agreeing with holotype in most aspects; our second male examined show the following variation: snout to vent length 444 mm; tail length 123 mm; relative tail length 22.9 %; posterior

Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): reexamination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key

diagnosis

Diagnosis. A species of Boiga endemic to Sri Lanka, having 19 midbody scale rows (vs. 21 – 23 in B. nuchalis, B. dightoni, B. andamanensis); preoculars 3 on each side of head (vs. preocular 1 in all South Asian congeners); 3 rd supraocular not touching the eye (vs. touching the eye in all other South Asian congeners); vertebral scale row feebly enlarged (vs. strongly enlarged in B. andamanensis, B. ceylonensis, B. beddomei, B. thackerayi); series of large oblong blotched pattern dorsally (vs. cross bars dorsally in B. ceylonensis); ventrolateral region with distinct white and black adjacent blotches (vs. such pattern absent in all South Asian congeners except B. thackerayi).

Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): reexamination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key

distribution

Distribution and natural history. This species is endemic to Sri Lanka (Das & De Silva 2005) (Fig. 13). It is restricted to the wet forest zones in the hilly, central and southwestern provinces of the island (Somaweera 2006). Definite records of this species are from near Kandy (Samarawickrama et al. 2005).

Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): reexamination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key

etymology

Etymology. Patronym named after Richard Hawkswoth Barnes who collected the holotype in Ceylon.

Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): reexamination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key