Ahaetulla perroteti ( Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 )

Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Srikanthan, Achyuthan N., Pal, Saunak P., D’Souza, Princia Margaret, Shanker, Kartik & Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, 2020, Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India, Zootaxa 4874 (1), pp. 1-62 : 45-46

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4874.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8FF98990-0E47-4BB7-82BB-098F86771271
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4567205
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/353C523C-142B-2617-FF50-95C9FC44FBDB
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Ahaetulla perroteti ( Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 )
status

Treatment

Ahaetulla perroteti ( Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)

Psammophis perroteti Duméril, Bibron & Duméril 1854

Leptophis canarensis Jerdon, 1854

Dryophis tropidococcyx Günther 1858

Tropidococcyx perroteti — Theobald 1868

Dryophis perroteti — Boulenger 1890

Ahaetulla perroteti — Savage 1952

Material examined. CESS 286; adult female; Mukurthi, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu; Coll. Ashok Kumar Mallik,

2010.

CESS 287; adult male; Mukurthi, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu; Coll. Ashok Kumar Mallik, 2010.

Etymology. Eponym, named after George Samuel Perrottet (1790–1870) a French botanist, who also worked on the natural history of Indian biota.

Diagnosis.

1. Ahaetulla perroteti is sister to a clade comprising all other members of Ahaetulla distributed in the Western Ghats, other parts of Peninsular India (including A. laudankia ) and Indo-Chinese subregion ( Ahaetulla sp. from Laos).

2. Ahaetulla perroteti is a deeply divergent lineage, with high genetic divergence from all other members of Ahaetulla .

3. It is morphologically separated from most other Indian species by the absence of rostral appendage (vs. present in all Indian congeners except A. dispar , A. travancorica sp. nov.). It differes from the latter species by a lower number (65–86) of subcaudal shields (vs. 103–125 in A. dispar and 130 in Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov.) and complete absence of loreal scales on either side of the head (vs. 0–1 loreals in A. dispar and 2 in Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov.) ( Fig. 24 View FIGURE 24 ).

4. It is distributed in the isolated, upper reaches of the Nilgiri Hills. Geographically and ecologically, A. perroteti is isolated from all other members of Ahaetulla , and is the only Ahaetulla species in the entire Western Ghats that does not have any other syntopic member of the genus throughout its geographic range.

Description of Referred Material CESS286. Adult of total length 427 mm; dissected; very slender, partially laterally compressed body with snout to vent length 292 mm; tail length 135 mm; relative tail length 0.31; ventrals 141 notched with feeble keels; subcaudals 80 divided; cloacal scale divided; relatively long and slender tail; dorsal scale rows in 15-15-13 rows of obliquely disposed scales; paravertebral and sacral scale rows mildly keeled; head very distinct from neck with head length 18 mm; transversely oval eyes with horizontal pupil, with a horizontal diameter of 2.7 mm, vertical diameter of 2 mm; distance from nostril to eye 4 mm; distance from snout tip to eye 5.1 mm; supralabials 8 (both left and right) with the 7 th supralabial being the largest, 4 th and 5 th in contact with the eye; 4 th supralabial divided; infralabials 9 (both left and right); 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th infralabials in contact with anterior genials; 4 th and 5 th infralabials in contact with posterior genials; mental scale wedged in between 1 st pair of infralabials not in contact with genials; nasal 1 (both left and right); loreals absent; pre-subocular (both left and right); pre-ocular (both left and right); post-ocular 1; sub-oculars absent; temporals 2+2 on the right and 1+2 on the left; prefrontal scale in contact with pre-oculars; preventral 1.

Variations (also see Wall 1919; Smith 1943; Whitaker & Captain 2004; Ganesh & Chandramouli 2011). Ventrals 140–149 notched with weak keels (136–146 in Smith 1943); subcaudals 70–84 divided (65–86 in Smith 1943).

Maxillary arch dentition. Arched with a dip towards diastema; 12 teeth perpendicular to maxilla, curving inwards; prediastemal teeth 7, postdiastemal teeth 5, observable gradual tooth size increase in prediastemal tooth set with the largest teeth precursing diastema; diastema around 3 postdiastemal tooth-sockets wide; suffixed with 3 smaller teeth followed by last grooved pair of large teeth ( Fig. 6j View FIGURE 6 ).

Colouration in life. Dorsum bright to darker shades of green (in males) to dark brown to olive (in females); supralabials light green to bronzed, distinct and separated by a weak pre-ocular stripe that extends till the end of the jaw angle; body darker than the head; venter with light green to dirty white central strip bordered with lighter stripes ventrolaterally; eyes golden with numerous black speckles that are highest in concentration towards the ends of the pupil, pupil distinct from the rest of the eye with a light yellow halo around the pupil (also see Ganesh & Chandramouli 2011).

Colouration in preservative. Dorsum faded green to faded brown with mildly distinct supralabials; post-ocular stripe distinct; venter faded light green to dirty white.

Distribution and Habitat. Ahaetulla perroteti is distributed in the upper reaches of the Nilgiri Hills. This species was recorded from the Mukurthi National Park where it occurs at high elevations, from 1980 msl to 2300 msl ( Fig. 25 View FIGURE 25 ). Unlike its other congeners, A. perroteti is predominantly terrestrial to semi-arboreal, inhabiting the montane grasslands and the shola forest mosaic of the Upper Nilgiris.

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Reptilia
Order	Squamata
Family	Colubridae
Genus	Ahaetulla