Vol. 8, pp. 13-17

Asiatic Herpetological Research

1999

Anguis melanostictus Schneider, 1801, a Valid Species of Barkudia(Sauria: Scincidae) from Southeastern India
INDRANEIL DAS
Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300, Kota

Samarahan, Sarawak, East Malaysia
Abstract.- Anguis melanostictus Schneider, 180I, based on a watercolor in Russell (1796), from the Coromandel

coast of India, is shown to be a species of Barkudia, nonconspecific with B. insularis Annandale, 1917, and isrevived. B. melanosticta, is compared with the holotype and other specimens of B. insularis from Orissa State,and shown to be larger (SVL 161.0-164.9 mm, vs. 107.0-143.0 mm), in addition to differing in the following
teeth

anterior

characteristics:

palataldifferentiated);

and lobules around ear opening absent

present(vs.

absent);

(vs.

lobe

of tongue distinctly narrowed (vs. not
A neotype of Barkudia melanosticta

present).

(Schneider, 1801) is designated, based on an adult female from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh State,southeastern India (ZSI 20627).

Key words.- Sauria, Scincidae, Anguis melanostictus, Barkudia

Barkudia melanosticta, neotype

insularis,

designation, Andhra Pradesh, southeastern India

Because the description was substantial, including

Introduction

details of scalations, coloration and scale counts, it isPatrick Russell (1726-1805), perhaps the lirst Western

herpetologist in India, a medical doctor by training,
was posted as naturalist by the British East India

Company at Vizagapatam (at present Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh, southeastern India). Russell is best
for a two volume folio of watercolors ofknown

snakes, published in 1796 and 1801-1802 (finishedbetween 1807-1810; see Adler, 1989; Zhao and Adler,1993), that concentrated on the fauna of the region.
Russell's books are unique in that he used local ver-naculars of the species illustrated, but not their scien-and several leading
names,English
of
the
time
have
named new species on
herpetologists

tific

or

the basis of the watercolors in Russell.
the

life

Accounts ofof Patrick Russell can be found(1989) and Smith

(

in

Adler

1931). The only reptile that is not asnake described and illustrated in Russell (1796: 48;
PI.

XLII), a blind worm snake (Typhlops j-like reptile,

was named Anguis melanostictus by Schneider, 1801.
Russell referred to the species only by the local ver-nacular name, Rondoo talooloo pam (an obvious corruption of 'renda talu pam', Telugu for two-headed
snake), and referred the species to the genus Anguis.

Subsequent workers (e.g., Gray, 1845; Giinther, 1864)
have assigned the species provisionally to the genus
Anguis, the latter author crediting the name, in error,
to Merrem (1820). The species is unlisted in the next

several major works on the herpetology of the region,

including Boulenger ( 1 890) and Smith (1935).

clear that the species illustrated by Russell and named
as Anguis melanostictus by Schneider ( 1 801 ) is a species of Barkudia,

known to be endemic to the east

coast of peninsular India (see Smith, 1935). Diagnostic

features described by Russell (1796) matches only

this genus amongst all other southern Asian species ofscincids: ventrals 151; headand neck subequal; theforehead covered with "laminae of unusual shapes"(fide Giinther, 1864); teeth small, numerous: eyes lateral, small: nostrils small: trunk cylindric, of the small

thickness throughout the body; body scales imbricate;each with a black dot, and eight to 10 parallel dottedlines forming a line that runs from the head to the endof the tail; length 10.5 inches: tail round, smooth, its
tip blunt: taillength 4.5 inches; color reddish-brown;

ventrals and subcaudals glossy white.

The genus Barkudia and its type species, B. insuwas established on a single specimen of a legless scincid from Barkuda Island, Chilka Lake (19°laris,

46'N; 85° 20'E), Ganjam District, Orissa State, Eastern India, by Annandale (1917). Smith (1935) provided a redescription of the species, expanding theoriginal description based on a reexamination of theholotype at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI). No
further species of the genus has been described andGreer (1970), in his analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of scincid lizards, included the genus in thesubfamily Scincinae. Although subsequent specimens
have been found at the type locality (Annandale,

Figure 1.

1999

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 8, p. 14

The neotype of Barkudia melanosticta (ZSI 20627). Bar = 20 mm.
distance

distance

between nares), and1921; also ZSI 22540, collected from the type locality

narialon 5 July, 1961), and from adjacent Nandan Kananinterorbital distance (IO; between orbits).

Biological Park (20° 13'N; 85° 50'E), Cuttack District, Orissa State (Biswas and Acharjyo, 1980), little

Comparative material of Barkudia insularis examined includes: ZSI 18075 (holotype of Barkudia insularis Annandale. 1917), Barkuda Island, Chilka Lake,isknown of its biology (see Murthy, 1990a; 1990b).

