Asiatic Herpetological ResearchFebruary 1992

Vol.4, pp. 13-17|

A New Subspecies of the Dwarf Snake Calamaria lowi ingermarxi ssp. nov.
(Serpentes, Colubridae) from Southern Vietnam

ILYA S. DAREVSKY AND NIKOLAI L. ORLOV
11^Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

Abstract. -The Indo-Malay species of the dwarf snake Calamaria lowi Boulenger was discovered for the
first time in Vietnam, where it is represented by the subspecies Calamaria lowi

ingermarxi spp. nov. Someother examples pointing to the historical links between the herpetofaunas of Vietnam and the insularregions of Southeast Asia are given.

A key to the subspecies Calamaria lowi and to other Calamaria

species from Vietnam is given.

Key words: Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae, Calamaria, Vietnam, biogeography, distribution, taxonomy.

BFIG.

1 .

A- Dorsal and B- lateral view of ZIN 20006, the holotype of Calamaria lowi ingermarxi.

Introduction
According to the last revision of thegenus of oriental colubrid dwarf snakes
Calamaria H. Boie, 1827, the widelydistributed species Calamaria
lowi
Boulenger, 1877 forms three well distinct
Of them, the nominativesubspecies.
subspecies C. I. lowi Boulenger occurs on
Kalimantan Island, Thailand, C. /.
wermuthi Marx and Inger is known from asingle specimen from the western part ofJava Island, Indonesia, and C. I. gimletti
Boulenger is distributed on the Malay
Peninsular mainland and the two adjoining

1992 by Asiatic Herpetological Researchsmall islands of Aor and Riouw (Inger andMarx, 1965). The northern most locationof this subspecies on the Malay Peninsula
is Kalantan where the holotype comesfrom.
In1982, during field herpetologicalwork in Vietnam, a specimen of C. lowi
was taken by the authors for the first timein Indochina, more than 1000 km to thenortheast of the known mainland
distribution of the species.

A detailed studyof this specimen showed that it belongs to asubspecies new to science.
given below.

isIts

description

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 14

February 1992

2mm

FIG. 3. Head: A- dorsal view; B- ventral view;
C- lateral view; ZIN 20006, the holotype ofCalamaria lowi ingermarxi.

FIG. 2. Dorsal and lateral view of the head of ZIN
20006, the holotype of Calamaria lowi ingermarxi.

Calamaria lowi ingermarxi spp. nov.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Holotype.

— Zoological Institute,Russian Academy of Sciences, St.
Petersburg (Leningrad), ZIN 20006;
Buoenloy, Gilai-Contum Province,Vietnam; 750 m; I. S. Darevsky; 18 June
1982; male (Fig. 1).

—Differs from all otherlowi in theofCalamaria
subspecies
ofcombination
characters;
following
maxillary teeth modified; second and third
supralabials enter orbit; mental touching

Diagnosis.

FIG.

4.

ingermarxi.

Left hemipenis ofCalamaria

lowi

A- lateral; B- dorsal view.

anterior chin shields; ventrals uniformly

dark gray colored with light posterioredges; 205 ventrals; 23 subcaudals.

—

Rostral wider
Description of holotype
than high, portion visible from above morethat
half length of prefrontalsuture;.

prefrontal longer than frontal, touching firsttwo supralabials; frontal 2 times width ofsupraocular, length about two thirds that ofthe parietal; paraparietal surrounded by 6shields and scales; nasal smaller thanAsiatic Herpetological Research

February 1992

100Vol. 4, p. 15

120

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Map of the main known localities of Calamaria lowi subspecies:

1- C.

/.

lowi; 2- C. I. gimletti;

3- C. 1. wermuthi (after Inger and Marx, 1965); 4- C. /. ingermarxi.

postocular; no preocular; postocular as deep
as eye; 4 supraoculars, second and thirdrows, 205 ventrals, 23 subcaudals; SVL
296 mm; TL 22 mm; ratio of tail to total

entering orbit, fourth longest, first notlonger than third; mental triangular,
touching first pair of chin shields; both pairof chin shields meeting in mid-line; 3 gulars
in midline between posterior chin shields
and first ventral (Figs. 2 and 3). Tail short,
not tapering, tip blunt; dorsal scales reduce

length is 0.074.

