An inconspicuous, conspicuous new species of Asian pipesnake, genus Cylindrophis (Reptilia: Squamata: Cylindrophiidae), from the south coast of Jawa Tengah, Java, Indonesia, and an overview of the tangled taxonomic history of C. ruffus (Laurenti, 1768)

Abstract

We describe a new species of Cylindrophis currently known only from Grabag, Purworejo Regency, Jawa Tengah Pro-vince (Central Java), Java, Indonesia. Cylindrophis subocularis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by the presence of a single, eponymous subocular scale between the 3^rd and 4^th or 4^th and 5^th supralabial, preventing contact between the 4^th or 5^th supralabial and the orbit, and by having the prefrontal in narrow contact with or separated from the orbit. We preface our description with a detailed account of the tangled taxonomic history of the similar and putatively wide-ranging species C. ruffus, which leads us to (1) remove the name Scytale scheuchzeri from the synonymy of C. ruffus, (2) list the taxon C. rufa var. javanica as species inquirenda, and (3) synonymize C. mirzae with C. ruffus. We provide additional evidence to confirm that the type locality of C. ruffus is Java. Cylindrophis subocularis sp. nov. is the second species of Asian pipesnake from Java.

Hiding in plain sight on Gunung Muria: A new species and first record of rock gecko (Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887; Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Java, Indonesia

“…km, and Belitung Island (the type locality of C. purnamai) by ~470 km. The African-Asian Frog genus Chiromantis also occurs in Java (Riyanto & Kurniati 2014;Wostl et al 2017), as do other recently described reptiles and amphibians (Riyanto et al 2014;Hartmann et al 2016;Kieckbusch et al 2016;Wostl et al 2017;Hamidy et al 2018). These novelties have shown Java to be a more herpetologically interesting place than heretofore believed, even though it was believed to have been relatively well studied during the long history of exploration during the Dutch colonial period.…”

Tracking a syntype of the Australian skink Anomalopus leuckartii (Weinland, 1862): 'lost' treasures in the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden highlight the importance of reassessing and safeguarding natural history collections

“…The rediscovery of the type of A. leuckartii, together with other recent (re)discoveries of valuable herpetological specimens, including new species and presumably lost types (e.g., noWaKKemP & Fritz, 2010;bauer & Wagner, 2012;bucKlitsch et al, 2012;bauer & günther, 2013;borczyK, 2013;böhme, 2014;Kathriner et al, 2014;böhme et al, 2015;hartmann et al, 2016;KiecKbusch & mecKe et al, 2016) in natural history collections, highlights their outstanding importance for clarifying many of the most fundamental questions in organismic biology. However, this requires that unique knowledge about the history of particular collections (including knowledge about the naturalists that were associated with them) is preserved.…”

Naming and gaming: The illicit taxonomic practice of ‘nomenclatural harvesting’ and how to avoid it

“…As a rule, examination of previously described material should also be made mandatory for naming taxa above the species level. This may sound labour-intensive and, in some cases, may constitute a seemingly superfluous task, but in our experience (Kathriner et al, 2014;Kieckbusch et al, 2016;Mecke et al, 2016), a careful look at specimens may uncover inadvertent errors by earlier authors. We would also like to note that most phylogenetic studies, in particular molecular studies, do not normally involve type specimens.…”