(IN;

ZSI 22540: Barkuda

Ganapati and Nayar (1952) reported Barkudia insularis from Waltair (17° 44'N; 83° 23'E; close to Visa-

Orissa, Eastern India;

khapatnam: 17° 42'N; 83° 18'E), Andhra Pradesh
State, Southeastern India, at a distance of circa 300

24086.2 (Nandan Kanan Biological Park, Cuttack

Island,Chilka Lake, Orissa, Eastern India); ZSI 24086.1 andDistrict, Orissa, Eastern India).

km to the southwest of the type locality of B. insularis,

and Ganapati and Rajyalakshmi (1955:279)
noted that the type of the species was reported lost.

Systematic accountSeveral subsequent publications (e.g., Murthy, 1990a;

Barkudia melanosticta (Schneider, 1801) nov.

and Murthy, 1982: Sanyal, 1993; Sanyal et at..
1993; Subba Rao, 1996) uncritically accepted theWaltair locality and listed the Andhra Pradesh locality

comb. (Figs. 1-2)

Pillaifor the species, although both Tikader(1992) and Welchand Sharma(1990) omit this southernrecord. The recent rediscovery of the holotype of B.

Neotype. ZSI 20627 (adult female), Visakhapatnam(17° 42'N: 83° 18'E), Andhra Pradesh State, Southeastern India, 47.8

et al.

Das and Dattagupta (1997), permits an
examination of this and additional material and ainsularis bycomparison with material from Waltair reveal that theAndhra Pradesh material is not conspecific with B.
insularis. This paper redescribes the Southeast Indian

by
is

P.

m above mean sea level, collected

N. Ganapati, 17 August 1954. The type locality

indicated in Fig. 3.

Other material. ZSI 25135 (adult female), collectedby M. V. Subba Rao, 1984.
Diagnosis. A member of the genus Barkudia Annandale, 1917, B. melanosticta (Schneider, 1810), can bematerial and designates a neotype.

distinguished from B. insularis Annandale, 1917, as
follows: larger size (SVL 161.0-164.9 mm, vs. 107.0-

Material and Methods

143.0 mm): palatal teeth present (vs. absent); anterior

The following measurements were taken with dialvernier caliper (to the nearest 0.1 mm): snout- ventlength (SVL; from tip of snout to vent), tail length(TL; from vent to tip of unregenerated tail), tail width(TW; measured at base of tail); head length (HL: distance between angle of jaws and snout-tip), headwidth (HW; measured at angle of jaws), head depth(HD; maximum height of head, from occiput tothroat), body width (BW; greatest width of body), eyediameter (ED; greatest diameter of orbit), eye to nos(E-N; distance between anteriormost
andofnostrils), eye to snout distance (E-S;
eyes
point
distance between anteriormost point of eyes and tip of

tril

distance

lobe of tongue distinctly narrowed (vs. not differentiated from the posterior lobe of tongue); and lobules

around ear opening absent (vs. present).
Description of neotype. Adult

female.

Snout-vent

mm; head elongated (HL/SVL ratio0.05), narrow (HW/SVL ratio 0.04), depressed (HD/length164.9

HL ratio 0.61), indistinct from neck; snout long (E-S/

HW ratio 0.74), longer than the eye diameter (ED/E-S
ratio 0.33). projecting

beyond mandible: parietal eyeabsent; supraoculars three, supraoculars II and III
snout andlargest; supraciliaries present; scales onforehead smooth; rostral emarginate laterally, contactros-

snout), eye to ear distance (EE: distance from anterior

ing supranasals posteriorly; rostral large, lacking
tral groove, wider than deep (rostral width = 3.0 mm;

edge of ear opening to posterior corner of eyes), inter-rostral depth = 1.7mm; width/depth ratio 1.76), con-

Asiatic Herpetological Research

1999

Vol. 8, p. 15

Figure 3. Map of India (marker = 800 km), showing(enlarged on right; marker = 400 km) eastern andsoutheastern India, and the distribution of the two species of Barkudia. Reference: Spots, B. insularis (bothinOrissa State); triangle, B. melanosticta (in Andhra

Pradesh State). See text for details.
around ear opening absent; eye-to-ear distance lessthan eye-to-nostril distance (E-E/E-N ratio 1.19).
Inner rim of upper jaw smooth. Mental large, semicirFigure 2. Head of the neotype of Barkudia melanosticta (ZSI 20627) in dorsal (top left), ventral (top right)

and lateral (bottom) views. Bars = 5 mm. 20627). Bar

cular, wider than deep, single trapezoidal postmental,

larger than mental, its width 0.29 per cent head width.
Postmental contacts infralabial I, but fails to contact= 20 mm.

infralabial II, bounded posteriorly by a pair ofsmooth, rounded, juxtaposed chin scales that are sepa-

tacted posteriorly by two nasals and two semicircular

rated by a single scale. Tongue narrowly elongate, dis-supranasals that are narrowly in contact. Posteroven-tinctly

trally, rostral in contact with supralabial I. Nares slit-

scattered papillae

like, situatedwithin nasals, oriented laterally, nasals
I.
Supranasals con-in narrow contact with supralabial

tact supralabialI

laterally and frontonasal posteriorly:

narrowed

distally,

with a median cleft andon the dorsal surface. Palate witharranged in a regular series; maxillary andmanibular teeth oriented towards the posterior, regu-

teeth

larly arranged.

