identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
8E4ED1425236597B9941E3F74AB72167.text	8E4ED1425236597B9941E3F74AB72167.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Trachischium lalremsangai Bhardwaj & Bal & Tluanga & Mirza 2026	<div><p>Trachischium lalremsangai sp. nov.</p><p>Figs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Tables 1, 2</p><p>Holotype.</p><p>• Adult male MZMU 3757, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.2866&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=23.656" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.2866/lat 23.656)">Murlen National Park</a>, Champai District, Mizoram, India (23.6560°N, 93.2866°E, datum WGS 84; 1517 m a. s. l.), collected by Virender K. Bhardwaj and Amit K. Bal on 5 June 2025 .</p><p>Paratype.</p><p>• Adult male CAS 233200, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=93.5862&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=22.688278" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 93.5862/lat 22.688278)">Chunchuone village</a>, Haka Township, Phalum District, Chin State, Myanmar (22.688278°N, 93.586194°E, datum WGS 84; 1953 m a. s. l.) collected by H. Win, K. S. Lwin and A. K. Shein on 13 Jul 2003 .</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>A large-sized member of the genus reaching SVL of 351–432 mm. Dorsal scales smooth and iridescent, arranged in 13 rows throughout the body. Supralabials 5–6, 3 rd and 4 th in contact with orbit. Paired prefrontals; a pair of postoculars. Temporals 1 + 2. Ventrals 135 (+ 3–4 preventrals) and 28–29 subcaudals paired. Dorsum brown and ventrally, anterior one quarter of the snake is creamish white, while the rest is a shade of brown that has sparse white speckles.</p><p>Etymology.</p><p>The specific epithet is a patronym honouring Prof. Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga of Mizoram University for his contributions to herpetology in Northeast India, his guidance to numerous students, and his facilitation of research throughout the region and the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot.</p><p>Comparison.</p><p>The new species can be diagnosed from all other members of the genus Trachischium based on the following diagnostic or non-overlapping characters: dorsal scales in 13 rows (vs. 15 in T. monticola and T. apteii); 134–135 ventrals (vs. ventral 143–150 in T. apteii, 113–125 in T. monticola, 150 in T. nyalamense, 152 in T. sushantai, 141–147 in T. laeve, 150–165 in T. fuscum, 114–117 in T. hmuifang); two postoculars (vs. one in T. fuscum, T. guentheri, T. reticulata and T. laeve); two prefrontals (vs. one in T. fuscum, T. guentheri and T. nyalamense); sacral scales smooth in male (vs. keeled in T. tenuiceps); subcaudals 28–29 (vs. 30–43 in T. guentheri, 18–21 in T. hmuifang, 17–25 in T. reticulata); one anterior and two posterior temporals (vs. a single anterior temporal in T. monticola and T. apteii); ventrally in a shade of brown with sparse white speckles in preservative (vs. creamish white in T. apteii and T. nyalamense, dark brown in T. guentheri, bright yellow or orange in T. tenuiceps, bright orange red in T. hmuifang). See Table 2 for a summary of diagnostic characters. The new species is 2–5 % divergent (p - distance in %) from congeners for the gene 16 S (Suppl. material 3).</p><p>Description of male holotype MZMU 3757.</p><p>Holotype in good condition, bearing a mid-ventral incision between ventrals 51–54; preserved in a flat coil with the head positioned outside the coil (Fig. 2).</p><p>Head short, (11.2) mm, barely distinct from neck with slightly elongated sub-conical snout in lateral view; gradually tapering to a blunt, rounded tip in dorsal view. Rostral small, triangular, approximately as long as wide. Nasals divided; nostril vertical, situated at the suture between anterior and posterior nasals, giving a bilobed appearance. Left and right nasals separated by an intervening rostral scale. Internasals paired, broad, wider (2.2 mm) than long (0.9 mm); larger than rostral and nasals, though smaller than prefrontals. Prefrontals paired, wider (2.6 mm) than long (1.9 mm), covering a large portion of the snout; lateral portion of prefrontals extending onto the lateral surface of the head. Six supralabials, the