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| Calamaria dominici Ziegler, Tran & Nguyen, in Ziegler, Tran, Babb, Jones, ... et Nguyen, 2019. |
Abstract
A new species of Calamaria Boie, 1827 is described based on a single specimen collected in evergreen forest at 1240 m elevation of Ta Dung Nature Reserve in Dak Nong Province, Central Vietnam. The new species is characterized by (1) rostral wider than high; (2) paraparietal surrounded by six shields and scales; (3) eye diameter larger than eyemouth distance; (4) preocular present; (5) supralabials 5/4, 3-4/2-3 entering orbit; (6) maxillary teeth nine, modified; (7) infralabials 5/4, first three touching anterior chin shields; (8) mental touching tip of right anterior chin shield; (9) ventrals 1 + 174; subcaudal scales 18/17, divided; (10) precloacal plate single; (11) tail relatively short (6.2% of the total length), nearly as thick as body, slightly tapering, and ending in obtuse point; (12) dorsal scales reducing to six rows at position above 4th subcaudal, and to four rows above 13th subcaudal on tail; (13) dorsum dark with irregular yellow blotches; and (14) ventral side dark with few yellow blotches and bands. This is the sixth new Calamaria species described from Vietnam in the past thirteen years and the tenth species of Calamaria recorded from this country.
KEYWORDS: Calamaria, Serpentes, taxonomy, Dak Nong Province, Vietnam
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| Holotype of Calamaria dominici sp. nov. (IEBR R.2018.1) in life. Photo R. D. Babb. |
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| Holotype of Calamaria dominici sp. nov. (IEBR R.2018.1) in life. Photo R. D. Babb. |
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| Fig. 2. Head views of the holotype of Calamaria dominici sp. nov. (IEBR R.2018.1) in life. Photos R. W. Van Devender. |
Calamaria dominici Ziegler, Tran & Nguyen sp. nov.
Diagnosis: A species of the genus Calamaria characterized by the combination of the following characters: (1) rostral wider than high; (2) paraparietal surrounded by six shields and scales; (3) eye diameter larger than eye-mouth distance; (4) preocular present; (5) supralabials 5/4, 3-4/2-3 entering orbit; (6) maxillary teeth nine, modified; (7) infralabials 5/4, first three touching anterior chin shields; (8) mental touching tip of right anterior chin shield; (9) ventrals 1 + 174; subcaudal scales 18/17, divided; (10) precloacal plate single; (11) tail relatively short (6.2% of the total length), nearly as thick as body, slightly tapering, and ending in obtuse point; (12) dorsal scales reducing to six rows at position above 4th subcaudal, and to four rows above 13th subcaudal on tail; (13) dorsum dark with irregular yellow blotches; and (14) ventral side dark with few yellow blotches and bands.
Etymology: Named dominici to honor Dominic T. Charles Scriven, founder of Wildlife at Risk (WAR), for his contribution towards wildlife conservation in Vietnam.
Suggested common names: Dominic's reed snake (English),
Ran mai gam do-mi-nic (Vietnamese),
Cala maire de Dominic (French),
and Dominics Zwergschlange (German).
Distribution: Calamaria dominici is currently known only from the type locality (Fig. 5).
Natural history: The holotype was found in evergreen mixed forest of broadleaf and conifer trees. The snake was discovered on a forest path near a small creek, for about 50 m distance from a large creek (Figs 6–7). It was found, surface active, in a densely vegetated boggy area at 11:30. The surrounding habitat was primary forest consisting of dense understory punctuated with large boulders scattered over a ca. 20° slope that descended to a large creek. Dissection of the female holotype revealed ovaries with some eggs enlarge to 4 mm.
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| Fig. 7. Habitat of Calamaria dominici sp. nov. in Ta Dung Nature Reserve, Dak Nong Province, Central Highlands, Vietnam. Photo R. D. Babb. |
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| Fig. 6. Ta Dung Nature Reserve, Dak Nong Province, Central Highlands, Vietnam. Photo V. A. Tran. |
Thomas Ziegler, Vu A. Tran, Randall D. Babb, Thomas R. Jones, Paul E. Moler, Robert W. Van Devender and Truong Q. Nguyen. 2019. A New Species of Reed Snake, Calamaria Boie, 1827 from the Central Highlands of Vietnam (Squamata: Colubridae). Revue suisse de zoologie; annales de la Société zoologique suisse et du Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Genève. 126(1); 17-26. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2619512
