A New Species of Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from Southern Peninsular Thailand
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The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University 2(2): 7-18, August 2002 ©2002 by Chulalongkorn University A New Species of Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from Southern Peninsular Thailand OLIVIER S.G. PAUWELS 1*, VAN WALLACH 2, PATRICK DAVID 3 AND LAWAN CHANHOME 4 1 Department of Recent Vertebrates, Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, 29 rue Vautier, 1000 Brussels, BELGIUM 2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 3 Laboratoire des Reptiles et Amphibiens, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 25 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, FRANCE 4 Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, 1871 Rama IV Road, Bangkok 10330, THAILAND ABSTRACT.–A new species of the colubrid genus Oligodon is described from Krabi Province, southern Peninsular Thailand. Although known from a single specimen, the new species is readily distinguished by an unusual com- bination of characters, like fused internasals and prefrontals, an elongated body, a high number of ventrals and subcaudals, a low number of maxillary teeth, and a unique dorsal banded pattern and immaculate ventral surface. Its possible relationships are discussed, and a key to the species of Oligodon, currently known from Thailand and West Malaysia, is given. KEY WORDS: Thailand; West Malaysia; Serpentes; Colubridae; Oligodon; Oligodon jintakunei sp. nov.; taxonomy Thailand more than doubled the number of INTRODUCTION known species in each of them (Pauwels et al., 2000a-b). This makes a symptomatic evidence The snake fauna of Thailand ranks as one of of the poor knowledge of the herpetofauna of the richest in Southeastern Asia. However, this country. although this kingdom was the first Asian During the examination of the herpetological country to be the subject of a herpetological collection of the Queen Saovabha Memorial report (Anonymous, 1688), its herpetofauna is Institute (Thai Red Cross, Bangkok) in order to still very far from being adequately known. establish its catalogue (Chanhome et al., 2001), Despite numerous works in the first part of 20th we discovered a snake specimen, which ob- century by Malcom A. Smith and Edward H. viously represents an undescribed species of the Taylor (see Smith, 1943 and Taylor, 1965 for a widely ranging genus Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826. bibliography), and subsequent studies by local We thus describe a new species on the basis of Thai herpetologists, recent investigations on the this specimen, and compare it with the con- herpetofauna on two provinces of Peninsular generic species known from Thailand and West Malaysia. Possible relationships of the present * Corresponding author. species are also discussed. E-mail: [email protected] 8 NAT. HIST. J. CHULALONGKORN UNIV. 2(2), AUGUST 2002 MATERIALS AND METHODS Museum abbreviations are as follows: This description is based both on external BMNH: British Museum of Natural History, morphological characters and internal anato- now the Natural History Museum, London mical data. Hemipenes are not everted, and, CAS: California Academy of Sciences, San unfortunately, we were not able to dissect the Francisco tail to observe them. FMNH: Field Museum of Natural History, Measurements, except body and tail lengths, Chicago were taken with a slide-caliper to the nearest IRSNB: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturel- 0.1 mm; all body measurements were made to les de Belgique, Brussels the nearest millimeter. The number of ventral LSUMZ: Louisiana State University Museum scales was counted according to Dowling of Natural Science, Baton Rouge (1951). The terminal scute, present, is not MCZ: Museum of Comparative Zoology, included in the number of subcaudals. The Harvard University, Cambridge dorsal scale row counts are given at one head MNHN: Muséum National d’Histoire Nat- length behind head, at midbody (i.e., at the urelle, Paris level of the ventral plate corresponding to a half QSMI: Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, of the total number of ventrals), and at one Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok head length before vent. Values for paired head SDSU: San Diego State University, San Diego characters are given in left / right order. Descriptions of the viscera and its characters RESULTS can be found in Wallach (1985, 1988, 1993). Visceral characters are morphometrically des- The unnamed colubrid snake specimen, cribed in two ways. Organ lengths, organ mid- although presenting the typical characters of the points (MP), gaps between two organs, and genus Oligodon on the basis of its dentition (see intervals including two organs are presented as below), head coloration pattern and meristical a percentage of the snout-vent length (% SVL), data, could not fit with any key published for with only the % sign following the value (i.e., the snakes