Body slender, elongate (SVL/BW ratio 0.04). Scales

trapezoid, wider than long, contacting
supranasals anteriorly and frontal posteriorly: frontal

smooth, scale size subequal dorsal ly as well as ven-

deeper than frontonasal, constricted laterally, where it

trally. Anals three, smooth; preanal not enlarged, over-contacts supraocular I; at its posterior end, frontonasal
contacts a V-shaped interparietal, which is wider thanlapped by the last ventral; two scales border anal
laterally, exceeding its posterior level, over vent.

frontal, a single pair of parietals contacts interparietal:

Limbs absent. Tail short, tail length 67.5 mm, much

frontonasalasingle preocular between

lorealandorbit.

Eye

shorter than snout- vent length (TL/SVL ratio 0.41 ),reduced (ED/HL ratio 0.18), orbit situated dorsolater-tailal^; four supralabials (supralabial

suborbital

Ventral surface of tail with smooth, undifferentiatedposition), supralabial IV largest: supralabial followed

subcaudals; scales on the postanal region and at theby a single small scale; infralabials 4; upper eyelids

proximal part of the tail base smooth.

III

in

undeveloped; lower eyelids scaly; two postoculars: asingle anterior and two posterior temporals; ear open-

ing minute, slitlike, measuring 0.05 mm; situated laterallyatapproximately the level of jaws; lobules

base slightly swollen and bluntly rounded at tip.

Coloration, (in alcohol) Dorsally yellowish-brown,
turning chestnut brown towards the posterior half oftail;

the tail tip (last 5

mm of tail) dark brown dorsallyand ventrally, except for a pale yellow spot on theAsiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 8, p. 16

1999

ventrum. Ventrum of body uniformly yellow-cream.

1872), from the Knuckles Range of Central Sri Lanka

In life, these lizards are typically "glossy brown with(see Smith, 1935, for diagnoses).

a black spot in the middle of each scale" (Ganapati

and Rajyalakshmi, 1955).

Measurements.

followed by ZSI 25135mm) SVL 164.9 (161.0); TL(neotype,[an adult female]; in

Barkudia melanosticta (Schneider, 1801) differsfrom B. insularis Annandale, 1917, in the following
features: palatine teeth present (vs. absent); anterior

lobe of tongue narrowed (vs. not differentiated): and67.5- original unregenerated (32.2- partially regener-

lobules around ear opening absent (vs. present). The

TW 4.7 (5.1); HL 8.7 (6.7); HW 6.6 (6.2); HD
5.3 (4.9): BW 6.8 (6.3); ED 1.6 (1.2); E-N 3.2 (3.1);

two specimens known

E-S 4.9 (4.1); E-E 3.8 (3.3); 10 4.7 (5.0); and IN 3.3

examples of B. insularis (SVL 107.0- 143.0
examined.

ated);(3.5).

followed by ZSI 25135 inparentheses).- Ventrals (between postmental and preaScutellation. (neotype,nal) 145 (143); subcaudals 78 (36+): supralabials 4(4) (III in suborbital position in both types); infralabials 4 (4); and midbody scale rows 20 (20).

are larger

161.0 and

(SVL

164.9 mm) than the four (see Materials and Methods)

mm)

Barkudia melanosticta is known only from theAndhra University Campus at Visakhapatnam (northeastern Andhra Pradesh State, southeastern India),
and is thus separated from the two known localities of
B. insularis by a distance of circa 300 km to thesouthwest. Most of Russell's collections were pre-Variation. The non-type differs from the neotype insumably madethe following details: anal divided, lateral scales do

km southeast of Waltair, the only known locality of B.

not exceed level of anal; which bear fine keels and
first

in

and around Visakhapatnam, ca. 5

melanosticta.

scale following postmental contacts infralabial I.

In the original description, the subcaudal count given

(120)

is

significantly larger than thatshown by the

Acknowledgments

neotype- 78 (tail-tip regenerated in the non-type), but
it islikely that adult males (of which no specimens

For permission and facilities to examine comparative

have been examined) have longer tails and therefore,

Kumar Chanda. Basudeb Dattagupta, Nemai Charanlarger subcaudal counts. For instance, in a single male

Gayen and Sujay Raha rendered curatorial assistance.
M. V Subba Rao supplied the second example. Kraig
Adler, Sushil Dutta, Allen Greer, Van Wallach andRomulus Whitaker offered comments on the manu-

Barkudia insularis (ZSI 18075) examined, the subcaudal count was 108, as opposed to 82 in the only
female (ZSI 24086) with an original tail.

Natural history. Several authors have provided information on the natural history of Barkudia melanosticta, including Ganapati and Nayar ( 1952), Ganapati

and Rajyalakshmi (1955), Subba Rao (1996) and

Subba Rao and Nageswara Rao 1998). The local protection given to the new species has precluded the col(lection of additional specimens.

material at the ZSI, I thank J. R. Alfred and Shyamal

script.

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