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Archelaphe bella (STANLEY, 1917)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesArchelaphe bella bella (STANLEY 1917)
Archelaphe bella chapaensis (BOURRET 1934) 
Common NamesE: Bella Rat Snake
E: Burmese Rat Snake (leonardi)
G: Leonards Kletternatter (leonardi)
Chinese: 方花蛇 
SynonymCoronella bella STANLEY 1917
Coluber leonardi WALL 1921: 43
Coluber leonardi — WALL 1923: 467
Wallophis bella — WERNER 1929
Coronella bella — MELL 1931 [1929]
Elaphe porphyracea leonardi — ANGEL & BOURRET, 1933: 134
Coluber leonardi — RENDAHL 1937
Elaphe leonardi — SMITH 1943: 156
Oligodon bella — DING & ZHENG 1974
Oligodon bellus — ZHAO et al., 1977: 64
Elaphe leonardi — SCHULZ 1996
Wallophis bella — WELCH
Oligodon bellus — JIANG et al. 2006
Oligodon bellus — ZHAO 2006
Maculophis bella — BURBRINK & LAWSON 2007
Elaphe bella — NGUYEN et al. 2009
Archelaphe bella — SCHULZ et al. 2011
Archelaphe bellus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 54
Maculophis bella — ZAW 2020

Archelaphe bella chapaensis (BOURRET 1934)
Coluber leonardi chapaensis BOURRET 1934
Elaphe leonardi leonardi WALL 1921
Elaphe bella chapaensis — SCHULZ et al. 2000
Elaphe leonardi chapaensis — ORLOV et al. 2003
Maculophis bella chapaensis — ORLOV et al. 2010
Maculophis bellus chapaensis — DAS 2010: 285
Archelaphe bella chapaensis — SCHULZ et al. 2011 
DistributionChina (Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan), Myanmar (Burma: Kachin), Vietnam (Lao Cai, Lang Son, Bac Thai, Vinh Phuc, Ha Tinh), India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland)

leonardi: Myanmar (= Burma), Vietnam (Hong river); Type locality: Birma: Kachin, Sinlum Kaba (Wall, 1921)

chapaensis: Vietnam (Bac-Phan), Myanmar, China (W Yunnan); Type locality: near Chapa village (= Sa Pa), Bac Phan province, N Vietnam.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: SNHM (SMNHC) 717-17-1-525, Shanghai Museum of Natural History
Lectotype: MNHN-RA 1935.0131; paralectotype: MNHN-RA 1933.0006 [chapaensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: An old, isolated clade of relatively smallgrowing ratsnakes (total length 800 – 1000 mm) within the collective genus Elaphe auct. which branched off after the Rhadinophis and the Euprepiophis-Oreocryptophis clades (Burbrink and Lawson, 2007). From the latter two genera, it is distinguished by (1) a weakly (vs. markedly) concave frontal shield; (2) a consistently lacking loreal shield (present in Oreocryptophis and Euprepiophis, lacking only exceptionally in some E. mandarinus); (3) a dorsal head pattern of an anteriorly open Vor Y-shaped marking (vs. a posteriorly open V-shaped marking in Euprepiophis, or a longitudinal midline streak in Oreocryptophis); and (4) its hemipenis with a slightly expanded, calyculate and indistinctly asymmetrical apex (vs. subcylindrical, spiny and bilobed in Oreocryptophis, and distinctly expanded, spiny and asymmetrically bipartite in Euprepiophis mandarinus and perlaceus, subcylindrical in E. conspicillatus). 
CommentSynonymy: WERNER (1929) established Zamenis brachyura Günther, 1866 (currently Coronella brachyura) as the type species of Wallophis, and allocated also “Coronella (Wallophis) pulchra” to his new genus. Wallophis was revived in a non-peer reviewed journal (Litteratura Serpentium), without adequate justification (by Ken Welch) and is thus not recognized here. Coluber leonardi WALL 1921 is a synonym of Coronella bella STANLEY 1917 (= Elaphe bella) fide SCHULZ (2000). See SCHULZ et al. 2011 for a more extensive chresonymy.

Maculophis BURBRINK & LAWSON 2007 is a nomen nudum fide BÖHME & DE PURY 2011.

Type species: Coronella bella STANLEY 1917 is the type species of the genus Archelaphe SCHULZ, BÖHME & TILLACK 2011.

Distribution: Not listed for India by Whitaker & Captain 2007. Schulz 2000 lists only China, Myanmar, and Vietnam as countries. Wallach et al. 2014 also list Laos and Nagaland in India. 
EtymologyDerived from the Greek word archaios (= old), archaic, in reference to the basal position of the Archelaphe clade in the phylogenetic tree of Elaphe auct. 
References
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  • Burbrink, Frank T. and Robin Lawson 2007. How and when did Old World ratsnakes disperse into the New World? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43 (1): 173-189 - get paper here
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  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
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