First record of Ahaetullamycterizans (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Lesser Sunda region, Indonesia, based on molecular and morphological identification

Abstract

The arboreal snake genus Ahaetulla (Link, 1807) is composed of 8 species distributed in most countries of the Asian region, including Indonesia,

Taxonomic revaluation of the Ahaetulla prasina (H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827) complex from Northeast India: resurrection and redescription of Ahaetulla flavescens (Wall, 1910) (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae)

“…Due to the unavailability in the Genbank dataset of the sequences of Indahsari et al (2020) from the topotypical Javan population of A. prasina, we are unable to include the Javan population in our phylogenetic analysis and cannot calculate the genetic distance directly from the Javan population. Nevertheless, the Sundaic population (Indahsari et al 2020) and the Northeast Indian population (current study) are both deeply divergent from the Thai population which lies geographically between the two. We found that the Northeast Indian population differs from the South Chinese population by 6.7%, from the Thai population by 6.3% and from the Vietnamese population by 7.4% at Cytb (Table 5a).…”

“…But sightings of the buff variety prompted Wall to discuss their taxonomy, putting weightage on colour differences. However, based on the current understanding of distributions, it seems that geographic barriers may have prompted the cryptic diversification of the A. prasina complex across its range (also see Indahsari et al 2020). Our work on these A. prasina populations further emphasizes the underappreciated role of geographic disjunction, coupled with cryptic morphology covering the underlying deep genetic divergence that has rendered the status of the A. prasina group, and other similar groups, so challenging.…”

“…mycterizans, because it is sister to the A. mycterizans main clade. The populations of A. prasina sequenced from its type locality in Java have a genetic distance of 4.86-6.28% (in Cytb) from the Thai population (Indahsari et al 2020). Using this a bar for comparison, we propose that the Northeast Indian population of A. prasina is distinct at the species level from other populations (Table 5).…”

“…A. prasina and A. mycterizans groups from Peninsular India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia (Mohapatra et al 2017;Deepak et al 2018;Mallik et al 2019Mallik et al , 2020Indahsari et al 2020;Lam et al 2021). Thus, it is not surprising that the Northeast Indian population of A. prasina (sic), once described as a new "variety" (Wall 1910) and then synonymized (Smith 1943), represents a cryptic lineage that is highly divergent and allopatric with respect to the Southeast Asian A. prasina complex (Indahsari et al 2020).…”

“…Recently, in line with the unexpected cryptic diversity discovered and resolved in South Asian congeners (see Mallik et al 2020 and references therein), phylogenetic studies on A. prasina populations from the Sundas (Indonesia) also revealed cryptic species in this complex. Indahsari et al (2020) sequenced and analysed populations inhabiting the Sundaic islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. They discovered the presence of up to six cryptic lineages within these populations.…”