A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the central hills of Sri Lanka

Wickramasinghe, L. J. Mendis; Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga; Rajeev, M. D. Gehan; Gower, David J.

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.7

Cited by 812 publications

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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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“…As in some other species of Rhinophis (e.g. Wickramasinghe et al 2017Wickramasinghe et al , 2020Gower 2020), including R. sanguineus (Wall 1919), females tend to have fewer subcaudals (and shorter tails) and more ventrals. The number of ventrals is broadly overlapping between the sexes, but the subcaudal counts are not, being a mean (of left and right counts) of 4-5 in females and 6.5-8 in males (Fig.…”

Section: + 4 (28)mentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Pyron et al 2016). Eighteen of the 23 currently recognised species of Rhinophis are endemic to Sri Lanka, and no species occur in both Sri Lanka and India (Cyriac et al 2020;Pyron et al 2016;Wickramasinghe et al 2017;Gower 2020). Following the recent description of R. melanoleucus Cyriac, Narayanan, Sampaio, Umesh & Gower, 2020, there are five currently recognised Indian species of Rhinophis (Cyriac et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new Indian species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 closely related to R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae)

Sampaio

Narayanan

Cyriac

et al. 2020

Zootaxa

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503

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A new species of the uropeltid (shieldtail snake) genus Rhinophis is described based on a type series of seven specimens from the Wayanad region of the Western Ghats of peninsular India. The holotype was collected before 1880 but had been misidentified as the phenotypically similar and parapatric (possibly partly sympatric) R. sanguineus. Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. is diagnosed by a combination of 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody, 4–8 pairs of subcaudal scales, colour pattern (uniformly dark above, whitish below with extensive dark mottling), and by its distinct mitochondrial DNA sequences (e.g. >7.6% uncorrected p-distance for nd4). Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data indicates that the new species is most closely related to R. sanguineus among currently recognised species, with this pair most closely related to the partly sympatric R. melanoleucus. The new species description brings the number of currently recognised species in the genus to 24, six of which are endemic to India and 18 endemic to Sri Lanka. A new key to the identification of Indian species of Rhinophis is provided.

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

Gower

2020

Zootaxa

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A new species of the uropeltid snake genus Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 is described from near Balangoda, southwestern Sri Lanka. Rhinophis mendisi sp. nov. superficially resembles R. homolepis (Hemprich, 1820) in colour pattern and in its prominent, conical tail shield, but differs from that species in having far fewer ventrals (159–177, n = 13 versus > 195 in the types of R. homolepis and its subjective junior synonym R. gerrardi). The five type specimens and one of the referred specimens of the new species were collected probably between 1894 and 1925, and the only known additional, referred specimens (n = 8) were collected from within ca. 30 km of the type locality in 1972. A lectotype is designated for Mitylia gerrardi Gray, 1858, a subjective junior synonym of R. homolepis.

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A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the central hills of Sri Lanka

Cited by 812 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

A new Indian species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 closely related to R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae)

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

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