Stoliczka's Asian Cat Snake

description

1909 [Dipsadomorphus] stoliczkae Wall: 155. Geographic distribution. In the west from central Nepal (ca. 83 ° 51 ’ E) through Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in northeastern India (north and west of the Brahmaputra valley) (own observation; Wall 1909; Smith 1943; Fleming, JR. & Fleming, SR. 1974; Kramer 1977; Ahmed & Dasgupta 1992; Bauer & Günther 1992; Gruber 2002; Shah & Tiwari 2004; Whitaker & Captain 2004; Sanyal & Gayen 2006; Agarwal et al. 2010; Purkayastha 2013; Wallach et al. 2014; Das et al. 2016; Wangyal & Das 2021).

A taxonomic revision of Boiga multomaculata (Boie, 1827) and B. ochracea (Theobald, 1868), with the description of a new subspecies (Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae)

description

Description of the lectotype. Adult male, indicated by the presence of hemipenes; 1 / 1 loreal, wider than high; nasal scale completely divided; 1 / 1 preocular; 1 / 1 supraocular; 2 / 2 postoculars, upper not reaching onto top of head; 2 prefrontals; 2 / 2 anterior and 2 / 3 posterior temporals; supralabials 8 / 8, 3 rd – 5 th supralabials entering eye; 11 / 11 infralabials, first four in contact with anterior chin shields; 21 dorsal scales in 19 - 19 - 15 rows, smooth with single tiny apical pits on body and single or paired apical pits on dorsocaudal scales; vertebral scale row significantly enlarged; no preventral; 235 ventrals; cloacal plate entire; 111 paired subcaudal scales. Body slender; tail long (TL / SVL 0.282); SVL 740 mm; TL 209 mm; head length measured from tip of snout to posterior border of parietals 16.5 mm, head length measured from tip of snout to posterior edge of mandible 21.8 mm, head width 13.0 mm; diameter eye 3.9 mm; distance anterior border eye to tip of snout 5.2 mm. Maxillary bone with 10 / 11 prediastemal teeth, followed by a very distinct diastema which is 125 % longer than the socket of the last prediastemal tooth and followed by two distinctly enlar

A taxonomic revision of Boiga multomaculata (Boie, 1827) and B. ochracea (Theobald, 1868), with the description of a new subspecies (Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae)

materials_examined

Type material. Wall (1909: 155) mentioned that he has examined 39 specimens of this new species from the “ neighbourhood of Darjiling ” (Darjeeling, West Bengal state, India), which is characterised by having 21 [midbody] scale rows, 218 – 252 ventrals and 100 – 119 subcaudals. He did not specify particular specimens by inventory number and with the exception of the British Museum (Natural History) he does not mention any other collection in which the type material could be deposited. However, it is documented through his publications (e. g., Wall 1909; 1921) that he examined for his studies not only his own material but beside specimens from the British Museum also material from various collections in India (e. g., BNHS Mumbai, ZSI Kolkata, and St. Joseph’s College in Darjeeling). After his retirement in 1925 he presented parts his own collection, including type specimens, to the British Museum (Natural History) in London (Smith 1951). Based on information provided by Andrew Stimson, Curator of Herpetology at the BMNH, Kramer (1977: 735) was the first to mention inventory numbers for the type material of D. stoliczkae and regarded a series of eight specimens, i. e., BMNH 72.4.17.1

A taxonomic revision of Boiga multomaculata (Boie, 1827) and B. ochracea (Theobald, 1868), with the description of a new subspecies (Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae)

Description

An adult female (Figs 1, 2), indicated by the absence of hemipenis. Body slender, total length 1117 mm (SVL 896 mm and TAL 221 mm); tail long, TAL/SVL 24.7%. Head nearly trapezoidal, distinct from neck, dorsally covered with large head scales, head length 24.39 mm; head width 14.71 mm; eye diameter 3.90 mm. Rostral subtriangular in frontal view, visible from above. Internasals paired, nearly trapezoidal, narrowing anteriorly. Prefrontals paired, more or less quadrangular, wider than long, in contact with loreal. Frontal shield-shaped, nearly straight anteriorly, pointed backwards, slightly longer than wide, supraocular 1/1, much longer than wide; parietals paired. Nasals nearly pentagonal, completely divided by nostril, lower and upper sutures clearly visible, nostril central. Loreal 1/1, nearly square; pre-ocular 1/1, much higher than wide; postocular 2/2, upper one slightly larger than lower one. Temporals 2+2+3, two anterior temporals elongated, the upper one smaller in contact with parietal, the lower one in contact with sixth and seventh supralabial; two middle temporals, smaller than anterior temporal; the lower anterior temporal fused with the middle temporal on the right;

A new record and a novel morph description of Boiga stoliczkae (Squamata, Colubridae) from China