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| Calamaria garoensis Bharali, Sangma, Amarasinghe, Lalremsanga, Hazarika, Bohra & Purkayastha, in Bharali, Sangma, Amarasinghe, Bohra, Swargiary, Marak, Hazarika, Das, Asem, Lyngdoh, Lalremsanga et Purkayastha, 2026. |
Abstract
The fossorial reed snakes of the genus Calamaria are morphologically conservative, geographically structured, and frequently misidentified across broad regions, especially where historical names have been applied without explicit synonymy audits. During surveys in the Garo Hills, Meghalaya, Northeast India, we collected a series of Calamaria specimens referable to the “Calamaria pavimentata” concept historically used for the region. We evaluate these specimens using a morphology-first framework complemented by mitochondrial cytochrome b phylogenetic placement. Maximum-likelihood inference recovers the Meghalaya lineage as the strongly supported sister to C. mizoramensis, with an uncorrected p-distance of 6.3%; these mitochondrial values are treated as descriptive support rather than as threshold-based evidence. Morphologically, the Meghalaya lineage is diagnosable by a unique combination of scalation, tail morphology, and coloration, including a short tail that is not gradually tapering, an obtusely pointed tail tip, and a broad median black stripe on the tail venter. To stabilize name usage around the new taxon, we summarize the historical names associated with the C. pavimentata complex, emphasizing type localities and type material where known.
Keywords: Cytochrome b, Garo Hills, Meghalaya, morphology, phylogeny, taxonomy
Calamaria garoensis Bharali, Sangma, Amarasinghe, Lalremsanga, Hazarika, Bohra & Purkayastha, sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Calamaria garoensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: 8–9 enlarged maxillary teeth; rostral broader than high; prefrontal shorter than the frontal and contacting the first two supralabials; mental not contacting the anterior chin shields; dorsal scales in 13–13–13 rows, smooth throughout; one preocular and one postocular; four supralabials, the second and third entering the orbit; five infralabials; six scales surrounding the paraparietal; 165–187 ventrals; 12–27 paired subcaudals; a short tail (TaL/TL 4.7–14.2%), not gradually tapering and terminating in an obtuse tip; dorsum dark brown to blackish brown with six narrow longitudinal stripes and a faint pale nuchal ring; ventral surface yellow with dark outer corners on the ventral scales; and a broad, distinct median black stripe on the tail venter.
Manmath Bharali, Chesime M. Sangma, A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe, Sanath C. Bohra, Pranjal Swargiary, Griksrang C. Marak, Arup K. Hazarika, Madhurima Das, Bipin M. Asem, Jennifer Lyngdoh, Hmar T. Lalremsanga and Jayaditya Purkayastha. 2026. A New fossorial Reed Snake (SQUAMATA: CALAMARIIDAE: Calamaria) from Northeast India, with A Nomenclatural Synopsis of the Calamaria pavimentata Complex. TAPROBANICA: The Journal of Asian Biodiversity. 15(1):12-25. DOI: doi.org/10.47605/tapro.v15i1.397 [14 April 2026]
https://www.taprobanica.org/Archives/volume-15-20-2026-31/volume-15-number-1-2026/v15i1-397.html
