Stegonotus derooijae Ruane 2017
Creators: name: Kaiser, Christine M.
name: Kaiser, Hinrich
name: O'Shea, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Colubridae
Stegonotus
Stegonotus derooijae

description: Stegonotus derooijae Ruane et al., 2017:13
Taxonomic status. Valid.
Synonyms. None.
Original name. Stegonotus derooijae Ruane et al., 2017:13. The species epithet honors Nelly de Rooij (Fig. 17I), who described S. florensis (see above). The species description was presented in English.
Type specimens. Holotype: MZB Ophi.3288 (Fig. 32 A–E; Ruane et al. 2017: Fig. 6), an adult male (Table 1). Paratypes: MZB Ophi.3293 (Fig. 32 F–H), listed as possibly female. SAMA R70467 (Fig. 32 I–K), listed as possibly female.
Type localities. All type specimens were collected in Raja Ampat Regency, West Papua Province, Indonesia. Holotype: Waibya Camp, Salawati Island, elev. 75 m (ca. 0.9564°S, 130.78°E). Paratypes: MZB Ophi.3293, same data as the holotype; SAMA R70467, Warinkabom, Batanta Island, elev. 50 m (ca. 0.8369°S, 130.72°E).
Collection. All type specimens were collected by Stephen Richards, Burhan Tjaturadi, and Keliopas Krey between 5 and 28 June 2005.
Key characteristics of the type specimens. (1) Holotype, MZB Ophi.3288: 455 mm SVL + 193 mm TL = 648 mm TTL. V ♂ = 181, SC ♂ = 94, SCR ♂ = 0.34, D = 17-17-15, SL E = 3+4, SL = 7, IL = 8, IL G = 5. (2) Paratype, MZB Ophi.3293: 450 mm SVL + 168+ mm TL = 618+ mm TTL. V? = 178, SC? = O, SCR? = O, D = O-17-O, SL E = O, SL = 7, IL = 9, IL G = O. (3) Paratype, SAMA R70467: 290 mm SVL + 108 mm TL = 398 mm TTL. V? = 178, SC? = 90, SCR? = 0.34, D = O-17-O, SL E = O, SL = 7, IL = 8, IL G = O.
Key characteristics of the species. According to their specimen list, Ruane et al. (2017: Appendix) included four specimens (three types, one without type status) of S. derooijae in their analysis. Those the authors considered as possibly female we considered as unsexed for the purposes of our analysis and lumped them into a questionable category for the potentially sexually dimorphic values of V, SC, and SCR, as indicated by a subscripted question mark (?). Of the examined series, one unsexed specimen was collected on Batanta, one male and one unsexed specimen on Salawati, and one unsexed specimen on Waigeo. Characteristics include V? = 178–197 (184 ± 11.0), V ♂ = 181; SC? = 90–91, SC ♂ = 94; SCR? = 0.33, SCR ♂ = 0.34; D = O-17-O (100%); SL E most likely 3+4; SL = 7 (n = 3, 75%) or 9 (n = 1, 25%); IL = 8 (n = 2, 50%) or 9 (n = 2, 50%); IL G most likely 5. The range in ventral scales gives us pause, as it is large and with a very high standard deviation. In other species of Stegonotus, standard deviations for ventral scales range from 4–8 scales, and 11 appears to be very high, even if two sexes are lumped together in this data set.
Comment. Ruane et al. (2017) considered S. derooijae to be a member of their S. diehli complex.
description: Published as part of Kaiser, Christine M., Kaiser, Hinrich & O'Shea, Mark, 2018, The taxonomic history of Indo-Papuan groundsnakes, genus Stegonotus Duméril et al., 1854 (Colubridae), with some taxonomic revisions and the designation of a neotype for S. parvus (Meyer, 1874), pp. 1-73 in Zootaxa 4512 (1) on page 56, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4512.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2607575