Lycodon species

Ganesh, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Punith, K. G., Achyuthan, N. S., Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Adhikari, Omkar & Vogel, Gernot, 2020, A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 256) 14 (3), pp. 74-83 : 81-83

Revised key to South Asian Lycodon species (modified from Ganesh and Vogel 2018)

1a. Body scales strongly keeled.................................................................................................................... L. carinatus

1b. Body scales not strongly keeled................................................................................................................................2

2a. Anal plate entire.......................................................................................................................................................3

2b. Anal plate divided....................................................................................................................................................4

3a. Loreal not contacting internasal; nasal contacting prefrontal..…..........................................…. L. travancoricus

3b. Loreal contacting internasal; nasal not contacting prefrontal.................................……. L. deccanensis sp. nov.

4a. Ventrals <200, body more black than brown....................................................................................................5

4b. Ventrals> 200, body more brown than black.....................................................................................................6

5a. Usually 8 supralabials, reticulations white or with yellow mid-spots............................................... L. striatus

5b. Usually 9 supralabials, reticulations always yellow.................................................................. L. flavomaculatus

6a. Yellow collar always present, no other pattern, ventrals not angulate laterally......................... L. flavicollis

6b. Collar present or absent, body uniform or banded, ventrals angulate laterally...........................................7

7a. Collar present, touching the parietals, converging towards snout tip........................................... L. aulicus

7b. Collar absent, first band far away from parietals, converging towards tail........................ L. anamallensis

Ganesh SR, Kalaimani A, Karthik P, Baskaran N, Nagarajan R, Chandramouli SR. 2018. Herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, India–II; from Western Ghats to Coromandel Coast. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology 7 (1): 28–45.

Ganesh SR, Amarasinghe AAT, Vogel G. 2020 a. Redescription of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Colubridae), an Indian endemic snake, with a review of its geographic range. Taprobanica 9 (1): 50–58.

Ganesh SR, Bhupathy S, Karthik P, Rao GB, Babu S. 2020 b. Catalogue of herpetological specimens at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12 (9): 16,123 –16,135.

Ganesh SR, Achyuthan NS. 2020. A new species of Shieldtail Snake (Reptilia: Squamata: Uropeltidae) from Kolli Hill complex, southern Eastern Ghats, peninsular India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12 (4): 15,436 –15,442.

Grismer LL, Quah ES, Anuar S, Muin MA, Wood Jr PL, Nor S. 2014. A diminutive new species of cavedwelling Wolf Snake (Colubridae: Lycodon Boie, 1826) from Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa 3815 (1): 51–67.

Guo P, Zhang L, Liu Q, Li C, Pyron RA, Jiang K, Burbrink FT. 2013. Lycodon and Dinodon: one genus or two? Evidence from molecular phylogenetics and morphological comparisons. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68 (1): 144–149.

Jablonski D, Masroor R, Khan MA, Altaf M. 2019. Addition to the snake fauna of Pakistan: Mackinnon’s Wolf Snake, Lycodon mackinnoni Wall, 1906. Herpetological Bulletin 147: 21–23.

Janssen HY, Pham CT, Ngo HT, Le MD, Nguyen TQ, Ziegler T. 2019. A new species of Lycodon Boie, 1826 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from northern Vietnam. ZooKeys 875: 1–29.

Luu VQ, Ziegler T, Ha NV, Le MD, Hoang TT. 2019. A new species of Lycodon Boie, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Zootaxa 4586 (2): 261–277.

Luu VQ, Bonkowski M, Nguyen TQ, Le MD, Calame T, Ziegler T. 2020. A new species of Lycodon Boie, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae) from central Laos. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 125 (2): 263–276.

Radhakrishna BP. 1993. Neogene uplift and geomorphic rejuvenation of the Indian Peninsula. Current Science 64: 787–793.

Sclater WL. 1891. List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, British India. 79 p.

Siler CD, Oliveros CH, Santanen A, Brown RM. 2013. Multilocus phylogeny reveals unexpected diversification patterns in Asian Wolf Snakes (genus Lycodon). Zoologica Scripta 42 (3): 262–277.

Vogel G, David P. 2019. A new species of the Lycodon fasciatus complex from the Khorat Plateau, eastern Thailand (Reptiles, Squamata, Colubridae). Zootaxa 4577 (3): 515–528.

Vogel G, Ganesh SR. 2013. A new species of Cat Snake (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae: Boiga) from dry forests of eastern Peninsular India. Zootaxa 3637 (2): 158–168.