4 rows on tail opposite first to fifth
subcaudal anterior to terminal scute. Eight
modified maxillary teeth. Thirteen scale
toThe hemipenis is 4 mm in length, forkedon the top, calyces papilate (Fig. 4). Body

grown gray-bluish, immaculate; light spots
on each side of neck covering 4 scales;
lower halves of supralabials yellowish.
Ventrals and subcaucals uniformly darkgray except for light borders at the extreme
posterior edge of the ventrals (Fig. 1).

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 4, p. 16

Distribution.

— Known only fromtype locality in central

insular regions of Southeast Asia.
For
example, in central Vietnam at the type
locality of C. I. ingermarxi we collected aspecimen of the skink, Sphenomorphus

theVietnam (Fig. 5).

Probably occurs widely within the Pleicu
Plateau in the central part of Gilai-Contum
Province in central Vietnam.

stellatus (Boulenger).

Calamaria.

DiscussionThis species is also

found in Thailand on Kalimantan Island(Bacon, 1967). This region of Vietnam is—Etymology. This subspecies is namedfor Robert F. Inger and Hymen Marx who
have made a great contribution to the studyof the herpetofauna of Southeast Asia.
Among other works, they are the authors of
an important summary on the taxonomyand evolution of the snake genus

February 1992

also the type locality of the glass lizard

Ophisaurus sokolovi Darevsky and Sang(1983).

This species is closely related toOphisaurus buetticoferi Mertens fromKalimantan Island, Thailand. In the same
area a specimen of Calamaria
septemtrionalis was collected. This species
is widely distributed in Vietnam and also on
the Malay Peninsula.

This specimen of Calamaria lowi from
Gilai-Contum Province in central Vietnam
was found a considerable distance from themain distribution of this species, which is
the Malay Peninsula in Malaysia and theislands of Kalimantan and Java, in Thailand
and Indonesia respectively. However, C.
lowi is not the only species suggesting

The present day disjunction in the rangesof these and some other species of reptiles
and amphibians are apparently of secondary
formation, as a result of the changes
occuring in the paleogeographic conditionsin this region. In particular, the sinking of

someKalimantan and Java from the mainland

historicallink between
thefaunasof Vietnam and theherpetologicalthe water level during the Pleistocene,
which led to the separation of both(Beaufort, 1951).

Key to the species of Calamaria from Vietnam.
1(6).

2 (3).

Preocular present.

Ventrals yellow, immaculate

C. buchi Inger et Marx.

3 (2). Ventrals yellow, with dark lateral tips.

4 (5).

Tail as thick as body, not tapering, end broadly roundedC.
5 (4). Tail not as thick as body, tapered, pointed6(1).

septentrionalis

Boulenger.

C. pavimentata Dumeril et Bibron.

Preocular absent

C. lowiBoulenger.

Key to the subspecies of Calamaria lowi.
1(2).

Mental not touching anterior chin shields

C. /. gimletti Boulenger.

2(1). Mental touching anterior chin shields.
3 (4).

Ventrals uniformly cream colored

C. /. wermuthi Inger et Marx.

4 (3). Ventrals colored otherwise.
5 (6). Anterior ventrals cream, posterior ventrals almost
uniformly dark brown; orventrals yellow with large, irregular brown
C. I. lowi Boulenger.
squares

6 (5).

Ventrals all uniformly dark gray with light posterior bordersC.

/.

ingermarxi

ssp.

n.

Asiatic Herpetological Research

February 1992

Acknowledgments

We are most grateful for the valuablecomments of Dr. Robert F. Inger (Field

Museum of Natural History, Chicago) andto Dr. E. A. Arnold and Dr. A. E. Stimson

Museumof Natural History,London) for the loan of comparative
material of Calamaria.
(BritishLiterature Cited

BACON, J. P.

1967.

Systematic status of threescincid lizards (Genus Sphenomorphus) fromVol. 4, p. 17

Borneo. Fieldiana, Zoology 51 (4):63-76.

BEAUFORT, L. F.

1951.

Zoogeography of theland and island waters.

Sidgwick and Jackson,Ltd., London.

208 pp.

DAREVSKY, I. S., AND N. V. SANG.

1983.

Newand little known lizards species from Vietnam.
(InZoologitcheski Zhurnal 62:1827-1837.
Russian).

INGER, R. F., AND H. MARX.

1965. Thesystematics and evolution of the oriental
colubrid snakes of the genus Calamaria.
Fieldiana, Zoology 49:3-303.