third and fourth entering the orbit. First supralabial smallest, contacting rostral and nasal (Fig. 3 a, b). Second supralabial approximately twice the size of the first, contacting first and third supralabials, nasal, internasal, and prefrontal. Third and fourth supralabials larger, longer than high, both bordering the orbit, forming the lower margin of the eye. Fifth supralabial in contact with two postoculars, anterior temporal, and fourth and sixth supralabials. Sixth supralabial largest, elongate, nearly twice as long (3.6 mm) as wide (1.7 mm). Loreal and preocular scales absent. Shield-shaped frontal, notably longer (3.9 mm) than wide (2.9 mm) and more than half the length of the parietals. Parietals elongate (5.6 mm long), broad anteriorly (2.6 mm), widest at mid-length (2.8 mm), and distinctly narrowing posteriorly (1.18 mm). The paired shields meet in a straight median suture, forming a subrectangular outline that tapers sharply behind. Each parietal is bordered anteriorly by the frontal and supraocular, laterally by the upper postocular and upper temporals, and posteriorly by the interparietal and adjacent scales, with a total of 11 scales bordering the pair. Temporals 1 + 2 / 1 + 2, anterior in broad contact with parietal and last two supralabials, longer than high, much larger than the posterior temporals. Supraocular notably larger than the pair of postoculars. Anterior of lower jaw dominated by large pair of anterior genials meeting along midline mental groove, in contact with first four infralabials and posterior pair of genial scales. Mental is small, triangular and in contact with 1 st infralabial. Infralabials 5 / 5, anterior two short and thin, smaller than the third infralabial. Fourth and fifth infralabials much larger, fourth approximately same size as the pair of posterior genials. Fifth infralabial slender and longer than the fourth infralabial (Fig. 3 c, d). Body subcylindrical, ventral surface slightly flattened.</p><p>Dorsal scale rows 13: 13: 13, at the neck, mid-body and behind the cloacal vent. Dorsal scales imbricate, regularly arranged and evenly sized. All dorsal scales are smooth and glossy, lacking any keels. Ventral scales 135 in number, excluding three preventrals. Anal shield divided, similar in size to the last ventral scale. Subcaudals paired, 29 in number. Tail terminating in a tapering apical spine. Total length 409 mm; tail length 58 mm, comprising 14 % (0.14) of the total length. Eight dorsal scale rows at the beginning of the tail, reducing to approximately four mid tail and two surrounding the terminal spine.</p><p>Colouration in preservative (Figs 2, 3): Dorsum overall in a shade of brown with a lustrous blue iridescence throughout. The ventral aspect and the labial scales are creamish white, except for the fourth supralabial, which has diffused brown patches. Anteriorly, on one quarter of the snake, the ventral surface is creamish white, while the rest is a shade of brown that has sparse white speckles. Infralabials and chin shields bear brown fringes. The anal shield is paler than the adjacent ventral scales.</p><p>Colouration in life: The colouration similar but is more vivid, and the iridescent lustre more prominent.</p><p>Hemipenis: short, stout (total length 6.88 mm, maximum width 4.68 mm) subcylindrical, noncalyculate, noncapitate, and weakly bilobed in general appearance (Fig. 4); lobes short and blunt, not apically pointed and weakly differentiated from the truncus. The hemipenis is stubby (Hemipenis Proportion Index, HPI = 0.68), consistent with its short and robust morphology. Sulcus spermaticus shallow, centrolineal, undivided along the base and body, and bifurcating distally near the apex, with each branch terminating in the respective lobe. The sulcus does not exhibit the strongly centripetal, proximally diverging condition typical of many natricines (Zaher 1999). A small, weakly ornamented medial zone is present on each lobe at the point of sulcus termination. Ornamentation consists of densely arranged, subequal conical spines, distributed uniformly over the truncus and proximal portions of the lobes, without clear regional differentiation. Asulcate surface similar in ornamentation to the sulcate surface. Base of the organ weakly differentiated, lacking enlarged basal spines or hooks. Both hemipenes examined are fully everted and identical.