Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5252/z2016n4a2 |
publication LSID |
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BFFD82EF-50C9-42BF-8493-DF57591EA4FF |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A82A47-8302-FF9A-FC0B-FF62FBBC7EFC |
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
scientific name |
Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921 |
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Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921
Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921b: 35 .
TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype: BMNH 1920.8 .25.1 (= BMNH 1946.1.16.70).
TYPE LOCALITY. — On the road between Puttalam and Chilaw, near Madurankuliya fide Willey (1903; the original collector), North- Western province, Sri Lanka .
DISTRIBUTION. — This species is known only from the type specimen collected at Madurankuliya in the lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka (near sea level). Some sources ( Smith 1943) record the type locality as Maradankadawala, an area further interior in the lowland dry zone, but this is an error. The original collector ( Willey 1903) reports the specimen as originating from Madurankuliya. More recently, Kumarasinghe et al. (2013) reported a specimen from Eluwankulama Aruwakkalu Forest, c. 35 km North of Puttalam, identified as Rhinophis cf. porrectus .
DESCRIPTION
The size, scalation, and coloration are indistinguishable from Rhinophis punctatus (see below), from which it is distinguishable only by the higher number of ventral scales (281 vs 236-246) and a much thicker body (see Smith 1943). As with R. punctatus (see below), color pattern a blackish-brown dorsum with white margins, a white stripe on either side of the body, and a brown vertebral stripe.
REMARKS
It is unclear whether or not this is a distinct species from Rhinophis punctatus ( Smith 1943; Gans 1966). We continue to treat it as such, given the large difference in ventral-scale count, the largest such count of any known uropeltid species. It is also geographically distinct from R. punctatus , being found in the Northwest dry zone vs the central hills in the wet zone (but see Karunarathna & Amarasinghe 2011). More specimens are needed to examine the distinctiveness of these species. See Wall (1921b).
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.
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Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921
Pyron, Robert Alexander, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Sayyed, Amit, Sharma, Vivek, Wallach, Van & Somaweera, Ruchira 2016 |
Rhinophis porrectus
WALL F. 1921: 35 |