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Spalerosophis atriceps (FISCHER, 1885)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Diadem Snake, Royal Snake
G: Pakistanische Diademnatter 
SynonymZamenis diadema var. atriceps FISCHER 1885: 102
Spalerosophis atriceps — MINTON 1966
Spalerosophis atriceps — KHAN 2002
Spalerosophis atriceps — SHARMA 2004
Spalerosophis atriceps — BAIG et a. 2007
Spalerosophis atriceps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 682
Spalerosophis atriceps— YADOLLAHVANDMIANDOAB et al. 2023 
DistributionIndia (incl. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Punjab [Dino Aulakh, pers. comm.]), Nepal, Pakistan

Type locality: Himalaya  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesHolotype: SMF 41134 (formerly NMBA 7796), a 1475 mm specimen (F. Krüger), fide Wallach et al. 2014:682 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (879 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: Marx (1959), Mertens (1969), and Khan (2006) considered S. atriceps as a morph and synonym of S. d. diadema. On the other hand, Minton (1966), Baig and Masroor (2008), and Schatti et al. (2009) considered S. atriceps as a valid species. Yadollahvandmiandoab et al. 2022 found atriceps to be distinct from diadema though.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Distribution: For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013, Yadollahvandmiandoab at al. 2022: Fig. 3. 
References
  • Baig, Khalid J. and Rafaqat Masroor 2008. The snakes of the genus Spalerosophis Jan, 1865 in Indo-Pakistan and Iran (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae). Herpetozoa 20 (3/4): 109-115 [2007] - get paper here
  • Baig, KJ, Masroor, R., and Arshad, M. 2008. Biodiversity and ecology of the herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan. Russ. J. Herpetol. 15 (3): 193-205 - get paper here
  • Fischer, J. G. 1885. Ichthyologische und herpetologische Bemerkungen. V. Herpetologische Bemerkungen. Jahrb. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst. 2: 82-121 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Hussain S, Ahmad K, Shah AA 2023. A contribution to taxonomy and biology of Spalerosophis diadema diadema (Schlegel, 1837) along with a new record of Spalerosophis atriceps (Fischer, 1885) from the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Herpetozoa 36: 41-52 - get paper here
  • Jamal, Qaisar; Muhammad Idrees, Saif Ullah, Muhammad Adnan, Farrah Zaidi, Qaiser Zaman, and Syed Basit Rasheed 2018. Diversity and Altitudinal Distribution of Squamata in Two Distinct Ecological Zones of Dir, A Himalayan Sub-Zone of Northern Pakistan. Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 50(5), pp 1835-1839 - get paper here
  • Jangid, Ashish Kumar; Ravi Kumar Sharma and Abhijit Das 2021. Annotated checklist with distribution summary of Snakes of Jawai Community Conservation Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (4): 1-13 - get paper here
  • Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here
  • Khan, M.S. 2002. Die Schlangen Pakistans [English edition as “A Guide to the snakes of Pakistan”]. Edition Chimaira (Frankfurt am Main), 265 pp. [review in HR 34: 400, Russ J Herp 12: 79] - get paper here
  • Kunz, K. 2015. Dauerbrenner im Terrarium: Nattern. Reptilia (Münster) 20 (115): 18-27 - get paper here
  • Mahabal, Anil and Sanjay Thakur 2014. INSTANCES OF ABERRANT COLORS AND PATTERNS AMONG THE INDIAN HERPETOFAUNA: A REVIEW. Russ. J. Herpetol. 21 (2): 80-88
  • Maheta, J., Thakor, R., Shankhala, P., Prajapati, D., Zala, A., Bharavad, L., ... & Patel, S. 2023. Updated checklist of snakes with the first record of Spalerosophis arenarius in Gujarat and range extensions of five fpecies of snakes in the northern region of Gujarat, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18403 - get paper here
  • Masroor, R. 2012. A Contribution to the Herpetology of Northern Pakistan. SSAR, Ithaca [review in JoTT 4(6): 2670] - get paper here
  • Minton, S. A. Jr. 1966. A contribution to the herpetology of West Pakistan. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 134: 29-184. - get paper here
  • Patel, Harshil; and Raju Vyas 2019. Reptiles of Gujarat, India: Updated Checklist, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Herpetology Notes 12: 765-777 - get paper here
  • Prerna, S., Baiju Raj, M. V., Ilayaraja, S., & Chaurasiya, M. 2021. A preliminary assessment of snakes and monitor lizards encountered during Covid-lockdown in Agra, India. The Science World 1(3): 34-41; - get paper here
  • Sahi D.N., Koul S. 2020. Annotated List of Amphibians and Reptiles of Jammu and Kashmir State. In: Dar G. & Khuroo A. (eds) Biodiversity of the Himalaya: Jammu and Kashmir State. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 18. Springer, Singapore - get paper here
  • Saikia, U.; Sharma, D.K. & Sharma, R.M. 2007. Checklist of the Reptilian fauna of Himachal Pradesh, India. Reptile Rap (8): 6-9 - get paper here
  • Schätti, B.; Tillack, F. & Helfenberger, N. 2009. A contribution to Spalerosophis microlepis JAN 1865, with a short review of the genus and a key to the species (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae). Herpetozoa 22 (3/4): 115-135 - get paper here
  • Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp.
  • Sindaco, R.; Alberto Venchi & Cristina Grieco 2013. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an Update to Volume 1. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 543 pp. - get paper here
  • Singh J, Dutta S.K., Singh H 2021. Herpetofauna of Punjab: The Field Guide. New Era Book Agency, Chandigarh, 82 pp.
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. Snakes of India. Draco Books, 500 pp., reprinted 2007 - get paper here
  • Yadollahvandmiandoab, R., Bashirichelkasari, N., & Mesquita, D. O. 2023. Morphological characterization of some poorly known populations of the genus Spalerosophis Jan, 1865 (Reptilia: Colubridae): is the geometric morphometrics useful to identify them as taxonomic units? Zoology in the Middle East, 1-11 - get paper here
  • Yadollahvandmiandoab, R., Koroiva, R., Bashirichelkasari, N. & Daniel Oliveira Mesquita 2022. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of the poorly known genus Spalerosophis (Serpentes: Colubridae). Org Divers Evol (2022) - get paper here
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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