Calamaria garoensis BHARALI, SANGMA, AMARASINGHE, BOHRA, SWARGIARY, MARAK, HAZARIKA, DAS, ASEM, LYNGDOH, LALREMSANGA & PURKAYASTHA, 2026
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Calamaria garoensis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Calamariinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Garo Hills Reed Snake |
| Synonym | Calamaria garoensis BHARALI, SANGMA, AMARASINGHE, BOHRA, SWARGIARY, MARAK, HAZARIKA, DAS, ASEM, LYNGDOH, LALREMSANGA & PURKAYASTHA 2026 |
| Distribution | India (Garo hills, NE Meghalaya) Type locality: Oragitok (25.5460° N, 90.3240° E; alt. 783 m a.s.l. Fig. 8) Rongram Block, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ADBUSB 150, adult male, collected on 6 May 2025, ca. 1830 h by S. Bohra, P. Swargiary, C.M. Sangma, G.C. Marak, and M. Bharali. Paratypes (n=4; all females): VR/ERS/ZSI/358, VR/ERS/ZSI/39036, VR/ERS/ ZSI/338 and VR/ERS/ZSI/365, deposited by R. Mathew & Party in the North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Calamaria garoensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: 8–9 enlarged maxillary teeth; rostral broader than high; prefrontal shorter than the frontal and contacting the first two supralabials; mental not contacting the anterior chin shields; dorsal scales in 13–13–13 rows, smooth throughout; one preocular and one postocular; four supralabials, the second and third entering the orbit; five infralabials; six scales surrounding the paraparietal; 165–187 ventrals; 12–27 paired subcaudals; a short tail (TaL/TL 4.7–14.2%), not gradually tapering and terminating in an obtuse tip; dorsum dark brown to blackish brown with six narrow longitudinal stripes and a faint pale nuchal ring; ventral surface yellow with dark outer corners on the ventral scales; and a broad, distinct median black stripe on the tail venter. (Bharali et al. 2026) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about about 5.48 pages) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet garoensis is derived from Garo, referring to the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, and the Latin suffix –ensis signifies the species’ occurrence within the traditional homeland of the Garo Hills region of Northeast India. It is to be treated as an adjective. |
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