Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799)

Mulcahy, Daniel G., Lee, Justin L., Miller, Aryeh H., Chand, Mia, Thura, Myint Kyaw & Zug, George R., 2018, Filling the BINs of life: Report of an amphibian and reptile survey of the Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) Region of Myanmar, with DNA barcode data, ZooKeys 757, pp. 85-152 : 85

Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799)

Description.

Juvenile 225 mm SVL, 101 mm TailL; 131 ventrals, 89 subcaudals, 19-19-17 dorsals; adult male 515 mm SVL, 261 mm TailL; 130 ventrals, 93 subcaudals, 19-19-17 dorsals. In both specimens a single rectangular loreal, single preocular, 3 postoculars, 9 supralabials with the 4 th– 5th touching eye, 10 infralabials. No data recorded for the individual observed in the slash & burnt area. Dorsum olive-brown, gray-brown with rows of darker rectangular checkered blotches, “V” nuchal mark on the head. Venter plain, lighter, dark fringes on ventrals absent, but some speckling along the margins.

Natural history notes.

Occurs in ponds and streams in human-impacted areas.

General Distribution.

Widespread, Pakistan to Southeast Asia and southern China.

Molecular Data.

There are currently no other COI sequence for X. piscator available for comparison. The closest COI sequences available are from X. flavipunctatus and they are more than 10% divergent. Our 16S sequences are 4% different from a X. piscator in GenBank (KX277271; no locality data provided).

Comments.

Vogel & David (2012) did not record this species from the Tanintharyi. However, recent records deposited from CAS exist from Dawei. These two specimens extend the distribution of this species ~175 km due south. Xenochrophis flavipunctatus should also occur here, but as yet its presence has not been confirmed. Xenochrophis piscator may represent a species complex, as significant morphological variation occurs in different populations, especially those in India and Sri Lanka ( Vogel and David 2012).

Specimens examined.

USNM 587046 (adult)-587047 (juvenile).

Red List status.

NE.