A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Reptilia: Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from Rakwana massif, Sri Lanka

Abstract

A new species of Rhinophis, Rhinophis erangaviraji sp. nov. is described, the tenth species of the genus known from Sri Lanka. The new species is readily distinguished from all other congeners by its colour pattern and scalation. Morphometric analysis supports the distinction of the new species from the superficially similar R. blythii. The new species is known only from the Rakwana massif, where it has been collected in shady areas, within loose soil.

Two new species of Rhinophis Hemprich (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from Sri Lanka

“…Current knowledge suggests to us that taxonomic revision of Sri Lankan uropeltids at the species level might be needed most among those less distinctively coloured species (e.g., R. philippinus), and particularly among those species with larger presumed distributions (e.g., R. oxyrhynchus). Although we expect the number of future synonymies or 'resurrections' of species to be fairly small for Sri Lankan uropeltids, we agree with Wickramasinghe et al (2009) that new species likely remain to be discovered. In addition to new fieldwork, existing collections need to be studied further to better characterize currently nominate valid species using increased individual and character sampling.…”

“…Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 comprises about 13 nominal species of burrowing uropeltid snake endemic to the Western Ghats region of peninsular India and, mostly, Sri Lanka (e.g., McDiarmid et al, 1999;Wickramasinghe et al, 2009). The taxonomy of uropeltids (sensu McDiarmid et al, 1999) has been fairly stable over the last century, but probably due in large part to lack of attention rather than prior completion of a well-founded framework (Gower et al, 2008).…”

“…The taxonomy of uropeltids (sensu McDiarmid et al, 1999) has been fairly stable over the last century, but probably due in large part to lack of attention rather than prior completion of a well-founded framework (Gower et al, 2008). Recently, Wickramasinghe et al (2009) described a new species of Rhinophis from Sri Lanka and suggested that the uropeltid fauna of that country remained under-studied and incompletely known. Here we describe two additional new species.…”

Comparative Skull Morphology of Uropeltid Snakes (Alethinophidia: Uropeltidae) with Special Reference to Disarticulated Elements and Variation

“…In addition to the relative paucity of recent systematic research on uropeltids, no developmental data are yet published, and patterns of interspecific variation remain undocumented. The majority of the scant literature on uropeltid biology that does exist is focused on species records including external measurements and scale counts (e.g., [23] – [30] ). Descriptions rarely go below the surface, and few data on uropeltid anatomy were published between an early monograph on the skeleton of two species of Rhinophis [31] and a series of studies on the morphology of the ‘Henophidia,’ in which Uropeltidae was included [32] – [35] .…”