Oligodon moricei, David & Vogel & van Rooijen, 2008

David, P., Vogel, G. & van Rooijen, J., 2008, A revision of the Oligodon taeniatus (Günther, 1861) group (Squamata: Colubridae), with the description of three new species from the Indochinese Region, Zootaxa 1965, pp. 1-49 : 40-45

Oligodon moricei spec. nov.

( Figs. 29–34)

Holotype. – MNHN 1919.0137 (adult female), from “Nha-Trang, Annam”, now Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Collected by Mr. Krempf. We describe this new species solely on the basis of the holotype.

Diagnosis. – A species of the genus Oligodon , characterized by (1) 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, 15 before vent; (2) 12 maxillary teeth, the last two strongly enlarged; (3) anal plate single; (4) a high number of ventral scales, reaching at least 175; (5) head scalation complete, without presubocular; (7) 8 supralabials; (8) a strong dorsal pattern, with body scales dark greyish-brown strongly edged with black producing a distinct reticulate pattern, a broad, rusty-brown vertebral stripe edged on each side with a broad continuous black stripe; (9) no dorsolateral stripes; (10) only 4 major blotches on upper head surface: one frontal, one large, subrectangular blotch on each parietal, and an inverted U-shaped nuchal marking across the neck; and (11) a largely dark brown venter.

This species can be recognized by the combination of the conspicuous vertebral and paravertebral stripes, the overall dark colour, 17 dorsal scale rows and a high number of ventrals. Comparisons with other species of the taeniatus -group appear below in the Discussion.

Etymology. – We name this species in honour of the French naval physician, traveller, ethnographer and naturalist Dr. (Jean Claude) Albert Morice (28 May 1848 – 18 October 1877). He was on duty in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, during two stays in 1872–1874 and 1875–1877. Morice wrote a general account on his travels in Cochinchina, at present southern Vietnam, with a strong emphasis on the people and the area’s wildlife ( Morice, 1875a –b; reprinted and translated in 1997), various medical papers, and published the first detailed memoir on the fauna of this region ( Morice, 1875c –d). Interested readers will find a detailed biography of Dr. Morice (in French) on the website of his descendant Michel Morice:

(http://pagesperso-orange.fr/mike.morice/MichelHTML/fiches/fiche262.htm#f5241) (accessed on July 28 th, 2008).

Description of the holotype. – Body not especially thin, laterally compressed, subrectangular in section; head ovoid, quite elongated, flat, barely distinct from the poorly defined neck; snout projecting over the lower jaw, long, rounded, amounting to 28.6 % of HL, or 1.8 times as long as diameter of eye; eye with a round pupil; tail thick and tapering. SVL: 384 mm; TaL: 59 mm; TL: 443 mm; HL: 14.70 mm; ratio TaL/TL: 0.133.

Dentition. 12 maxillary teeth, the last two strongly enlarged and blade-like.

Body scalation. DSR: 17–17–15 rows, all smooth; scales quite large. VEN: 175 (plus 2 preventrals), slightly angulated; SC: 41, all paired; anal plate entire.

Head scalation. Rostral thick, strongly curved on the upper snout surface, well visible from above, separating internasals by about one half of their length; nasals slightly “butterfly-shaped”, elongate, about 2.0 times as long as high, vertically divided, with the posterior part smaller than anterior one; nostril oval, piercing the nasal just in front of the division; internasals subrectangular, distinctly oblique; contact between internasals narrow but slightly longer than contact between prefrontals; prefrontals more or less pentagonal, oblique, distinctly wider than long, in contact along a short distance, shorter than the contact between internasals; frontal hexagonal, ogive-like, 1.2 times as long as wide; a supraocular on each side, distinctly longer than wide, about as wide as prefrontals; two pentagonal parietals, longer than the frontal, in contact on a distance shorter than prefrontals; 1/1 small loreal scale, 1.2 times longer than high, in large contact with the nasal; 8/8 supralabials, 1 st SL small, 2 nd and 3 rd in contact with the loreal, 4 th and 5 th entering orbit, 6 th and 7 th largest; 1/1 preocular, high and narrow; no presubocular; 2/2 small postoculars; 1+2/1+2 temporals, anterior ones elongated, with a minute scale above the anterior corner of each anterior temporal; 9/9 infralabials, first pair in contact, IL 1–4 in contact with anterior chin shields, 5 th IL the largest.

Colouration and pattern in alcohol. The upper surface is dark brownish-grey with scales, especially those of the 4 th and 5 th rows, strongly edged with black producing an overall irregular reticulation; a broad rusty brown vertebral stripe, covering also the inner half of adjacent rows, edged on each side with a wide black paravertebral stripe, 1.5 scale broad, extends from the neck to the tip of the tail; the vertebral row is irregularly mottled with darker brown; the paravertebral stripes also reach the tail but vanish before its tip; no dorsolateral stripe. The tail is as the upper body surface above, with the conspicuous vertebral stripe; paravertebral stripes broad on the anterior part of the tail, progressively vanishing on its posterior quarter.

The head is dark greyish-brown, slightly darker than body, and more or less uniform; supralabials paler, more or less faintly mottled with dark brown, without dark edges; a narrow transverse black line across the anterior part of the frontal; an oblique dark brown streak on SL 5–6; a short, elongated, blotch, constricted in its middle, on the frontal; a dark brown, black edged subrectangular blotch on the posterior part of each parietal, descending a short distance and faintly down onto the upper side of the neck; infralabials, chin and throat uniformly dark yellowish-brown. Eye black.

The venter is pale yellow, with one or two rectangular greyish-brown blotches near the tips of each ventral, heavily speckled with dark greyish-brown in between these blotches on the anterior half of body; on the posterior half, the greyish-brown blotches are united and make the belly entirely dark with the exception of a narrow line near the tip of each ventral. Tail strongly mottled with dark greyish brown on its anterior half, less strongly on its posterior half with a faint median dark brown line.

Hemipenis. – Unknown.

Distribution. – Vietnam. Currently endemic to the type locality in southern Vietnam: Khanh Hoa Province (Nha Trang).

Biology. – No data available.

Comments. – This species is tentatively referred to the O. taeniatus -group solely on the basis of its striped pattern. A male specimen will be necessary to ascertain its position within the genus Oligodon . Nevertheless, the scalation and pattern make this species quite easy to recognize.