Trimerodytes praemaxillaris (ANGEL, 1929)
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Trimerodytes praemaxillaris
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Angel’s Mountain Keelback, Brown Stream Snake G: Braune Bachnatter Chinese: 老挝副后棱蛇 |
| Synonym | Paratapinophis praemaxillaris ANGEL 1929: 78 Opisthotropis praemaxillaris — POPE 1935 Opisthotropis premaxillaris [sic] — SMITH 1943: 332 Opisthotropis premaxillaris [sic] — BROWN & LEVITON 1961 Opisthotrophis praemaxillaris [sic] — CHAN-ARD et al. 1999: 35 Paratapinophis premaxillaris — MURPHY et al. 2008 Opisthotrophis praemaxillaris — LI et al. 2010 Opisthotropis premaxillaris — PYRON & BURBRINK 2013 Paratapinophis praemaxillaris — WALLACH et al. 2014: 534 Opisthotrophis praemaxillaris — CHAN-ARD et al. 2015: 225 Trimerodytes praemaxillaris — DEEPAK et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | N Laos, Thailand, China (Yunnan) Type locality: Chieng-Kuang, upper Laos [19º 52' N, 103º 20' E]. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Syntypes: MNHN-RA 1928.0063-0064 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): in Paratapinophis the head is distinct from the neck; the scale ornamentation (keels) is unique in that each scale has a middle row of tubercles (as opposed to a continuous keel or a serrated keel); the scale ornamentation is sexually dimorphic (they occur only on the posterior body of the males); the color and pattern is sexually dimorphic; the body is large and robust; the maxillary tooth count is low (18–20); and there are two pair of posterior chin shields. [...] these character states are not found in Opisthotropis and Parahelicops (from MURPHY et al. 2008). Additional details (3288 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Ren et al. 2019 suggest that Paratapinophis is a synonym of Trimerodytes based on morphology but did not provide any molecular data. Deepak et al. 2022 published a 496 bp fragment of mitochondrial ribosomal RNA, which is not much but it appears to confirm the assigment to Trimerodytes. Habitat: aquatic, inhabiting flowing streams. Diet: fishes, frogs, tadpoles, freshwater shrimp and earthworms. Type species: Paratapinophis premaxillaris ANGEL 1929 is the type species of the genus Paratapinophis ANGEL 1929. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
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