Cambodian Kukri Snake

description

Description of holotype. Adult male; head elongate, HL 14.2 mm, HW 9.1 mm, slightly flattened, HD 7.2 mm, not notably wider than neck; body robust, subcylindrical; SVL 363.2 mm; tail thick, robust, TL 64.8 mm; TL / SVL ratio 0.178; snout, elongate, about one third of HL, SnL 4.2 mm; EN 2.7 mm; ND 3.7 mm, slightly narrower than SnL; rostral shield large, thick, in contact with first supralabial and nasal laterally and internasals posteriorly; rostral shield slightly widened, 1.3 times wider than high, posteriorly pointed and intruding into the anterior suture between internasals; internasals paired, in broad contact, 1.9 mm in width, more than twice as wide as long (0.9 mm), separated by a median suture; prefrontals large, 2.6 mm in width, 2.1 mm in length, forming butterfly shape, separated by suture; suture between internasals (0.8 mm) shorter than that between prefrontals (1.1 mm); frontal large, pentagonal, posteriormost portion pointed, contacting parietal; supraocular large, elongate, pentagonal, narrower anteriorly; parietals form heart shape; suture between parietals (3.8 mm) slightly shorter than length of frontal (4.1 mm); nasal elongate, subrectangular, vertically divided

A new species of kukri snake (Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia

diagnosis

Diagnosis. Oligodon kampucheaensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by the following combination of characters: MT 11; frontal and prefrontal separated; 1 / 1 anterior and 2 / 2 posterior TP; SL 8 / 8, 4 th and 5 th contacting orbit; InL 8 / 8; TL / SVL 0.178; DSR 15 – 15 – 15; VS 164; SC 39; anal plate undivided; deep bifurcated hemipenes, lacking papillae and spines, extending to SC 11; 17 transverse cream, black-edged bands that do not encircle body and three cream, black-edged bands on tail; no dorsal stripes, blotches or reticulated black crossbars on body; eight or nine scales long between crossbands, except for seven scales long between 5 th and 6 th and 10 scales long between 11 th and 12 th crossband; white ventrolateral spots on lateral margins of every dark brown squarish or subrectangular ventral blotch. For differential comparisons with congeners, see Comparisons section below.

A new species of kukri snake (Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia

etymology

Etymology. The specific epithet is in reference to the country Kampuchea (Cambodia) in which the type locality is located and to which this species is presumed to be endemic. Comparisons. Oligodon kampucheaensis sp. nov. is compared here to three tentative groups within Oligodon: the O. taeniatus group, O. cinereus group and the O. cyclurus group (David et al. 2008 a, b, 2011; Green et al. 2011; Smith 1943; Wagner 1975), most of which occur in Indochina (Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos), and, to Southeast Asian species that are similar in color and crossbar pattern and have similar dorsal scale row numbers to the new species, although many of the latter occur outside of the Indochinese biogeographical boundaries. Oligodon kampucheaensis sp. nov. differs from most species of Oligodon by having white ventrolateral spots on the lateral margins of every dark brown squarish or subrectangular ventral blotch. The new species is further distinguished from all other nominal species in Indochina and Southeast Asia by the following unique combination of morphological characters. From the O. taeniatus group (Table 1), it differs in possessing DSR 15 – 15 – 15 (vs. 17 – 17 – 15 in O. barroni (Smith,

A new species of kukri snake (Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia

materials_examined

Holotype. CBC 01464; adult male collected by Thy Neang, Seiha Hun and Moeun Meang on 27 January 2011 at Chruk Prul stream at N 12 ° 11 ’ 55.1 ”, E 103 ° 03 ’ 35.3 ”, 330 m above sea level in the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, Pursat Province, southwest Cambodia.

A new species of kukri snake (Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia