A revision of the taxonomy of Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Abstract

The systematics of the wide-ranging southeast Asian colubrid snake Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) wasinvestigated on the basis of multivariate analyses of morphological and coloration data for 131 museum specimensrepresenting 28 geographically isolated populations. The results demonstrate that the current taxonomy of D.caudolineatus underestimates species diversity in the Philippines. The following revisions are implemented. 1)Populations from the Philippine island Palawan and adjacent islands currently referred to D. c. caudolineatus (Gray, 1834)are described as a new species, D. levitoni sp. nov. 2) Populations from the Philippine islands Negros, Panay, Mindoroand Masbate, currently assigned to D. c. terrificus (Peters, 1872) and D. c. luzonensis Leviton, 1961 are referred to D.fuliginosus Griffin 1909, which is revalidated. 3) Populations from the southern Philippine islands Basilan, Mindanao,Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Polillo, Kalotkot, Catanduanes as well as Southeast Luzon currently referred to D. c. terrificus(Peters, 1872) are referred to D. philippinensis Günther, 1879 which is revalidated. 4) The population from Sulawesi isreferred to D. terrificus (Peters, 1872). Currently regarded as a polytypic species composed of five subspecies, D.caudolineatus is here considered to be a monophyletic group comprising eight species. The distributions of these eightspecies correspond largely with aggregate island complexes formed during periods of reduced sea level during the Pleistocene. However, some deviations indicate post-Pleistocene dispersals across sea barriers.

Variation in species richness, composition and herpetological community structure across a tropical habitat gradient of Palawan Island, Philippines

“…Simultaneous examination of morphology and genetic data often reveal the underestimated nature of species diversity, even in taxonomic groups with recent, well-developed taxonomies. In recent years, studies that rigorously examined these data have uncovered high levels of unrecognised diversity amongst Philippine frogs (Brown and Guttman 2002; Brown et al 2009Brown et al , 2017, lizards (Linkem et al 2010;Siler et al , 2011aDavis et al 2014) and snakes (Van Rooijen and Vogel 2012;Weinell and Brown 2018). Species from the VAMR, urgently requiring taxonomic revision (Esselstyn et al 2010), include Hemiphyllodactylus typus (Grismer et al 2013), Bronchocela cristatella, Lamprolepis smaragdina (Linkem et al 2013), Eutropis indeprensus (Barley et al 2013, in press) and frogs of the genera Kaloula (Blackburn et al 2013) and Philautus (Hertwig et al 2011).…”

The amphibians and reptiles of Mindanao Island, southern Philippines, II: the herpetofauna of northeast Mindanao and adjacent islands

“…Previously considered part of a widespread polytypic species complex (Leviton 1968), referred to Dendrelaphis caudolineatus , the name Dendrelaphis philippinensis recently was resurrected by van Rooijen and Vogel (2012) and applied to southern Philippine populations. The holotype specimen of Dendrelaphis philippinensis was collected from northern Mindanao (Günther 1879), indicating that this application is most likely correct.…”

“…The holotype specimen of Dendrelaphis philippinensis was collected from northern Mindanao (Günther 1879), indicating that this application is most likely correct. The biogeographically anomalous distribution of the populations currently referred to Dendrelaphis philippinensis (van Rooijen and Vogel 2012)—including Mindanao PAIC landmasses, but also Cebu Island (the West Visayan faunal region), the Bicol Peninsula and Polillo islands (the Luzon faunal region; Brown and Diesmos, 2009)—will require independent verification via a molecular test of these revised species boundaries. This species currently has not been assessed for conservation status, but its wide distribution, if correct, would lead as to consider it “Least Concern” (LC; IUCN 2010).…”

The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: the herpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range

“…Luzon populations of Dendrelaphis luzonensis (Leviton 1961, 1968; van Rooijen and Vogel 2012; Fig. 82) are most often encountered asleep in shrubbery and understory vegetation, ferns and palms, surrounding the banks of streams and rivers, especially at low elevations in and around agricultural areas and on forest edges.…”