</p><p>Skull and dentition of paratype CAS 233200 (Fig. 5): The skull of the paratype is complete as seen in most colubrid snakes as defined by Cundall and Irish (2008). The skull measured 13.39 mm (measured from anterior tip of premaxilla to supraoccipital). The nasals are subtriangular with the narrow conical portion directed posteriorly, 2.15 mm long (median length) and 1.96 mm wide. The frontals 2.65 mm long 3.51 mm anterior width, bear a pair of large foramen in the supraocular region. The parietal occupies a large part of the skull, 5.28 mm long, anterior width 3.60 mm, tapering posteriorly to 0.83 mm, bearing a sharp edge defining the dorsal and lateral aspect of the parietal. The parietal bears three pairs of foramen, two on either side of the flaps close to the frontal, and one positioned medially towards the posterior end. The prefrontal barely overlaps the nasal, laterally broad with a sub-basal constriction, bears a diagonal lateral process directed inwards and lacking an anterior process seen in Trachischium fuscum (CAS 38743, MorphoSource media id 000083256). The specimen differs from most other natricine genera in having subequal maxillary teeth that lack a diastema. A similar derived state is seen in another species of the genus, Trachischium fuscum . In most other natricine genera, the size of the posterior teeth is larger than the anterior ones, and there may be a diastema in the arrangement of the maxillary teeth (Smith 1943). The maxilla is 6.46 mm long, bears 20 / 21 functional teeth. The palatine bears 12–13 teeth. The pterygoid exhibits an asymmetry in the number, nature and arrangement of the teeth. The left pterygoid bears 14 functional teeth, and the right one has 15 functional teeth; however, the distribution and orientation of non-functional teeth are different. The dentary bears 13 teeth.</p><p>Natural history and distribution.</p><p>The holotype (Fig. 7) of the new species was observed on 5 June 2025 at 21: 30 h, shortly after a brief period of rainfall, while it was actively moving along a muddy road on the outskirts of Murlen National Park, near Murlen village, Champhai District, Mizoram, at an elevation of 1,560 metres above sea level. When handled, the individual remained calm and showed no defensive or aggressive behaviour. Murlen National Park (approximately 100 km 2; elevation 800–1919 metres above sea level) is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. The region is characterised by tropical, semi-evergreen, and montane forests with dense canopy cover that permits only limited light penetration. The climate is distinguished by heavy annual rainfall (2,500 –3,000 mm) and considerable temperature variations, ranging from 5 ° C in winter to 35 ° C in summer. The vegetation is diverse, including Quercus spp., Schima wallichii, Betula sp., Michelia champaca, Pinus khasiana, Prunus, Myrica spp., Rhododendron spp., dense stands of Arundinaria callosa, cane species, and a rich array of orchids (Lalremsanga et al. 2022). The national park harbours two major forest types: Type 8 B / C 2 Khasi Sub-Tropical Wet Hill Forests and Type 9 / C 2 Assam Sub-Tropical Pine Forests (Champion and Seth 2005). The paratype was collected at Chunchuone Village, Haka Township, Phalum District, Chin State, Myanmar, at an elevation of 1,953 metres. The two localities — Champhai, India, and Chunchuone Village, Myanmar — are approximately 90 km apart in straight-line distance. However, these localities appear to share similar biotopes. Based on comparable habitat, elevation, and forest type, the new species may occur in northeast Mizoram and adjoining Manipur in India, as well as within the similar elevation realms of the Chin Hills.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/8E4ED1425236597B9941E3F74AB72167	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Bhardwaj, Virender K.;Bal, Amit K.;Tluanga, Chhangte L.;Mirza, Zeeshan A.	Bhardwaj, Virender K., Bal, Amit K., Tluanga, Chhangte L., Mirza, Zeeshan A. (2026): A new species of fossorial snake of the genus Trachischium Günther, 1858, from the Indo – Burma biodiversity hotspot. Herpetozoa 39: 203-215, DOI: 10.3897/herpetozoa.39.e187919