Uetz P, Hallermann J, Hosek J. (Editors). 2020. The Reptile Database. Available: http://reptile-database. reptarium.cz/ [Accessed: 1 June 2020].

Underwood G. 1947. Reptiles of Cocanada. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 46: 613–628.

Wall F. 1923. A hand-list of the snakes of the Indian Empire. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 29 (2): 345–361.

Wallach V, Williams KL, Boundy J. 2014. Snakes of the World: a Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. 1,237 p.

Whitaker R, Captain A. 2008. Snakes of India – the Field Guide. Draco Books, Chengalpat, India. 387 p.

Wickramasinghe LM, Vidanapathirana DR, Pushpamal V, Wickramasinghe N. 2020. A new species of Dryocalamus (Serpentes: Colubridae) endemic to the rainforests of southwestern Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 4748 (2): 248–260.

Wostl E, Hamidy A, Kurniawa N, Smith EN. 2017. A new species of Wolf Snake of the genus Lycodon H. Boie in Fitzinger (Squamata: Colubridae) from the Aceh Province of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Zootaxa 4276 (4): 539–553.

S.R. Ganesh earned a doctorate specializing in wildlife biology from the University of Madras, in India, and is now working as Deputy Director and Scientist at the Chennai Snake Park, conducting research on the reptiles and amphibians of southern India. His research themes include documenting the diversity of under-explored ecoregions, updating and refining species characterizations, and elucidating modern-day distribution patterns with respect to southern India’s herpetofauna.

Kaushik Deuti is a scientist in the Herpetology Division of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India. He has been working on morpho-taxonomy, ecology, biogeography, and altitudinal distribution of Indian skinks, agamids, snakes, and frogs for the past 20 years. He has participated in describing two new species of Cnemaspis and one new species of Eutropis in addition to new frog species of the genera Minervarya , Megophrys , and Uperodon .

K.G. Punith is a business management student who runs the non-governmental organization WEROAR

(Wild Animal Emancipation Reptile Oriented Awareness and Rescue). The organization is creating awareness about nature conservation among the Tumkuru (Karnataka, India) public and is also working towards the mitigation of human-wild animal conflicts in the same area.

N.S. Achyuthan is a research associate and curator of the collections of reptiles at Dr. Kartik Shanker’s Lab in the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru, India. He works on squamate scale evolution, and the systematics and taxonomy of Indian snakes and lizards.

Ashok Kumar Mallik received his doctorate degree in 2018 from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, India Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. His research interests include the systematics, taxonomy, hybrid zones and speciation, population genomics, and evolutionary ecology of reptiles and amphibians. Ashok is now working on the systematics and biogeography of a few genera of colubrid and viperine snakes in Peninsular India.

Omkar Adhikari is a herpetologist who earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Zoology from the University of Mumbai, India. Omkar is highly fascinated by the herpetological specimens housed in the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Museum, Mumbai, and research articles published in the BNHS journal, especially those linked to herpetology. He is interested in the systematics, taxonomy, life history evolution, diversity, ecology, and biogeography of the reptiles and amphibians found in India and Southeast Asia. At present, he works as a Junior Research Fellow at the BNHS museum, where he is involved in the digitization and maintenance of the natural history collections.

Gernot Vogel was born in Heidelberg, Germany, obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry, and is now working as a chemist. Beginning as a reptile keeper, Gernot developed a great interest in the snake fauna of the Orient. His special interest lies in the systematics of snake genera with large distribution areas, such as Trimeresurus , Boiga , Oligodon , Lycodon , Pareas , Dendrelaphis , and others, with a primary geographical emphasis on China, India, and Indonesia.

Appendix 1. List of comparative material examined.

Lycodon travancoricus : INDIA: BMNH 1946.1 .13.75 (Syntype) Travancore, Attraymallay ; CAS 15967 , Ernakulam, Cochin State ; ZSI 13695 , ZSI 13696, Piermed (3,500 ft), Travancore, South India ; ZSI 13396 , Coonoor, Nilgiris ; ZSI 17693 , ‘ India,’ no locality ; FMNH 217705 , Ponmudi, Trevandrum district , Kerala ; ZSI 13694 and ZSI 13698 ; ZSI 13531 , Koppa, Mysore ; SACON / VR-97 Meghamalai, Theni district , Tamil Nadu ; BNHS 1061 Tinnevelly [= Tirunelveli district ], Tamil Nadu ; BNHS 1067 , 1068 , 1069 , 1070 all from Matheran, Bombay Presidency ; BNHS 1071 Mahabaleshwar, Western Ghats ; BNHS 1072 Paralai, Valparai, Anamalai Hills ; BNHS 2738 Shevaroy Hills, Madras Presidency ; BNHS 2739 Khanapur, Belgaum district, Mysore State ; BNHS 2740 Gersoppa Falls, Mysore State .

