A new species of Aspidura Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Knuckles, World Heritage Site, Sri Lanka

Wickramasinghe, L. J. Mendis; Bandara, Imesh Nuwan; Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga; Wickramasinghe, Nethu

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4559.2.3

Cited by 832 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The tropical island of Sri Lanka has a rich and diverse assemblage of reptiles that comprises a total of 238 species, of which 155 (65%) are endemic and 107 are threatened with extinction (MoE-SL 2012;Batuwita 2016;Batuwita and Edirisinghe 2017;de Silva and Ukuwela 2020;Wickramasinghe et al 2017Wickramasinghe et al , 2019Wickramasinghe et al , 2020Karunarathna et al 2019aKarunarathna et al , 2019bKarunarathna et al , 2020Batuwita et al 2020). Amongst the diverse reptile community of the Island, the diversity of geckos (Family Gekkonidae) are remarkable; 59 species have been recognised so far which accounts for 25% of the overall reptilian richness (Karunarathna et al 2019b;Amarasinghe and Karunarathna 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

Karunarathna¹,

Silva²,

Gabadage³

et al. 2021

ZSE

814

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A new day gecko of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 is described from the intermediate bioclimatic zone (Haputale Forest and Idalgashinna Forest in Badulla District) of Sri Lanka. The new species belongs to the Cnemaspis kandiana clade and was recorded from granite caves and abandoned buildings within forested areas. The region in which these habitats are located, receives relatively high annual rainfall (2500–3500 mm) and has fairly cool, moist and well-shaded conditions. The new species is medium in size (30.2–32.9 mm SVL) and can be differentiated from all other Sri Lankan Cnemaspis by the presence of small subcaudals, heterogenous dorsal scales, smooth pectoral and ventral scales, 7 or 8 supralabials and infralabials, 143–159 ventral scales, 15–17 belly scales, 95–103 mid-body scales, 122–132 paravertebrals, 3 pre-anal pores, 4 or 5 femoral pores and 17 or 18 lamellae on 4th toe. The species described herein is categorised as Critically Endangered (CR) under the IUCN Red List Criteria. The major threats for the new species are habitat loss due to expansion of commercial-scale agriculture and illicit forest encroachments. Therefore, we recommend relevant authorities to take immediate conservation action to ensure the protection of these forest areas in Haputale and Idalgashinna along with the buffer zone in the near future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

Karunarathna¹,

Silva²,

Gabadage³

et al. 2021

ZSE

814

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“…and all other species. Even among the dedicated burrowers in the genus Aspidura , there is variation in the burrowing habit; A. ceylonensis and A. desilvai live in moist soil and leaf litter while the other species burrow in firmer soils (Somaweera, 2006; Wickramasinghe et al, 2019; Sanjaya Bandra pers. comm .).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and habit explain head‐shape convergences in natricine snakes

Veerappan

Gower

Cooper

2022

J of Evolutionary Biology

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The concept of ecomorphs, whereby species with similar ecologies have similar phenotypes regardless of their phylogenetic relatedness, is often central to discussions regarding the relationship between ecology and phenotype. However, some aspects of the concept have been questioned, and sometimes species have been grouped as ecomorphs based on phenotypic similarity without demonstrating ecological similarity. Within snakes, similar head shapes have convergently evolved in species living in comparable environments and/or with similar diets. Therefore, ecomorphs could exist in some snake lineages, but this assertion has rarely been tested for a wide‐ranging group within a single framework. Natricine snakes (Natricinae) are ecomorphologically diverse and currently distributed in Asia, Africa, Europe and north‐central America. They are primarily semiaquatic or ground‐dwelling terrestrial snakes, but some are aquatic, burrowing or aquatic and burrowing in habit and may be generalist or specialist in diet. Thus, natricines present an interesting system to test whether snakes from different major habit categories represent ecomorphs. We quantify morphological similarity and disparity in head shape among 191 of the ca. 250 currently recognized natricine species and apply phylogenetic comparative methods to test for convergence. Natricine head shape is largely correlated with habit, but in some burrowers is better explained by dietary specialism. Convergence in head shape is especially strong for aquatic burrowing, semiaquatic and terrestrial ecomorphs and less strong for aquatic and burrowing ecomorphs. The ecomorph concept is useful for understanding natricine diversity and evolution, though would benefit from further refinement, especially for aquatic and burrowing taxa.

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Multilocus phylogeny, natural history traits and classification of natricine snakes (Serpentes: Natricinae)

Deepak

Cooper

Poyarkov

et al. 2021

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Natricine snakes are geographically widespread, species rich (with ~250 extant species) and both morphologically and ecologically diverse. We present a multilocus DNA sequence phylogeny for 249 natricine specimens representing 189 named species, including 69 specimens and 21 species not previously sampled. Our inferred Bayesian and maximum likelihood trees form the basis for evaluations of genus-level classification, historical biogeography, lineage diversification, and dietary, habit and reproductive-mode diversity and evolution, although several, mostly deeper, relationships remain poorly resolved. The optimal trees support natricine origins in Asia, with dispersals to Australo-Melanesia, sub-Saharan Africa (including Seychelles Archipelago, excluding Aldabra), Europe and North Africa and into North and Central America. Viviparity appears to have evolved independently three times in Natricinae but was not significantly associated with an aquatic habit. We found limited associations between habit and diet categories. We propose generic reallocations for four natricine species and highlight other points of uncertainty in natricine classification.

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A new species of Aspidura Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Knuckles, World Heritage Site, Sri Lanka

Cited by 832 publications

References 0 publications

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species

Diet and habit explain head‐shape convergences in natricine snakes

Multilocus phylogeny, natural history traits and classification of natricine snakes (Serpentes: Natricinae)

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