of Thailand, West Malaysia nor 34.5%). Organ lengths are typically followed Indonesia (De Rooij, 1917, Smith, 1943, parenthetically by the midpoint value; these two Taylor, 1965, Tweedie, 1983), nor did it agree values describe the size of the organ and pin- with published descriptions of other species of point its location within the body cavity. When the genus. We regard it as representing a new two visceral characters are compared with each species, which we describe as: other, their ratio is presented in decimal form to two decimal places (i.e., 0.45). Although both Oligodon jintakunei sp. nov. figures represent a ratio of two characters, the (Figs. 1-5) % figure indicates an organ length divided by the body (SVL) length whereas a decimal value Oligodon sp.: Chanhome et al., 2001: 56. indicates one visceral character divided by Holotype.–QSMI 385, adult male, from another. Krabi Province, Thailand. Collected by Mr. Abbreviations of measures and other meris- Piboon Jintakune, 1990. tic characters used in the text are: Diagnosis.–A species of the genus Oligodon, SVL: snout-vent length. - TaL: tail length. - characterized by (1) a gracile and much elong- TL: total length. - TaL / TL: ratio tail length / ate body with the head clearly distinct from the total length. - HL: head length. - Ven: number neck; (2) a dorsal body pattern consisting of 11 of ventrals. - SC: number of subcaudals. - SL: regularly spaced narrow whitish rings touching number of supralabials. - InfL: number of the ventrals on a dark brown background color; infralabials. PAUWELS ET AL. - NEW SPECIES OF OLIGODON FROM SOUTHERN PENINSULAR THAILAND 9 FIGURE 1. Dorsolateral view of the right side of the head of the holotype QSMI 385 (drawing by O.S.G. Pauwels). On the left side, the loreal does not reach the nasal. (3) 6 maxillary teeth, the last three ones much Body scalation. 189 Ven, laterally angulate enlarged and laterally compressed; (4) inter- (+1 preventral, wider than long but not in nasals and prefrontals fused with one another contact with the first row of dorsals); 46 SC, all on each side of the head; (5) high numbers of paired and slightly laterally angulate, plus one ventrals (189) and subcaudals (46 pairs); (6) 15 terminal scale; anal divided. Dorsals in 15-15- dorsal scale rows at midbody. 15 rows, all smooth, with two apical pits along This species differs from all other members the posterior midlateral region of the body. of the genus by the combination of the six Head scalation. Rostral large, distinctly characters cited above. These and further visible from above, pointed posteriorly; nasals characters are detailed below and in the Dis- divided, with the nostril lateral, linked to the cussion, where a comparison with other species first supralabial by a suture and to the is given. internasal-prefrontal by a weak crease; inter- nasals and prefrontals fused with one another Description of the holotype on each side of head; frontal large, roughly Habitus. Very gracile and elongate body, triangular, with apex directed posteriorly, 3.9 with a head clearly distinct from the neck. mm long, 1.2 times longer than wide, 3.1 times Snout moderate, blunt in dorsal view, rounded longer than suture between fused internasals- in lateral profile. Eye moderate, its horizontal prefrontals, much longer than its distance from diameter 12.5 % of head length, pupil rounded. tip of snout, slightly shorter than parietals; 1/1 Tail comparatively long for the genus, rounded. undivided supraocular; 1/1 single loreal, tiny, SVL: 370 mm; TaL: 78 mm; TL: 448 mm; horizontally elongate, separated from nasal by HL: 9.8 mm; ratio TaL/TL: 0.174. 2nd SL at left, contacting nasal by a point at right; 1/1 small preocular not reaching frontal; 10 NAT. HIST. J. CHULALONGKORN UNIV. 2(2), AUGUST 2002 FIGURE 2. Dorsal view of the head of the holotype FIGURE 3. Right side of the head of the holotype QSMI 385 (photograph by Renaud Boistel). QSMI 385 (photograph by Renaud Boistel). FIGURE 4. Dorsal view of the body of the holotype FIGURE 5. Ventral view of the body of the holotype QSMI 385 (photograph by Renaud Boistel). QSMI 385 (photograph by Renaud Boistel). 1/1 postocular; no subocular; 7/7 SL; 1st SL eyes, joining the lip at the level of the 3rd to small, 2nd and 3rd in contact with loreal, 3rd 5th SL; a typical abrupt transition between head and 4th SL in contact with orbit, 5th to 7th SL color and dorsum color. large, 6th and 7th SL the largest; 1 long Ventral surface of head whitish with roughly anterior temporal, with a smaller second one symmetrical small brown spots on mental, under its posterior part; 7/7 IL, first pair widely infralabials and chin shields; ventral surface of in contact behind mental, the four first ones are body and tail uniformly whitish, of the same in contact with the chin shields on each side; color of the dorsal rings. single pair of chin shields, followed by three Tooth morphology. The maxilla, barely bent, subequal small pairs of gulars directly pre- bears 6 teeth, two anterior ones, very small and ceding the preventral.