Ahaetulla perroteti (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)
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Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Western Ghats Bronzeback |
Synonym | Psammophis Perroteti DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 899 Leptophis canarensis JERDON 1854 Dryophis tropidococcyx GÜNTHER 1858: 157 Psammophis perroteti — GÜNTHER 1860: 428 Tropidococcyx perroteti — THEOBALD 1868 Dryophis perroteti — BOULENGER 1890: 868 Dryophis perroteti — SMITH 1943: 373 Ahaetulla perroteti — SVAGE 1952 Ahaetulla perroteti — DAS 1996: 53 Ahaetulla perroteti — WALLACH et al. 2014: 20 Ahaetulla perroteti — MALLIK et al. 2020: 45 |
Distribution | India (Western Ghats, Kerala, Tamil Nadu ?), elelvation 1980 m to 2300 m Type locality: “Indes-Orientales” [= East Indies, including India]. |
Reproduction | ovovivparous |
Types | Syntypes: MNHN-RA 1208, longest syntype 500 mm (G.S. Perrotet, 1822–1832), 5 specimens, location of other syntypes unknown. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.9.80-81 [tropidococcyx] |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: It is morphologically separated from most other Indian species by the absence of rostral appendage (vs. present in all Indian congeners except A. dispar, A. travancorica sp. nov.). It differes from the latter species by a lower number (65–86) of subcaudal shields (vs. 103–125 in A. dispar and 130 in Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov.) and complete absence of loreal scales on either side of the head (vs. 0–1 loreals in A. dispar and 2 in Ahaetulla travancorica sp. nov.) (Fig. 24, Mallik et al. 2020). Additional details (848 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
Comment | Mildly venomous but usually harmless for humans. Synonymy: partly after Mallik et al. 2020. Distribution: Reports from Myanmar are probably erroneous (MCDOWELL & JENNER 1988). See map in Mallik et al. 2020: 14 (Fig. 4). Habitat: In contrast to most other members of the genus, A. perroteti is predominantly terrestrial to semi-arboreal, inhabiting the montane grasslands and the shola forest mosaic of the Upper Nilgiris (Mallik et al. 2020), even though Harrington et al. 2018 classified it as fully arboreal. |
Etymology | Named after George Samuel Perrottet (1790–1870) a French botanist, who also worked on the natural history of Indian biota. |
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