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First Record of Calliophis Maculiceps (Günther, 1858) in Khammouane Province, Laos (Serpentes, Elapidae)

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First Record of Calliophis Maculiceps (Günther, 1858) in Khammouane Province, Laos (Serpentes, Elapidae) Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 175-177 (2020) (published online on 26 February 2020) First record of Calliophis maculiceps (Günther, 1858) in Khammouane Province, Laos (Serpentes, Elapidae) Ibuki Fukuyama1,*, Masatoshi Hibino2, Kanto Nishikawa2, and Daosavanh Sanamxay3 The genus Calliophis Gray, 1835 includes 11 species, method of counting ventrals is adapted from Dowling six known from South Asia and five from Southeast Asia (1951) and the dorsal scale rows were counted as (Uetz et al., 2019). All species are relatively small and described by Kaiser et al. (2018). The terminal scute semifossorial, and they are not frequently encountered. (tip) is excluded from the number of subcaudals. A Calliophis maculiceps (Günther, 1858) is distributed preanal scale is excluded from the number of ventrals. throughout Indochina and the Malay Peninsula, having The numbers of dorsal scale rows are counted at one been reported from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, head length behind the head, at midbody, and at one Cambodia, and Malaysia. There are only few records head length before the vent. of the species from Laos, and these are restricted to the The specimen is an adult male (snout–vent length 302 provinces of Vientiane, Champasak, and Savannakhét mm, tail length 37 mm) with characteristics confirming (Deuve, 1970; Teynié et al., 2014). We here present its membership in C. maculiceps as follows: seven a first record of C. maculiceps from Khammouane supralabials, one preocular, two postoculars, eight Province. infralabials, smooth dorsal scales in 13-13-13 rows, While conducting fieldwork in Naden Village, 196 ventrals, 29 subcaudals, and cloacal plate divided. Yommalath District, Khammouane Province, Laos (17.5016°N, 105.3901°E, WGS 84; elevation ca. 170 m), we collected an individual of Calliophis maculiceps (Fig. 1). The fieldwork was conducted on 28 May 2018 in an open secondary forest, and we found the snake hidden under a deadwood on the sandy bank of a dried stream. The snake was euthanized using a solution of isoflurane, fixed in 10% formalin, and preserved in 70% ethanol. It was deposited in the Zoological Collection of Faculty of Environmental Sciences, National University of Laos, from where it was loaned to the Zoological Collection of Kyoto University (KUZ) under the voucher number KUZ R 74136. After the preservation we measured the specimen and counted the scales. The 1 Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. 2 Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606- 8501, Japan. 3 Faculty of Environmental Sciences, National University of Figure 1. Live adult male Calliophis maculiceps (KUZ R Laos, Dong Dok Campus, PO Box 7322, Xaythany District, 74136) from Yommalath District, Khammouane Province, Vientiane Capital, Laos. Laos, shown in (A) dorsolateral and (B) ventral views. Photos * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] by Masatoshi Hibino. 176 Ibuki Fukuyama et al. The dorsal colour is brownish-yellow with a faint dark- 2012) followed Cox (2000), but others (e.g., Nguyen brown vertebral line, black spots in longitudinal series et al., 2009; Uetz et al., 2019) still recognized them as along each side, and a dark band on the neck extending subspecies. The Calliophis maculiceps population from from the posterior edges of the parietals and posterior Laos would be recognized as C. m. michaelis Deuve temporals to the fourth dorsal scale along midline. The 1960. Most morphological characters of KUZ R 74136 ventral colour is orange with the lateral edges of the are identical to C. m. michaelis, but some characters ventrals forming a pinkish-white frame. The orange were not (196 ventrals in KUZ R 74136 vs. more than area begins on the ninth ventral scale and is initially a 200 in C. m. michaelis; series of only small spots on the narrow line with a relatively light orange