Ahaetulla travancorica Mallik & Srikanthan & Pal & D'Souza & Shanker & Ganesh 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mallik, Ashok Kumar
name: Srikanthan, Achyuthan N.
name: Pal, Saunak P.
name: D'Souza, Princia Margaret
name: Shanker, Kartik
name: Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Colubridae
Ahaetulla
Ahaetulla travancorica

description: Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov.
Ahaetulla dispar (not of Günther, 1864)— Ishwar et al. 2001 part
Holotype. BNHS 3592 (CESS075); Chemunji, Peppara, Agasthyamalai, Kerala; Coll. Saunak P. Pal and Mrugank Prabu, 2010.
Type locality. Chemunji (8.67947 N 77.19325 E, 1300 msl), in Peppara wildlife sanctuary, a part of Agasthyamalai hills, Southern Western Ghats.
Comparative material. Proahaetulla antiqua Mallik, Achyuthan, Ganesh, Pal, Vijayakumar & Shanker 2019.
Holotype BNHS 3572 (ex. CESS259 re-registered); adult male; Agasthiyar peak, Agasthyamalai hills, Kalakad Mundanthurai tiger reserve, Tamil Nadu, India; Coll. Saunak P. Pal and S. P. Vijayakumar, 2011.
Paratype BNHS 3573 (ex. CESS318 re-registered); adult male; Pandimotta, Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Thenmala, Kerala; Coll. S. R. Chandramouli and K. P. Dinesh, 2012 (see Mallik et al. 2019).
Etymology. Latin, for an inhabitant of Travancore (a name given to the former province corresponding to present day south Kerala and the far south of Tamil Nadu), in allusion to its distribution in that part of the Southern Western Ghats.
Diagnosis.
1. Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov. is phylogenetically sister to A. dispar.
2. There is a moderate level (4.1% in Cytb and 1.1% in 16S) of genetic divergence between Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov. and its closest relative, A. dispar. Both species differ from other members of Ahaetulla with a high level of genetic divergence.
3. A species of Ahaetulla possessing loreal scales (vs. loreal absent in all other Western Ghats congeners except A. dispar), possessing white ventrolateral stripe (vs. absent in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov.); lacking rostral appendage (vs. rostral appendage present in all other Indian Ahaetulla spp., except A. dispar and A. perroteti). From its closest genetic relative, A. dispar, the new species differs by having 2 loreals on each side of head (vs. 0–1 in A. dispar), infralabials 7–8 (vs. 9 in A. dispar), mild keels on 1 st dorsal row of scales along vertebra (vs. smooth scales in A. dispar) (Fig 18). From the sympatric Proahaetulla antiqua, the new species is diagnosable by the presence of rather smooth dorsal scales (vs. keeled in P. antiqua); a brownish red tongue (vs. blackish greenish tongue in P. antiqua); postoculars 2 on each side (vs. often 3 in P. antiqua) (Fig. 22, Table 2).
4. Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov. is distributed south of the Shencottah Gap in the Southern Western Ghats, relative to its sister A. dispar which is distributed north of the gap. The separation of populations of A. dispar and Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov. is also supported by genetic distance and morphological characters.
Description of Holotype. Adult male of total length 642 mm; dissected; very slender, partially laterally compressed body with snout to vent length 400 mm; tail length 242 mm; relative tail length 0.37; ventrals 153 notched with keels; subcaudals 130 divided, cloacal scale divided; relatively long and slender tail; dorsal scale rows in 15- 15-13 rows of obliquely disposed scales; vertebral row mildly keeled, other dorsal scales smooth; head very distinct from neck with head length 22.4 mm; transversely oval eyes with horizontal pupil, with a horizontal diameter of 4.4 mm; distance from nostril to eye 5.1 mm; distance from snout tip to eye 7.5 mm; supralabials 8 (both left and right) with 6 th supralabial being the largest, 5 th supralabial in contact with the eye; 4 th supralabial divided; prefrontal and internasal in contact with 1st supralabial; infralabials 7 on right and 8 on left;; 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th infralabials in contact with anterior genials; 4 th and 5 th infralabials in contact with posterior genials; mental scale wedged in between 1 st pair of infralabials, not in contact with genials; nasal 1 (both left and right); loreals 2 on each side of head; pre-suboculars 2 on the right and 1 on the left; pre-ocular 1 (both left and right); post-oculars 2; sub-oculars absent; temporal 2+2 on right and 2+2 on left; prefrontal scale in contact with pre-oculars; preventrals 2.
Colour in life. Dorsum dark green to olive green; first infralabial and rostral tipped with yellow, other supralabials, infralabials, venter whitish blue to yellowish green in midbody; light yellow to white ventral stripe along notched ventral keels, slight discolouration in the pre-ocular; inter-scalar skin black and white anteriorly-converging bars; eyes golden yellow with black speckles; concentration of black speckles both in the anterior and posterior ends of a horizontal pupil bordered with light golden yellow; tail, subcaudals light green.
Colour in preservative. Dorsum uniform dark green to olive green; rostral, infralabials, venter light blue to white; white to yellowish white ventral stripe along notched ventral keels; whitish stripes along ventrals at centre; slight discolouration in the pre-ocular; inter-scalar skin black and white anteriorly-converging bars; eyes yellow clouded with white with black speckles; concentration of black speckles both in the anterior and posterior ends of the dilated pupil.
Maxillary arch dentition. Arched with a dip towards diastema; 14 teeth perpendicular to maxilla, curving inwards; prediastemal teeth 9, postdiastemal teeth 5, observable gradual tooth size increase in prediastemal tooth set with the largest teeth precursing diastema; diastema 2 tooth-sockets wide; suffixed with a set of 3 smaller teeth followed by last grooved pair of large teeth (Fig. 6h).
Distribution and Habitat. At present, this species is known from only a single locality in the Agasthyamalai hills of the Southern Western Ghats (Fig. 23). It was recorded from high elevation montane shola forests (above 1000 msl) near Chemunji in Peppara wildlife sanctuary, Agasthyamalai hills. The holotype was found basking in the morning on a shrub at the edge of a shola patch.
description: Published as part of Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Srikanthan, Achyuthan N., Pal, Saunak P., D'Souza, Princia Margaret, Shanker, Kartik & Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, 2020, Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India, pp. 1-62 in Zootaxa 4874 (1) on pages 42-44, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4874.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4423512