Ophiophagus salvatana Gowri Shankar, Das & Wuster 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Das, Indraneil
name: Shankar, P. Gowri
name: Swamy, Priyanka
name: Williams, Rhiannon C.
name: Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte
name: Prashanth, P.
name: Sahoo, Gunanidhi
name: Vijayakumar, S. P.
name: Höglund, Jacob
name: Shanker, Kartik
name: Dutta, Sushil K.
name: Ganesh, S. R.
name: Wüster, Wolfgang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Elapidae
Ophiophagus
Ophiophagus salvatana

description: Ophiophagus salvatana Gowri Shankar, Das & Wüster sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1D2264EB-DFE1-4A71-AAA3-0EC155480486
Figs 9J–L, 10D, 11D, 15
Common name
Luzon king cobra.
Diagnosis
A species of Ophiophagus inhabiting Luzon Island in the northern Philippines and exhibiting the following combination of characters: lacking pale bands along body of adults (vs with dark-edged, pale bands in O. hannah; lacking dark edges to the pale bands, if present, in O. bungarus, or with a pale band in O. kaalinga sp. nov.). Further, it differs from O. hannah in having fewer pterygoid teeth (11 vs 18– 21). Finally, juveniles of O. salvatana sp. nov. have extremely angular pale body bands, with the dark intervening areas covering 2–3 scales (vs more rounded pale body bands, the intervening areas covering 4–9 scales in congeners). The new species, with 85–86 pale body bands, can be easily separated from O. hannah (27–48) and O. kaalinga (28–48); relative tail length ranging 18.7–23.0% with a mean of 20.85% (vs 21.7–26.4% [24.05%] in O. hannah; vs 19.3–25.1% [22.2%] in O. bungarus; vs 18.0–19.9% [18.95%] in O. kaalinga).
Etymology
The specific epithet salvatana is the Tagalog (a vernacular language spoken in Luzon and adjacent regions of the Philippines, of Austronesian origin) name for the king cobra in the Luzon region (northern Philippines), here coined as a noun in apposition and hence invariable.
Type material
Holotype
PHILIPPINES • ♂; Luzon, Benguet Province, Baguio; 16.40° N, 120.60° E; Edward H. Taylor leg.; CAS 61329.
Paratypes
PHILIPPINES • 1 spec.; Luzon, Isabella; 17.00° N, 122.00° E; BMNH 94.10.24.15 • 1 ♀; Luzon, Camarines Sur Province, Gota Beach Caramoan; 13.88° N, 123.70° E; UF 50927 • 1 ♂; Luzon, Camarines Sur Province, Caramoan Municipality, Tarago Base Camp; ca 13.82° N, 123.80° E; UF 55008 • 1 ♂; Luzon, Pampanga Province, Sapang Tagalog, Tarlac; 15.42° N, 120.59° E; UPM 1692 • 1 ♂; Luzon, Camarines Sur Province, San Pedro, Iriga; 13.49° N, 123.47° E; FMNH 53553.
Description of holotype (CAS 61329)
MEASUREMENTS. SVL 2060 mm, TL 517+ mm, total 2577+ mm.
HABITUS. Body relatively robust (midbody width 30.0 mm, 1.5% SVL), triangular in cross-section; Transverse body rows: DSR1 19; DSR2 15; DSR3 15; ventrals 252; subcaudals 95+; supralabials 7; infralabials 8; anterior temporals 2; posterior temporals 2; cloacal plate 1; dorsal and ventral scales smooth; subcaudals 1–26 and 31–37 undivided, the rest divided; tail short, cylindrical, tapering posteriorly, tail tip missing.
HEAD. Head relatively large, head length 52.2 mm; head width 31.7 mm; head depth 21.1 mm; distinct from neck, flattened in the orbital region, rounded in the sagittal region, with a depression medially, snout projecting slightly beyond mandible; canthus rostralis sharply defined; eye width 7.5 mm; interorbital distance 22.4 mm; cephalic scales juxtaposed, smooth-edged, except parietals and occipitals, which are slightly imbricate; rostral trapezoid in shape, distinctly visible from above, slightly under twice as high as wide, concave ventrally, rostral width 12.6 mm; rostral length 6.7 mm; eye to snout distance 19.7 mm; eye to nostril distance 9.4 mm; nostril diameter 5.4 mm; internasals large, subtrapezoidal, wider than long; internasal suture length 4.6 mm; internasal width 6.9 mm; prefrontals trapezoid, wider than long; prefrontal length 7.7 mm; prefrontal width 9.3 mm; prefrontal suture 5.8 mm; frontal lanceolate, contacting prefrontals, supraoculars and parietals, rectangular in shape, short-sided anteriorly; supraocular subtrapezoidal, contacting prefrontal, frontal, parietal, orbit, preocular and upper postocular; large paired occipitals; occipital length 12.4 mm; interoccipital scute absent; nuchals undifferentiated; supralabials 7/7; III–IV (L/R) touching the eye; II (L/R) contacting nasal and I, II and III (L/R) contacting posterior nasal; Supralabial I low; II high; III tallest; IV and V subequal; and VI and VII low, narrow and elongate; Supralabial IV does not contact preoculars; nostril lateral at posterior of a single concave nasal, oval in shape, its greatest diameter at a vertical plane; nasal irregularly triangular, one preocular and three postoculars; eye large, contained in head length 0.14 times and head depth 0.36 times; pupil rounded; ocular ring comprises seven scales – one preocular, three postoculars, one supraocular and two supralabials; suboculars absent; temporals 2/2 (L/R) + 3/3 (L/R); anterior upper temporal longer than lower temporal; mental small, triangular, wide than deep (mental width = 6.98 mm; mental depth = 3.64 mm); infralabials 8/8 (L/R); infralabial I–IV contact anterior genial; infralabial IV–V (L/R) contact posterior genials; infralabial IV largest; two pairs of genials, with the anterior larger than posterior; cuneate scute on lower jaw absent; three elongated gular scales follow posterior mental; the anterior longer than posterior.
