Dendrelaphis levitoni, Rooijen & Vogel, 2012

Rooijen, Johan Van & Vogel, Gernot, 2012, A revision of the taxonomy of Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) (Serpentes: Colubridae), Zootaxa 3272, pp. 1-25 : 13-14

Dendrelaphis levitoni sp.nov.

Fig. 9 .

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus, Boulenger 1894 , p. 90

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus, Griffin 1909b , p. 598

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus, Griffin 1911 , p. 261

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus, Taylor, 1922 , p. 172

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus, Meise & Hennig, 1932 , p. 282

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus, Leviton, 1963 , p. 378, 401

Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus, Leviton, 1968 , p. 382 –385

Holotype. CAS 15803, adult female from “ Puerto Princesa, Palawan , P.I.”; collector A. Seale; collected 6 July 1908 ( Fig. 9 )

Paratypes. ZMA 21570, Philippines (Palawan); BMNH 1894.6.30.48, Palawan, collected by Everett; SMF 74464, Bataraza, collected by M. Gaulke; USNM 158273, Initiam, collected by Thomson; USNM 158276, Puerto Princesa, collected by Kuntz.

Description. A species of the Dendrelaphis caudolineatus group, characterized by the combination of: 1) black longitudinal stripes along the entire length of the body, 8 stripes at midbody; 2) a pale ventrolateral stripe along the entire length of the body; 3) a black postocular stripe which extends onto the neck where it becomes one the upper longitudinal stripe that borders the pale ventrolateral line; 4) 175–181 ventrals (males), 180–189 ventrals (females); 5) 101–116 divided subcaudals; 6) relative tail-length 0.250–0.285; 7) 4–6 temporal scales on each side; 8) 9–11 infralabials on each side; 9) 4–5 scales touching the posterior borders of the parietal scales; 10) maximum total length males 81.5 cm, females 130.5 cm.

Description of holotype. Adult female; SVL 70.0 cm; TAIL 28.0 cm; 182 ventral scales; 109 subcaudal scales; anal shield divided; dorsal scales in 13-13-11 rows; 9 supralabials, supralabials 5 and 6 touch the eye; 10 infralalabials, infralabials 6 and 7 touch the first sublabial; infralabials 1–5 touch first chinshield, infralabials 5,6 touch second chinshield; 2 postoculars; temporal formula 3:1:2; vertebral scales not enlarged; eye-diameter 4.9 mm /5.0 mm; eye-nostril distance 4.6 mm / 4.7 mm; snout-width 5.1 mm; posterior edge of the parietal scales touched by 4 scales; head-length 24 mm; ground-color olive-brown; supralabials, chin and throat yellow; venter light-yellow; top of head covered with irregularly spaced, irregularly shaped dark spots; postocular stripe covers nearly half of temporal region, extends onto neck, runs along length of body as a dark stripe; 6 black stripes anteriorly, 8 black stripes at midbody reducing to 6 black stripes before tail; lower two black stripes enclose pale ventrolateral line which covers the upper half of the first dorsal row and lower half of the second dorsal row; black stripe on underside of tail.

Variation. A summary of the morphological and coloration characters of the types is given in Table 5 .

Sexual dimorphism. On average, males have 177 ventral scales whereas females have 184 ventral scales (F = 5.4; df = 1; p = 0.05). Females grow larger than males (see description).

Distribution. Dendrelaphis levitoni sp. nov. inhabits the Philippine islands of Palawan, Balabac and Candaraman.

Etymology. This species is named after A. E. Leviton in honour of his extensive work on the Philippine snakes.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Dendrelaphis levitoni sp. nov., adult from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, holotype (CAS 15803; TL 98.0 cm.).