Calamophis Meyer

Murphy, John C., 2012, Synonymised And Forgotten, The Bird’S Head Stout-Tailed Snakes, Calamophis Meyer (Squamata: Serpentes: Homalopsidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 60 (2), pp. 515-523 : 516-517

Calamophis Meyer

Calamophis Meyer, 1874: 135

Brachyorrhos: Peters & Doria, 1878: 371

Brachyorrhos: Boulenger, 1893: 305

Type species. — Calamophis jobiensis Meyer, 1874 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. — Calamophis is distinguished from Brachyorrhos by the following morphological traits: rostral broader than tall (as tall as broad in Brachyorrhos ), nasal scale undivided (divided and bilobed in Brachyorrhos ); internasal single (divided in Brachyorrhos ); postocular single (two in Brachyorrhos ); dorsal scales imbricate in 19 rows that are reduced to 17 anterior to the vent (not reduced in Brachyorrhos ); base of tail slightly constricted in two of these species; tail is thick and tapers slowly to an almost blunt tip (stout); males have tubercles on scales in the first 4 rows just anterior and posterior to the vent. Dorsal scales in the vertebral row dorsal to the vent tend to be enlarged from the fusion of dorsal scales, these may number three to seven scales. Brachyorrhos may have fused scales on the dorsal surface of the tail, but are absent immediately over the vent.

Distribution. — Calamophis appears to be restricted to Yapen Island and the Bird’s Head Region of West Papua. It is known from: Andai (a coastal wetland about 35 m ASL); the Arfak (Mt. Arfak) Mountains, elevation unknown, but the range has peaks that exceed 2500 m; and the Tamrau Mountains (Kebar Valley at about 550 m ASL and Ambuaki ~ 800 m ASL). Both the Arfak and Tamrau Mountains are part of the Vogelkop Highlands, an area of rugged topography and a biodiversity hot spot. Yapen Island is about 250 km from Andai, and none of the Bird’s Head localities are more than 100 km apart ( Fig. 4 ). The Papua New Guinea locality for B. jobiensis in Iskandar and Colijn (2001) is based on Mainophis robusta , which is a synonym of the elapid Furina tristis (Shea & Sadlier, 1999) and should not be included in synonymies of Calamophis or Brachyorrhos .

Etymology. — It is unclear if Meyer named this snake using the Latin root calamitas (calamity, misfortune, disaster) or calamus (anything made of a reed, such as a pen or arrow). The latter seems more probable given the striped pattern of the type species.

Content. — 4 species

Figures

Fig. 4. A satellite image of West Papua, showing the geographic areas and the localities discussed in the article.Satellite image from OC® Product courtesy of TTI Production, 136 Rue Guy Arnaud, 30900 Nîmes, France.