DENTITION. Maxillary teeth recurved and stout, not compressed, gradually increasing in size posteriorly; fang length 6.4 mm; fang width at base 1.8 mm; teeth count obscured by gingivae.
COLOURATION. Dorsum of holotype is yellowish-grey, each scale on forehead and body edged with pale grey, lacking distinct pale bands; the venter is paler, scales similarly dark-edged, edges progressively darker posteriorly.
Morphological variation
None of the six specimens examined have an interoccipital scute. All subcaudals were divided in the holotype, while other specimens examined have some undivided subcaudals, typically, the first, and some succeeding subcaudals, up to Subcaudal 26, in what appears to be an irregular pattern that cannot be linked to either sex, ontogeny or geographical distribution. Variations observed include undivided subcaudals 1–17, 20–25, 28, 30–35, 46 (UPMNH 1692); 1, 4–6, 25 (UF 50927); 1–18 (UF 55008); and 1–26, 31–37 (CAS 61329). In life, dorsal surface of body is Dark Neutral Gray #83, forehead and posterior fourth of body darker, especially on scale periphery, making the posterior of body darker than the rest; interscale areas dark along body; the largest scales of forehead, frontal, parietal and occipitals and upper temporals with a distinct dark edge; ventral scales, from Ventral I suffused with yellow, gradually turning entirely yellow with irregular patterned grey posterior edges; oval scales of the 2–3 lower-most row of dorsal scale rows meeting ventrals yellow; posterior third of body dorsum darkening due to increasing intensity and extent of dark edges of scales; tail dorsum nearly black, individual scales with yellow centres. Mandible and genial region Buff Yellow, #53; the gular region brighter, Orange Yellow, #18, with darker areas peripherally. Abdominal region as in gular region, but progressively darkening, initially from the peripheral region of the scales. Subcaudal region with pale scales, obscurely darkened throughout and with dark edges. Pupil rounded, black, with pale yellow narrow ring; iris brownish-grey with a yellowish-brown ring. Tongue blackish-grey, oral cavity pink. Images of two hatchlings were examined for colour and pattern. The forehead of hatchlings is Light Neutral Gray (#85), including the posterior cephalic scales (including upper temporal, parietals and occipital), dark edged, Jet Black (#89), the dark areas of the latter pair extensive, separating the pale areas of the centre as eye-like spots; dorsum of body is Jet Black (#89), 2–3 scales across, with 101, extremely angular, Pale Neutral Gray (#86) bands, a single scale across; the pattern on back is undifferentiated posteriorly. Apart from two hatchlings, on which we counted 85–86 narrow pale bands on the body, the distinct pale bands seen in other species of the genus are absent in O. salvatana sp. nov. In preservative, forehead and dorsum of body are greyish-brown, with darker edges of scutes; no other patterns are discernable; venter is similarly coloured but slightly paler. Three individuals that permitted count of tooth and / or sockets have dentition thus: 15 dentaries; 11 pterygoids and 3 palatines.
Distribution
The range of the species is restricted to the Luzon islands in the northern Philippines (Diesmos et al. 2005; McLeod et al. 2011; Siler et al. 2011; Devan-Song & Brown 2012; Brown et al. 2013; Cruz & Afuang 2018; Cruz et al. 2018). The affinities of king cobras from other islands of the Philippine Archipelago remain to be confirmed.
description: Published as part of Das, Indraneil, Shankar, P. Gowri, Swamy, Priyanka, Williams, Rhiannon C., Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte, Prashanth, P., Sahoo, Gunanidhi, Vijayakumar, S. P., Höglund, Jacob, Shanker, Kartik, Dutta, Sushil K., Ganesh, S. R. & Wüster, Wolfgang, 2024, Taxonomic revision of the king cobra Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836) species complex (Reptilia: Serpentes: Elapidae), with the description of two new species, pp. 1-51 in European Journal of Taxonomy 961 (1) on pages 30-34, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.961.2681, http://zenodo.org/record/13944155