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| Naja ashei
Wüster & Broadley, 2007
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We describe a new species of giant spitting cobra, Naja ashei sp. nov., from eastern and north-eastern Africa. The species was previously regarded as a colour phase of the black-necked spitting cobra, N. nigricollis. However, mtDNA sequence data show it to be more closely related to N. mossambica than N. nigricollis. The new species is diagnosable from all other African spitting cobras by the possession of a unique clade of mtDNA haplotypes and a combination of colour pattern and scalation characteristics. Its distribution includes the dry lowlands of northern and eastern Kenya, north-eastern Uganda, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia.
Key words: Naja ashei sp. nov., Naja nigricollis, Naja mossambica, Serpentes, Elapidae, Africa, mitochondrial DNA, phylogeny, multivariate morphometrics
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| FIGURE 4. Holotype of Naja ashei (NMK S/3993) in life. |
Naja ashei sp. nov.
Ashe’s spitting cobra
Diagnosis. Naja ashei differs from all other African spitting cobras in possessing a unique clade of mtDNA haplotypes. From the data presented here, we identified 12 fixed nucleotide differences that differentiate N. ashei from the other eastern African spitting Naja. These correspond to positions 105, 169 and 315 of the ND4 sequence of the holotype (DQ897706), and to positions 60, 108, 153, 201, 348, 381, 507, 630 and 676 of the cytochrome b sequence of the same specimen (DQ897749), the diagnostic bases at these positions being C, T, G, C, G, T, T, T, A, C, T and A, respectively.
Morphologically, N. ashei differs from East African N. nigricollis in a number of characters relating to adult colour pattern and scalation. In particular, its midbody and posterior ventral colour is predominantly light, with dark pigment encroaching mostly from the sides of the body (venter normally largely or entirely dark in N. nigricollis), it lacks any red, orange or pink pigment under the throat (usually pronounced in N. nigricollis), and the head is the same olive-brown colour as the rest of the body (often black above and below in East African N. nigricollis). Scalation does not provide any absolutely diagnostic characters for N. ashei, but mean scale counts and the range differ clearly from those of East African N. nigricollis (Table 4). In particular, N. ashei can be distinguished from most eastern African N. nigricollis by the combination of high ventral scale and dorsal scale row counts. Most N. ashei have over 195 ventrals and at least 21 and typically more scale rows around the neck, whereas most N. nigricollis with 195 or more ventrals have at most 21, and usually 19 or fewer scale rows around the neck, whereas higher scale row counts around the neck tend to be found in specimens with fewer ventral scales.
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Etymology. We dedicate this species to the memory of the late James Ashe (1925–2004), in recognition of his contributions to East African herpetology, of the inspiration he gave to others working on the herpetofauna of this part of the world (see Spawls, 2004), of his early recognition of the distinctiveness of the species that now bears his name, and in gratitude for his support for this work.
Wolfgang Wüster and Donald G. Broadley. 2007. Get An Eyeful of This: A New Species of Giant Spitting Cobra from eastern and north-eastern Africa (Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae: Naja). Zootaxa. 1532(1); 51–68.
