Asthenodipsas stuebingi QUAH, GRISMER, LIM, ANUAR & IMBUN, 2019
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Asthenodipsas stuebingi
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| Higher Taxa | Pareidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Sabah Mountain Smooth Slug Snake |
| Synonym | Asthenodipsas stuebingi QUAH, GRISMER, LIM, ANUAR & IMBUN 2019 Amblycephalus laevis — BOULENGER 1896: 441 & 442 (in part) Amblycephalus laevis — DE ROOIJ 1917: 276 Amblycephalus vertebralis — LOVERIDGE 1938: 43 (in part) Asthenodipsas laevis — DAS 2006: 007 (in part) Asthenodipsas laevis — DAS 2010: 344 Asthenodipsas laevis — GROSSMANN & TILLACK 2003: 188 Internatus laevis — MALKMUS et al. 2002: 342 & 343, Figs, 337 & 338 Internatus laevis — STUEBING et al. 2014: 85 Pareas laevis — MALKMUS 1996: 293 Pareas laevis — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 377, Abb. 284 Pareas laevis — STUEBING 1991: 330 & 331 (in part) Pareas laevis — STUEBING & INGER 1999: 87 (in part) Pareas laevis — HAILE 1958: 766 (in part) Asthenodipsas (Asthenodipsas) stuebingi — POYARKOV et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | East Malaysia (Borneo: Sabah) Type locality: Minduk Sirung (Alab–Mahua trail), Crocker Range Park, Sabah, East Malaysia (estimated: N 5.823240, E 116.347238, 1859 m a.s.l.). |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. SP 04679, adult female collected by Paul Yambun Imbun, Fred Tuh Yit Yu and Safrie on 25 March 2009. Paratypes. Adult male (SP 04806) collected by Siti Azizah Kusop, Junaidi Ais and R., Adzmie on 26 October 2014 from Kampung Desa Aman, Kundasang (estimated: N5.988087, E 116.570162, 1341 m a.s.l.). Adult female (ZMB 65429) collected by Rudolf Malkmus and Andreas Nӧllert in August 1994 on Kamborangoh Road, Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, West Malaysia (estimated: N6.0292, E116.5473, 1854 m a.s.l.). Adult male (MCZ R43591) col- lected by John A. Griswold Jr. in 1937 from Kadmayan R, near Kiau, Sabah, West Malaysia (estimated: N6.029788, E 116.489732, 971 m a.s.l.). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Morphological analyses of the four specimens from the highlands of Sabah confirms the placement of this population in the genus Asthenodipsas based on the combination of the following characters: smooth dorsal scales; absence of preoculars and suboculars; one or more supralabials in contact with the eye; a single anterior inframaxillary, followed by two or three pairs of inframaxillaries which are wider than long (Grossmann & Tillack 2003). Asthenodipsas stuebingi sp. nov. can be differentiated from its congeners by the following combination of characters: a maximum SVL of 557 mm; 15/15/15 dorsal scale rows; 165–175 ventrals; 35–47 subcaudal scales; one or two postoculars; 2(+0–1)+2 temporals; six supralabials, 3rd & 4th touching the eye; 4–6 infralabials, 2nd or 3rd pair in contact; a sharp vertebral keel; dorsum of adults beige to brown and overlain with 30–42 irregularly-shaped, rhomboidal dark brown bands beginning posterior to dark patch on the neck that and extends the length of body and tail and onto lateral edges of the ventral scales to form spots, but not encircling body; a narrow, light-coloured vertebral stripe; throat and ventrals beige to yellow and mottled with small, dark spots; head whitish to light-brown with dark speckling on the snout and crown; and iris and pupils black (Table 4, 5 & 6; Fig. 2 & 3 in Quah et al. 2019). |
| Comment | Habitat: montane, only been found on the highlands of Sabah from 900–2000 m a.s.l.. This is in contrast to its congener A. laevis that is widely distributed in Borneo and recorded from many lowland localities up to 1150 m in elevation (Stuebing et al. 2014). At some locations such as the Crocker Range, both species occur (SP 04476, SP 04570 & SP 04679; see Table 5 in Quah et al. 2019). It is reportedly both terrestrial and arboreal (Malkmus et al. 2002). Malkmus et al. (2002) reported finding a specimen crossing the road at night in rainy weather and another specimen in a bush approximately 1m above the ground. The paratype ZMB 65429 was also collected at night fol- lowing light rains at approximately 22:00 h. A specimen was observed at 09:00 h close the power station of the Kinabalu park headquarters along Kamborangoh road (Andreas Nӧllert in litt. 2018). Behavior: Similar to other species of slug snakes, A. stuebingi sp. nov. is nocturnal. When threatened, the snakes roll themselves up into tight coils and remain motionless — a behaviour observed in Aplopeltura boa (Jablonski & Hegner 2016). Diet: Asthenodipsas stuebingi sp. nov. presumably feeds on snails or slugs like other members of the family. |
| Etymology | The specific epithet stuebingi is a patronym in honour of Robert B. Stuebing (born 1946) for his contributions to the field of herpetology in Borneo, especially on the study of snakes. |
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