Cylindrophis ruffus ( Laurenti 1768 )

Amarasinghe, A. A. Thasun, Campbell, Patrick D., Hallermann, Jakob, Sidik, Irvan, Supriatna, Jatna & Abstract. - The, Ivan Ineich, 2015, Two new species of the genus Cylindrophis Wagler, 1828 (Squamata: Cylindrophiidae) from Southeast Asia, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 98) 9 (1), pp. 34-51 : 38-41

Cylindrophis ruffus ( Laurenti 1768)

Anguis ruffa Laurenti 1768: 71 .

( Figs. 1 , 8 ; Table 2 )

Synonyms:

Cylindrophis resplendens Wagler 1828: pl. 5, fig. 1. Type locality, Java .

Cylindrophis rufa javanica Gray 1849: 112. Type locality, Java .

Proposed standard English name: Red-Tailed Pipe-Snake

Proposed standard Indonesian name: Ular Pipa Ekor Merah

Remarks: Here we accept the correction of the type locality made by Schlegel (1844). We have failed to find another species of Cylindrophis sympatric with C. ruffus in Java among the specimens examined. However the biogeographical range of C. ruffus could extend beyond Java, e.g., Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia ––see Stuebing (1994: Table 1 ).

Examined materials (14): MZB 1418, ( SVL 715 mm), Burial, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia; MZB 3816, 1433, ( SVL 325 mm, 350 mm), Banten, Indonesia; MZB 300, 301, 304, 309, 1049, 2000, ( SVL 580 mm, 550 mm, 520 mm, 560 mm, 540 mm, 650 mm); MNHN-RA 1975.0073–74, 3280, 2007.2452 (formerly 3280A), 7182, ( SVL 258 mm, 300 mm, 517 mm, 466 mm, 257 mm), Java, Indonesia.

Diagnosis: Cylindrophis ruffus is distinguished from all congeners by having the following characters: 19 midbody scale rows (vs. 17 in C. engkariensis ; 21 in C. isolepis , C. lineatus , C. maculatus , C. yamdena ; 23 in C. aruensis , C. opisthorhodus ), 186–197 ventrals (vs. 233– 275 in C. melanotus ; 201–225 in C. burmanus ), wide and constant bands encircling dark body (vs. dorsum uniform black with no cross bands in C. boulengeri ; narrow and alternating bands on paler body in C. burmanus ), an interrupted and wide band on the nape (vs. no ring on the nape in C. boulengeri ; a complete and narrow ring encircling the nape in C. burmanus ).

Description of examined materials: SVL 257–715 mm; body elongate, rounded in cross section; head not distinct from neck, broadened and dorsoventrally flattened in the orbital and sagittal regions; snout rounded in dorsal and lateral view.

Rostral shield large, somewhat visible from a dorsal perspective with a conical apex; a single nasal, widely in contact behind the rostral, no internasals; nasals in contact with rostral anteriorly, with prefrontal dorsally, and the first and second supralabials ventrally; nostrils large; canthus rostralis weakly defined; prefrontal somewhat larger than the frontal and quadrangular; frontal large, triangular, and length same as its width; supraocular wide, triangular, posteriorly wider; parietal small, triangular, its rear border pointed, bordered by supraocular, frontal shield, upper posterior temporal shield, occipital shield, and two dorso-nuchal shields posteriorly on each side, the occipital shield is of equal size as other dorso-nuchal scales; loreal and preocular absent; eye small, pupil rounded; eye in broad contact with supraocular dorsally, prefrontal and third supralabial anteriorly, fourth supralabial ventrally, and postocular posteriorly; a single small postocular, quadrangular, posteriorly wider, in broad contact with supraocular, anterior temporal, and fourth supralabial; temporals 1+2, triangular; anterior temporal larger than posteriors; anterior temporal in contact with supraocular and both posterior temporal with parietal dorsally, 4 th –6 th supralabials ventrally; anterior temporal does not meet parietals.

Six supralabials, 3 rd –5 th larger in size; first supralabial in contact with rostral anteriorly and nasal dorsally; second supralabial in contact with nasal and prefrontal dorsally, third supralabial in contact with prefrontal and eye dorsally, fourth supralabial in contact with the eye, postocular, and anterior temporal dorsally; fifth supralabial in contact with anterior and posterior temporals; sixth supralabial in contact with lower posterior temporal dorsally and body scales posteriorly.

Mental small, triangular; first infralabial pair larger than mental plate and in broad contact with each other, in contact with anterior chin shield posteriorly; six infralabials in total, 1 st –3 rd in contact with first chin shield, 4 th –6 th in contact with gular scales, and not touching the chin shields; anterior chin shields larger than posterior ones; a mental groove continues from the posterior tip of the mental until the posterior chin shields.

Body slender; transverse dorsal scale rows (20–23)– 19–(17–18), all smooth, subcycloid, and weakly imbricate; vertebrals and midventrals undifferentiated from adjacent scales; 186–197 ventrals; cloacal plate divided, precloacal undivided and triangular, tail extremely short, relative TL (TL/total length) 2.1–2.9%, with a conical robust and thick tip; 5–8 entire subcaudals.

Coloration: All the examined specimens have a reddish brown back with wide and incomplete lighter bands encircling the body along dorsal surface from behind nape to tail, each band covering about two scales; head entirely darker, an incomplete, wide ring encircling the nape; the venter is dark brown with regular, cream colored stripes, divided at midline. See Fig. 1 for details of coloration in preservative.

Distribution: Cylindrophis ruffus is recorded from Java, Indonesia ( Fig. 8 ). Possible type locality is Batavia (now Jakarta) in Indonesia (not Batavia in Suriname).

Figures

Fig. 1. Coloration of Cylindrophis ruffus MZB 1418 (A) head in dorsal view, (B) head in ventral view, (C) head in lateral view, (D) midbody in dorsal view, (E) midbody in ventral view, and (F) tail in ventral view.

Fig. 8. Current distribution pattern of the genus Cylindrophis.