Dendrelaphis fuliginosus Griffin, 1909

Rooijen, Johan Van & Vogel, Gernot, 2012, A revision of the taxonomy of Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) (Serpentes: Colubridae), Zootaxa 3272, pp. 1-25 : 12-13

Dendrelaphis fuliginosus Griffin, 1909

Figs. 7 , 8 .

Description. A species of the Dendrelaphis caudolineatus group, characterized by the combination of 1) absence of black longitudinal stripes; 2) absence of a pale ventrolateral line; 3) postocular stripe absent, rarely rudimentarily present; 4) an orange stripe on the neck is absent in live specimens ( Taylor, 1922; Gaulke, 1994); 5) 173–175 ventrals (males), 175–182 ventrals (females); 6) 97–114 subcaudals; 7) relative tail-length 0.255–0.285; 8) 5–7 temporal scales on each side; 9) 9–11 infralabials on each side; 10) 2–5 scales touching the posterior borders of the parietal scales; 11) maximum total length males 97.0 cm, females 130.5 cm.

Description of the neotype. FMNH 67409, subadult male from Negros collected by D. S. Rabor ; SVL 56.5 cm; TAIL 21.5 cm; 173 ventral scales; 108 subcaudal scales; anal shield divided; dorsal scales in 13-13-11 rows; 9 supralabials, supralabials 5 and 6 touch the eye; 10 infralalabials, infralabials 6 and 7 touch the first sublabial; infralabials 1–5 touch first chinshield, infralabials 5,6 touch second chinshield; 2 postoculars; temporal formula 2:2:1/1:2:2; vertebral scales not enlarged; eye-diameter 4.0 mm/ 3.9 mm; eye-nostril distance 3.7 mm / 3.7 mm; snout-width 4.2 mm; posterior edge of the parietal scales touched by 5 scales; head-length 23 mm; ground-color olive-brown; supralabials, chin and throat light-yellow; venter yellowish; very faint temporal stripe; no black stripes; no pale ventrolateral line; thin black stripe on underside of tail.

Sexual dimorphism. Females appear to have slightly larger eyes than males on average (F = 6.5; df = 1; p = 0.04). Females grow larger than males (see description).

Distribution. Dendrelaphis fuliginosus inhabits the Philippine islands Mindoro, Negros, Panay and Masbate.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Dendrelaphis fuliginosus Griffin, 1909, subadult from Negros, neotype (FMNH 67409; TL 78.5 cm.).

FIGURE 8. Dendrelaphis fuliginosus Griffin, 1909, adult from Mindoro (USNM 508641; TL 113.0 cm.).