Craspedocephalus anamallensis ( Guenther , 1864), 1822

Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Srikanthan, Achyuthan Needamangalam, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Vijayakumar, Seenapuram Palaniswamy, Campbell, Patrick D., Malhotra, Anita & Shanker, Kartik, 2021, Resolving pitfalls in pit viper systematics - A multi-criteria approach to species delimitation in pit vipers (Reptilia, Viperidae, Craspedocephalus) of Peninsular India reveals cryptic diversity, Vertebrate Zoology 71, pp. 577-619 : 577

Craspedocephalus anamallensis ( Guenther, 1864)

Figures 13 , 14 , 15

Trimeresurus anamallensis Günther, 1864

Lachesis anamallensis - Boulenger, 1896; Wall, 1919 part

Craspedocephalus anamallensis ( Günther, 1864)

Taxonomic history.

Günther (1864) described this species as Trimeresurus anamallensis based on type specimens from the Anamalai hills collected by Col. R.H. Beddome. Subsequently, Boulenger (1896) transferred this species to the genus Lachesis , now attributable to New World crotalids (bushmasters), untill Wall (1924) corrected the generic taxonomy. This nomen ( C. anamallensis ) was in prevailing usage for this entire species complex (e.g. see Wall, 1924), untill Smith (1943) rightly reinstated Jerdon’s senior nomen C. malabaricus .

Materials examined.

Lectotype (here designated): NHMUK 1946.1.19.93 from Anamallay hills (=Anamalai hills) collected by R.H. Beddome. - Paralectotypes: NHMUK 1946.1.18.73-74, NHMUK 1946.1.19.82, NHMUK 1946.1.19.89, NHMUK 1946.1.19.94-95, and NHMUK 1946.1.20.3, from Anamallay hills (=Anamalai hills) collected by R.H. Beddome. - Other specimens: CESS178 from Topslip, Anamalai Tiger Reserve , Tamil Nadu, by Ashok Kumar Mallik, 2011; CESS181, Orukomban Range, Parambikulam, Kerala by Ashok Kumar Mallik in 2011; CESS166 from Goodrickal Range, Kakki, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, by Saunak P. Pal, 2011 .

Type locality.

Anamalai hills, Southern Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India; same type locality for the type series of C. anamallensis .

Etymology.

The specific epithet Craspedocephalus anamallensis is a toponym, alluding to its type locality - the Anamalai hills of the Southern Western Ghats.

Lineage diagnosis.

A cryptic lineage belonging to the C. malabaricus complex, this lineage (L3) is genetically divergent from C. malabaricus (L5) by 8.3% & 1.2%, and from C. travancoricus sp. nov. (L4) by 7.1% and 1.5% at cyt b and 16S respectively. This lineage is geographically isolated from C. malabaricus to the North (separated by Palghat Gap) and to the south the boundary broadly lies in the Periyar Plateau, between Gudrikal range (its southern limit) and Devarmalai (northern limit of its sister lineage C. travancoricus sp. nov.).

Description.

Lectotype in a generally good condition, entire with a cylindrical body of SVL 505mm and a prehensile tail of TL 87mm; dorsal scales mildly keeled with DSR 21, MSR 21 and PSR 15; head of length 29mm prominent and clearly distinguished from the neck with strongly imbricate small scales; tip of the rostral scale visible from above, with the upper end roughly half the size as the lower; divided supraoculars with nine cephalic scales between both the supraoculars; nine scales surrounding each divided pair of supraoculars on both the sides with nine scales between the posterior border of the supraoculars; distinct canthus rostralis with four scales on the canthal ridge; two preoculars and two postoculars, an elongated cresent shapend subocular; strongly keeled temporals and keels continue to be present in other head scales behind the oculars except the supralabials towards the posterior; eye with a distinct elliptical pupil of vertical diameter 3.3 mm and a horizontal diameter of 3.98 mm; nostril aperture completely covered by the nasal scale, undivided and pentagonal-sub rectangular in shape, in contact with the first three canthal scales, first and second supralabial; nine supralabials and eleven infralabials, with eight scales between the edge of the mouth and the first ventral scale; 1st, 2nd and 3rd infralabial scale in contact with the first pair of genials; a gap of six scales in between the first genial and ventrals; 157 ventrals separated laterally from the body scales by a row of slightly broader dorsal scales; anal scale undivided followed by 55 divided caudals; terminal scale rounded and blunt at the tip, slightly larger than the previous scale.

Variation (n=10).

The following characters vary within the specimens of the examined type series. Variations in pholidosis between the specimens were: supralabials 9-10 and infralabials 11-13, preoculars 2-3, ventrals 144-145 and subcaudals 50-62, about 8-12 scales between the edge of the mouth and the ventral scales; 21-22 scale rows around the neck; the post ocular stripe sometimes extends to 2 rows of scales.

Colour in life.

Black dorsal head scales with the anterior scales with hints of light green and posterior head scales bordered with yellow, up to the postocular eye stripe, that extends untill the nape; light bluish green on the lateral parts of the head that fades into a creamy yellow to white underside, from the mandibular region up to the ventrals; ventral scales creamy yellow scales alternating with light greenish yellow scales, consecutively larger gaps between the lighter scales filled with the greenish yellow scales towards the tail - these correspond to the alternating between creamy yellow and green scales in the column that separates the ventrals and dorsal scales; caudal scales yellow, bordered and often blotched with black scales; black blotches throughout the dorsum with a gap of 3-4 scale rows.

Colour in preservative.

Head dorsum almost completely covered black to dark brown and scales bordered with light faded green; black/ dark brown postocular stripe about 2 scales wide, a preocular/ temporal stripe that continues to the loreal pit and ends at the supralabials below; black markings on the labials below the suboculars; body in light faded green with black saddle shaped markings, the markings centered with faded brown marbled markings; the row dorsal of scales that meet the ventrals alternate between the dorsal light faded green and dark brown/ black markings with a gap of two to three scales in between them; ventrals plain light creamish yellow; subcaudals in black with yellow blotches.

Habitat.

Similar to C. malabaricus , an arboreal species, commonly found on bushes and in the undergrowth in forests and near streams in moist evergreen forests to deciduous and lowland riparian forests. Due to anthropogenic changes to the landscape, this species is also often found in cultivated landscapes such as coffee plantations, from 100-1800 m asl.

Distribution.

Endemic to the southern Western Ghats, south of the Palghat Gap and north of the Shencottah Gap. We recorded this species in the Nelliamapthy, Anamalai and Palni hills, Cardamom hills, and northern sections of the Periyar plateau. Craspedocephalus anamallensis has been recorded to be sympatric with C. macrolepis at the highest limit of its elevational range (see Malhotra & Davis, 1991).

Figures

Figure 13. Craspedocephalus anamallensis in life, showing: (A) brown morph front view, from Top Slip, (B) green morph, from Kottaimalai, (C) grey morph, from Nelliyampathy, (D) & (E) olive morphs from Top Slip; entire dorsolateral views, (F) green morph head lateral view, (G) green morph, head dorsal view; from Parambikulam region.

Figure 14. Craspedocephalus anamallensis lectotype (NHMUK 1946.1.19.93), in preservation, showing: (A) head lateral left view, (B) head lateral right view, (C) head dorsal view, (D) head ventral view.

Figure 15. Craspedocephalus anamallensis lectotype (NHMUK 1946.1.19.93), in preservation, showing: (A) entire dorsal view, (B) entire ventral view.