Lycodon anamallensis : INDIA: BMNH 1946.1 .14.92 (Holotype), Anamallays ; BMNH 1904.10 .18.2, Cannanore, Malabar, south India ; BMNH 1904.10 .18.4, Cannanore, Malabar, South India ; CSPT / S-28b, Madras ; BMNH 1904.10 .18.3 Cannanore, Malabar , Kerala ; BMNH no number, Madras ; BMNH 1924.10 .13.7, Mundakayan, Trawancore , Kerala ; CSPT /S-28a, Madras ; NMW 21707 Malabar ; MCZ R2232 Pondicheri ; SRI LANKA: FMNH 25927 , from Colombo ; MHNG 1198.70 Sri Lanka, no locality ; ZFMK 32253 , Sri Lanka, no locality; UPZM-17a and b, Peradeniya Kandy ; MHNG 744.7 , Ceylon [= Sri Lanka ], no locality ; NMW 21689.4 , Ceylon [= Sri Lanka ] .

Lycodon striatus : INDIA: BNHS 1083 Nilambur, Malabar; BNHS 1084, 1085 Madras; BNHS 1086 Secunderabad, Hyderabad; SACON/VR-96 Chinnamannur, Theni district, Tamil Nadu; SRI LANKA: ZFMK 52511, Kitulgala; ZFMK 52137, Kitulgala; ZFMK 52510, ‘Sri Lanka,’ no locality.

Lycodon aulicus : MYANMAR: NMW 21699.1, Bhamo; CAS 215387, Sagaing; CAS 205000, DNA tested, Rakhin; CAS 245960, Tanintharyi; CAS 219800, Ayeyarwadi; NMW 14483, no locality; ZMB 11625, no locality; NMW 21702.2, Pegu; ZMB 10258, Minhla; BMNH 1928.1.4.1, Rangun; NEPAL: FMNH 62427, Tansing; BMNH 1936.7.2.2, Mae District, Doons; BMNH 80.11.10.138, ‘Nepal’ no locality; BMNH 1984.1216, Royal Chitwan; FMNH 83090, Kathmandu; PAKISTAN: SMF 64484, Lahore, W-Pakistan; INDIA: BMNH 1908.5.23.15, Diburgash, Assam; FMNH 165108, Junganathpur, West Bengal; FMNH 8650, Central province near Chanda; FMNH 60647, Central province, Balaghat dist; BMNH 82.8.26.22, Kinelly (=Kimdey) hills, [Andhra Pradesh]; BMNH 74.4.29.958, Wynads, [Kerala]; ZMB 1790, Bengal; BMNH 1904.10.18.5, Cannannore, Malabar; NMW 37406:1, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; NMW 37406:2, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; CAS-SU 12263 Bisrampur, Madhya Pradesh; FMNH 165107 West Bengal, Howrah Dist.; FMNH 161469 West Bengal, Barnijunoh; NMW 14487.1 ‘Alakan;’ ZMB 1791 Bengal; ZMB 9956 Ajmere, Rhajasthan; ZMB 1806 Calcutta; NMW 14488 Kolkata; BMNH 1921.6.15.3 Bangalore, Karnataka; SMF 32463 Agra; ZMB 1791 Bengal; BMNH 1955.1.3.11 Mysore, 3,500 ft, Karnataka; BMNH 1936.1.3.4 Namakal, Tamil Nadu; BMNH 1924.10.13.9 Punakanaat, 700 ft, Travancore, Kerala; BMNH 69.8.28.94 Matheran, Maharashtra; MCZ R3877, R4783 Madras; SRI LANKA: FMNH 123906, Ceylon, no locality; ZFMK 52137, Kitulgala; ZFMK 52511, Kitulgala; NMW 21689:5–7, no locality; NMW 14487:2–3, no locality; FMNH 123907 Ceylon, Trincomalee; ZFMK 52510 Sri Lanka, no locality; NMW 21689:1–3 Sri Lanka, no locality; NMW 14487:1 Sri Lanka; INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS: ZFMK 29976, Mauritius; ZMB 8158 Île Bourbon [=La Réunion]; ZFMK 21766 Mascarenes, Reunion, Manapany; ZFMK 29977 Mauritius.