hue, becoming dorsolateral area in the former vs. a series of alternately broader and more strongly coloured towards the cloacal large and small black spots on the dorsolateral area in plate (Fig. 1B). Two black bands circle the tail, the first the latter [Deuve, 1970; Golay, 1985]). Thus, while extending immediately behind the cloaca to the third we follow Cox (2000) in our identification, future subcaudals and seven dorsal scales long in the midline, taxonomic examination of this form is needed. the second extending from the 22nd to the 24th subcaudals with equal width dorsally. The underside of the tail is Acknowledgements. The Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing- pale blue in colour with many irregular black blotches. House (ABSCH) have been obtained and are referenced under The new record is the first for C. maculiceps the id ABSCH-IRCC-LA-241283-1. This specimen was collected under a permit from the Department of Forestry, Ministry of in Khammouane Province, extending its known Agriculture and Forestry, government of Laos (permission distribution by 87 km to the northwest in a straight number: 2041/DOF). We thank Warn Manythong (Department line from the nearest existing record (Fig. 2). Teynié of Agriculture and Forestry), Hatsady Phon-asa (Office of et al. (2014) reported this species from Vilabouly Agriculture and Forestry), and Tim Simmavong and Chanphasouk District and erroneously considered it the first record Chanthakoumman (Faculty of Environmental Sciences, NUoL) for Savannakhét Province; Deuve (1960) had already for their support in the field. We are also deeply grateful to Gernot Vogel (Heidelberg, Germany) for a review of the manuscript. This described it from there. Five subspecies were recognized research was supported by a JSPS Core-to-Core Program Type B for C. maculiceps until Cox (2000) synonymized all of for Asia-Africa Science Platforms to Masaharu Motokawa. them. Some researchers (e.g., Vogel, 2006; Cox et al., References Cox, M. (2000): The status of the subspecies of Calliophis maculiceps. Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 36: 76–85. Cox, M., Hoover, M.F., Chanhome, L., Thirakhupt, K. (2012): The snakes of Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand, Chulalongkorn University Museum of Natural History. Deuve, J. (1960): Observations sur les serpents du Laos, avec description d’une variété nouvelle. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle 32: 376–379. Deuve, J. (1970): Serpents du Laos. Mémoires de l’ORSTOM 39: 1–251. Dowling, H.G. (1951): A proposed standard system of counting ventrals in snakes. British Journal of Herpetology 1: 97–99. Golay, P. (1985): Checklist and Keys to the Terrestrial Proteroglyphs of the World (Serpentes: Elapidae - Hydrophiidae). Geneva, Switzerland, Elapsoidea. Kaiser, C.M., Kaiser, H., O’Shea, M. (2018): The taxonomic history of Indo-Papuan groundsnakes, genus Stegonotus Duméril et al., 1854 (Serpentes, Colubridae), with some taxonomic revisions Figure 2. Approximate location of our new record for and the designation of a neotype for S. parvus (Meyer, 1874). Calliophis maculiceps in Khammouane Province, Laos Zootaxa 4512(1): 1–73. (blue star) and of the closest known records in Savannakhét Nguyen, V.S., Ho, T.C., Nguyen, Q.T. (2009): Herpetofauna of Province, Laos (black circles). The insert shows the position Vietnam. Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Edition Chimaira. of the main map (black square) in Indochina. Map created by Teynié, A., Nguyen, T.Q., Lorvelec, O., Piquet, A., Lottier, A., simplemappr.net. David, P. (2014): Amphibiens et reptiles du Laos: nouvelles First record of Calliophis maculiceps in Khammouane Province, Laos 177 données nationales et provinciales. Bulletin de la Société Herpétologique de France 151: 21–52. Uetz, P., Freed, P., Hošek, J. (2019): Calliophis maculiceps. The Reptile Database. Available at: http://www.reptile-database.org. Accessed on 9 May 2019. Vogel, G. (2006): Venomous Snakes of Asia / Giftschlangen Asiens. Terralog Volume 14. Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Edition Chimaira. Accepted by Hinrich Kaiser.
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