Acrochordus arafurae MCDOWELL, 1979
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Acrochordus arafurae
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| Higher Taxa | Acrochordidae, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Arafura filesnake |
| Synonym | Acrochordus arafurae MCDOWELL 1979: 75 Acrochordus arafurae — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 226 Acrochordus arafurae — COGGER 2000: 615 Acrochordus arafurae — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Acrochordus arafurae — WALLACH et al. 2014: 7 |
| Distribution | E Indonesia (Papua), Papua New Guinea, N Australia (coastal areas of Northern Territory, Queensland) Type locality: Lake Daviumbo, western Province. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous. Acrochordus arafurae may be the second parthenogenetic snake species (after Ramphotyplops braminus). |
| Types | Holotype: AMNH 59887 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (see also key to species of Acrochordus above). Differing from other species of Acrochordus in each of the following features: 1) nasal bones fused anteriorly; 2) hemipenis forked only at extreme tip, without spines or papillae; 3) pattern with intricate network of dark markings that are connected with one another but isolate spots of the brown or tawny ground colour. Additionally differing from A. javanicus (but resembling A. granulatus) in 1) absence of coronoid process on lower jaw; 2) posterior dentary teeth resembling other teeth in form; 3) scales of sides with one main cusp, flanked by much smaller cusps; 4) nasal bones tapering to a median anterior point; 5) maxillary teeth fewer (16-19); 6) dentary teeth fewer (13-17). Additionally differing from A. granulatus (but resembling A. javanicus) in: 1) nostrils directed forward, without upward inclination, separated from eye by 11-14 scales (against 5-7); 2) scales of lips less enlarged, with more rows (8-11, against 5-7) between eye and edge of lip; 3) long pterygoid row of 11-16 (against 5-7) teeth; 4) no transversely enlarged scale behind nasal; 5) less compressed tail, its vertical diametre much less than twice its horizontal diametre. (The hemipenial characters of this diagnosis checked on all males of material listed above; external, osteological, and dental characters checked on all material listed above, except nasal bones not checked for MCZ 118668, 118669, 118765, and 129121. In addition, vertebrae in region of heart checked on AMNH 86182 [Borroloola, Northern Territory] and found to have short neural spine confined to posterior edge of neural arch, essentially as in A. granulatus but unlike the high neural spine that arises from most of the length of the neural arch in A. javanicus and the Miocene-Pliocene A. dehmi Hoffstetter [1964] ). (McDowell 1979: 76) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after the type locality in the Arafura Sea. |
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