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| Pareas kaduri Bhosale, Phansalkar, Sawant, Gowande, Patel & Mirza, 2020 Photograph by Zeeshan A. Mirza. facebook.com/ZeeshanM1988 |
ABSTRACT
A new species of snail-eating snakes of the genus Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from the eastern Himalayas. The species Pareas kaduri sp. nov. differs from all known species of the genus in bearing the following suite of characters: SVL 455–550 mm, TaL/TL 0.184–0.207, brown dorsum with black transverse bands throughout the body, 15 dorsal scale rows throughout the body and mid-dorsal vertebral scale rows enlarged, 8 rows keeled in males, loreal not touching orbit, ventrals 160–183, subcaudals 65–70 in males, 52 in one female specimen, hemipenis short, unilobed and 6–7 maxillary teeth. Molecular data for mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes further attest the distinctness of the new species, which was recovered as a member of the Pareas hamptoni clade. Our work brings the total number of species recognized within the genus Pareas to 20.
Keywords: Arunachal Pradesh, biodiversity hotspot, cyt b, Indo-Burma, molecular phylogeny, Pareidae, Pareas kaduri sp. nov., taxonomy
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| Fig. 1. Pareas kaduri sp. nov. Holotype, ♂ (BNHS 3574) in life. Photograph by Zeeshan A. Mirza. |
Class Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Order Squamata Oppel, 1811
Suborder Serpentes Linnaeus, 1758
Family Pareidae Romer, 1956
Subfamily Pareinae Romer, 1956
Genus Pareas Wagler, 1830
Pareas kaduri sp. nov.
Differential diagnosis: A new species of Pareas bearing the following suite of characters: (1) SVL 455–550 mm, (2) TaL/TL 0.184–0.207, (3) 15 dorsal scale rows (DSR) throughout body and mid-dorsal vertebral scale rows enlarged, 8 rows keeled in males, (4) loreal not touching orbit, (5) ventrals 160–183, (6) subcaudals 65–70 in males, 52 in one female specimen, (7) hemipenis short, unilobed, (8) 6–7 maxillary teeth, (9) dorsum brown with thin black transverse bands, the head with a large black blotch from which two longitudinal black stripes (3–4 scales wide) run on each side of the neck leaving a pale central portion.
Etymology: The specific epithet is a patronym honoring wildlife photographer Sandesh Kadur for his contribution to biodiversity documentation in the Himalayas, in particular Arunachal Pradesh, as well as for his constant support to the authors during the expedition.
Harshal Bhosale, Pushkar Phansalkar, Mandar Sawant, Gaurang Gowande, Harshil Patel and Zeeshan A. Mirza. 2020. A New Species of Snail-eating Snakes of the Genus Pareas Wagler, 1830 (Reptilia: Serpentes) from eastern Himalayas, India. European Journal of Taxonomy. 729(1), 54–73. DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2020.729.1191
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