Sunday, January 5, 2025

[Herpetology • 2024] Rediscovery and Revision of the Diagnostic Characters of Opisthotropis daovantieni (Squamata: Natricidae) from southern Vietnam, with notes on its hemipenial morphology and defensive behavior

  

Opisthotropis daovantieni Orlov, Darevsky & Murphy, 1998

in Gao, Zhang, V. Nguyen, Jiang, T. Nguyen, Li et Ren, 2024. 
Photographs by Jia-Tang Li.

Abstract
The Tien’s Mountain Stream Snake, Opisthotropis daovantieni Orlov, Darevsky, and Murphy, 1998, has been represented solely by its type series, with no additional specimens reported in the past two decades. As a result, limited data exist and O. daovantieni remains one of the least studied members of its genus. Based on a re-examination of the type series, analysis of newly collected topotypic specimens, and a review of museum collections, this study provides an updated and comprehensive morphological characterization of O. daovantieni including detailed descriptions of hemipenial morphology, revised diagnostic characters, phylogenetic positioning, and ecological insights. Based on morphological comparisons with congeners, we also define the informal Opisthotropis spenceri group to facilitate future taxonomic work. In addition, this study documents a previously unreported defensive behavior involving tail-poking, observed in the field and thus far unique within the genus Opisthotropis.

Keywords: diagnostic characters, hemipenis, Opisthotropis spenceri group, sulcus spermaticus, tail-poking behavior


Photographs of Opisthotropis daovantieni (CIB 109024) in life.
 (A) General view of body, (B) lateral head view, and (C) ventral view of body.
Photographs by Jia-Tang Li.

Habitat of Opisthotropis daovantieni in Vietnam.
(A) Macrohabitat, and (B) microhabitat.
Photographs by Jia-Tang Li.
 

Zong-Yuan Gao, Yong Zhang, Vu Nguyen, Ke Jiang, Tao Nguyen, Jia-Tang Li and Jin-Long Ren. 2024. Rediscovery and Revision of the Diagnostic Characters of Opisthotropis daovantieni Orlov, Darevsky, and Murphy, 1998 (Squamata: Natricidae) from southern Vietnam, with notes on its hemipenial morphology and defensive behavior. Asian Herpetological Research. DOI: doi.org/10.3724/ahr.2095-0357.2024.0048