Ichthyophis moustakius Kamei, Wilkinson & Gower, 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kamei, Rachunliu G.
name: Wilkinson, Mark
name: Gower, David J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Gymnophiona
Ichthyophiidae
Ichthyophis
Ichthyophis moustakius

description: Ichthyophis moustakius sp. nov.
(Figs. 1, 4–5; Tables 1–2)
Holotype. BNHS 5213, an adult female, collected by SDB and RGK on 3 June 2006 from Aziuram duikhun (duikhun = a pond) (25°01’43’’N, 93°24’51’’E; 990 m asl), Aziuram village, Tamenglong district, Manipur, India.
Paratypes (n = 4). BNHS 5214–5216, three adult females, and BNHS 5219, an adult male, collected along with holotype.
Referred material (n = 3). BNHS 5218, an adult female collected on 30 May 2008 from Guigailuang, Nriangluang namdaih (namdaih = a large village), (24°59’32’’N, 93°29’38’’E; 1107 m asl), Tamenglong district; SDB 1513, an adult female collected on 7 June 2007 from Nswanram village (25°01’04’’N, 93°34’09’’E; 838 m asl), Tamenglong district; BNHS 5220, an adult male collected on 29 May 2008 from Duidip Chaengluan (24°55’54’’N, 93°24’53’’E; 306 m asl), Bamgaizaeng village, Tamenglong district. Specimens were collected by SDB and RGK.
Diagnosis. Ichthyophis with broad (W/S <4) fairly regular, mostly solid, lateral yellow stripes from anterior of tail to at least CM, broad along mandibles with narrow anterior gap, expanded and visible ventrally on collars, connected by spurs to disc; arched yellow stripes extending between nares and TAs, broader at former than latter; not known to attain lengths greater than 300 mm, 18 <L/W <25; fewer than 300 AGs, paler than adjacent skin; head somewhat more U-than V-shaped, fairly short (25> L/H> 19); TAs about twice as far from nares than from eyes, variable (1.9 <TN/TE <2.3); collars of similar lengths; scales absent on collars, beginning from about fourth or fifth annulus, with five rows posteriorly on dorsum; similar numbers of IMs and dentary teeth.
Description of holotype. Some morphometric and meristic data given in Table 1. Good condition, several annular scale pockets opened, c. 15 mm midventral longitudinal incision c. 65 mm anterior to vent. 105 vertebrae. Head, nuchal region and trunk slightly dorsoventrally compressed. Girth maximal near midbody, decreasing gradually, more substantially over posteriormost c. 10 mm, L/W = 20.6. Tail upturned towards tip. Head short (L/H = 21.7). In lateral view, CM equidistant from top and bottom of head. In ventral view, lower jaws inset from upper, slightly more so anteriorly than at level of TAs. Eye closer to top of head than to lip in lateral view, surrounded by narrow whitish ring, eye diameter c. 0.6 mm, lens no larger than naris. TAs slightly smaller than eyes, larger than nares, less than twice as distant from nares than from eyes, very close to lips, just below (touching) imaginary lines between nares and CMs. Nares slightly posterior to level of anterior margin of mouth; in lateral view equidistant from tip, top and bottom of snout, inset a little less than one naris diameter from sides in dorsal view. Teeth very slender, strongly recurved, dentary series extend about one third the length of the IM series (with 5 teeth on each side) behind posteriormost IM. Tongue not strongly plicate, margin overlying all except anteriormost IMs. Choanae narrow, distance between them four or five times their greatest width. Collar region slightly more massive than adjacent head and body, delimited by weak constrictions, lacking TGs. C2 slightly longer than C1 measured laterally. Dorsally, NG3 complete with gentle anteromedial curvature.
AGs mostly ventrally incomplete on anterior one third, four interrupted in disc region, four complete ventrally on tail, last two incomplete dorsally. Dorsally, anteriormost c. 25 AGs and posteriormost nine curve slightly anteromedially. Ventrally, anterior AGs strongly angulate, degree of posteromedial curvature about length of two annuli up to midbody, decreasing posteriorly, more or less orthoplicate by 27th annulus anterior to disc. Tiny scales scattered in first AG, three rows of small (0.9 x 0.5 mm) scales in shallow pockets as far anterior as the 11th annulus. At midbody four rows of larger (up to c. 1.4 x 1.0 mm) scales in deep pockets dorsally, three or four rows of smaller scales (up to c. 1.1 x 0.5 mm) in shallow pockets ventrally. Posteriorly (c. 20 annuli anterior to vent) five rows of more rounded scales (up to c. 1.1 x 1.0 mm) in deep pockets dorsally, smaller scales (1.0 x 0.8 mm) in four rows in shallow pockets on venter. No papillae on disc. Fifteen irregular denticulations around vent.
In preservation, lilac-grey with brownish tinges, slightly paler ventrally. Lateral stripes extending from about second or third posteriormost annulus to about eye level on upper jaws and close to mandible tips, expanding ventrally on collars, especially C1, narrowly broken just behind NG1. Narrow yellow lines extending dorsally then curving anteriorly from TAs to nares, thickest near nares; AGs paler, especially posteriorly. In life, dorsum uniformly dark reddish grey, venter pale reddish grey; lateral stripe bright yellow, vent disc mauvish.
Variation. Morphometric and meristic data for the type series and referred specimens are given in Table 1, and summarised in Table 2. There are between three and six dentary teeth posterior to the last IM on each side. The distance between the choanae ranges from three to five times the maximal choanal width. Ranges of the numbers of AGs anterior to the vent that are orthoplicate, and of anterior and posterior AGs that curve anteromedially on the dorsum are quite small (21–29, 8–26, and 7–13, respectively). The number of denticulations around the vent ranges from 13 to 17. Compared to the holotype, the paratypes have mostly Ichthyophis khumhzi Ichthyophis moustakius Ichthyophis sendenyu continued next page incomplete AGs ventrally on a larger proportion of the body. Stripes may or may not be broken across the collars, and may extend as far as the TAs. Papillae on the disc are present in one of the two male specimens (BNHS 5220). The tail is upturned in only a single paratype (BNHS 5215).
Etymology. The species name is derived from the Greek word moustakius, meaning moustache, referring to the distinctive yellow, arched stripes extending between the TAs and nares. The specific epithet is considered to be a noun in apposition.
Suggested common name. Manipur moustached Ichthyophis.
Distribution and natural history. Aziuram, Nswanram, Nriangluang, and Bamgaizaeng in Tamenglong district, Manipur (Fig. 1), at c. 300 to 1100 m asl. All specimens from the type series were collected by digging in perennially wet soil in the heart of the village. Four females with egg clutches containing 9– 19 eggs per clutch in early developmental stages were observed in the dry period (first week of June), suggesting that this species is a relatively early breeder compared with many/most of the frogs in the same region (SDB pers. obs.). BNHS 5220 was collected from underneath a rock in a secondary forest.
description: Published as part of Kamei, Rachunliu G., Wilkinson, Mark & Gower, David J., 2009, Three new species of striped Ichthyophis (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae) from the northeast Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland, pp. 26-42 in Zootaxa 2267 on pages 32-37, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.190862