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Ahaetulla laudankia DEEPAK, NARAYANAN, SARKAR, DUTTA & MOHAPATRA, 2019

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Laudankia vine snake 
SynonymAhaetulla laudankia DEEPAK, NARAYANAN, SARKAR, DUTTA & MOHAPATRA 2019
Dryophis mycterizans – SCLATER 1891 (part)
Ahaetulla nasuta isabellinus – DUTTA et al. 2009
Ahaetulla laudankia — RAWAT et al. 2020 
DistributionIndia (Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra), Nepal

Type locality: Bangriposi, Mayurbhanj district, Odisha state (22.142167N, 86.520025E)  
Reproduction 
TypesHolotype. ZSI CZRC 6403, adult female, collected by Manoj V. Nair and S. K. Dutta, 15 June 2010.
Paratypes (2). ZSI-CZRC-6404, adult male, Nilagiri, Balasore district, Odisha state (21.471232N, 86.634096E), collected by Vivek Sarkar, 15 March 2013; ZSI-R-26412 (Figure 4), subadult male, Madhapur, along Khajuriakata-Madhapur road, Harabhanga Tehsil, Boudh District, Odisha state (20.442518N, 84.503152E), collected by Pratyush P. Mohapatra on 5 May 2009. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A medium-sized Ahaetulla (largest TL 1184 mm (male), 1237 mm (female)) with dermal appendage; 192–202 ventrals, 154–185 divided subcaudals; 8 teeth on maxilla and 9 on palatine; dorsal scale reduction from 15 to 13 rows occurs between ventrals 143–147; ochre brown/chestnut brown dorsum with black spots, paler supralabials, white lower lip, and light orange/brick red venter with a pair of whitish line on both sides of the mid venter.
Morphologically, Ahaetulla laudankia can be distinguished from all its congeners except Ahaetulla nasuta sensu lato (see discussion), A. pulverulenta and A. anomala in having a long dermal appendage (vs. snout without dermal appendage) (Figure 5 in Deepak et al. 2019).
Ahaetulla laudankia differs from A. nasuta sensu lato in having a higher number of ventrals: explicitly – 192–202 (vs. 168–184 in A. nasuta from Sri Lanka (both with long and short dermal appendages); vs. 171–181 in A. nasuta from India (both with long and short dermal appendages); 169–181 in A. nasuta cf isabellina (see discussion), and 168 ventrals in Wall’s type of Dryophis mycterizans isabellinus = A. nasuta isabellina) (Tables 2, 3 and S4).
Ahaetulla laudankia can be distinguished from A. pulverulenta in having its dermal appendage formed by a single scale with mid-dorsal groove (vs. dermal appendage formed by multiple scales without mid-dorsal groove), and dermal appendage shorter than horizontal eye diameter (vs. dermal appendage longer than horizontal eye diameter).
Ahaetulla laudankia differs from A. anomala in having a higher number of ventral scales – 192–202 (vs. 170–189); dermal appendage formed by a single scale (vs. multiple scales) and coloration – adults of both sexes have a brown dorsum speckled with black and brick-red ventrals (vs. brown adult females and green adult males) and in having an un-patterned head (vs. head with a black rhomboidal pattern).
Based on scale reduction, Ahaetulla laudankia can be distinguished from A. nasuta sensu lato (both morphs with long or short dermal appendages from Sri Lanka as well as India), A. nasuta cf. isabellina and A. anomala. In A. laudankia scale reduction from 15 to 13 rows occurs between ventrals 143–147 in four out of five specimens examined by us (Table 3) vs. 110–127 in A. nasuta with long dermal appendage and 121–137 in A. nasuta with a short dermal appendage from India; vs. 117–120 in A. nasuta with long dermal appendage and 119–132 in A. nasuta with short dermal appendage from Sri Lanka; vs. 110–128 in A. nasuta cf. isabellina and vs. 119–129 in A. anomala. 
CommentDistribution: see map in Deepak e al. 2019: 499 (Fig. 1). 
EtymologyThe specific epithet, laudankia,refers to the vernacular name of the species in Odia (language spoken in Odisha state of India), alluding to the snake’s resemblance to dried stems (‘danka’) of bottle gourd (‘lau’). 
References
  • Deepak, V., Narayanan, S., Sarkar, V., Dutta, S. K. & Mohapatra, P. P. 2019. A new species of Ahaetulla Link, 1807 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Ahaetullinae) from India. J. Nat. Hist. 53: 497–516 - get paper here
  • Ganesh S.R., Bubesh Guptha 2021. Herpetological diversity in the Central Eastern Ghats, Peninsular India. Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (3): 18-44 - 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
  • 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
  • NARAYANAN, SURYA & PRATYUSH P. MOHAPATRA. 2021. Ahaetulla laudankia and A. sahyadrensis (Serpentes: Colubridae): two additions to the ophidiofauna of Maharashtra, India. Herpetology Notes 14: 1299–1303. - get paper here
  • Parmar, D., & Shah, A. I. 2023. Maximum length records for the Banded Racer (Platyceps plinii) and the Laudankia Vinesnake (Ahaetulla laudankia) and a new geographic record from Gujarat, India. Reptiles & Amphibians, 30(1), e20695-e20695 - get paper here
  • Patel H, Vyas R, Vaghashiya P 2019. On the distribution of Ahaetulla laudankia Deepak, Narayanan, Sarkar, Dutta & Mohapatra, 2019 and Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) (Squamata, Colubridae) from Gujarat, India. Check List 15(6): 1045-1050 - get paper here
  • Patel, Harshil; Raju Vyas, Bhautik Dudhatra, Vaibhav Naik, Ashish Chavda, Devendra Chauhan, Amit Vaghashiya, Ramesh Vagadiya and Pranav Vaghashiya 2019. Preliminary report on Herpetofauna of Mount Girnar, Gujarat, India. Journal of Animal Diversity 1 (2): 9–35 - get paper here
  • Purkayastha, Jayaditya; Sanath Chadra Bohra, Chitra B. Tamang, Milu Medhi 2021. First record of Laudankia Vine Snake, Ahaetulla laudankia Deepak, Narayanan, Sarkar, Dutta and Mohapatra 2019, from Assam, IndiaFirst record of Laudankia Vine Snake from Assam. Reptiles & Amphibians 28 (2): 308-309
  • Rawat, Y.B., S. Bhattarai, L.P. Poudyal & N. Subedi 2020. Herpetofauna of Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(5): 15587–15611 - get paper here
  • Sengupta, Debaprasad; S.R. Chandramouli 2020. A New Locality Record for the Recently Described Laudankia Vinesnake (Ahaetulla laudankia). IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (2): 304-305 - get paper here
 
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