Asthenodipsas malaccanus PETERS, 1864
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Asthenodipsas malaccanus
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| Higher Taxa | Pareidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Malayan Slug Snake G: Malaiische Schneckennatter |
| Synonym | Asthenodipsas malaccana PETERS 1864 Pareas dorsopictus EDELING 1870 Asthenodipsas malaccana — LIDTH DE JEUDE 1890 Amblycephalus malaccanus — BOULENGER 1892 Amblycephalus malaccanus — DE ROOIJ 1917: 276 Pareas malaccanus — ROBINSON & KLOSS 1920 Amblycephalus malaccanus — LIDTH DE JEUDE 1922: 251 Pareas malaccanus — GRANDISON 1972: 92 Pareas malaccanus — GRANDISON 1978: 294 Internatus malaccanus — RAO & YANG 1992 Pareas malaccanus — BAUER et al. 1995: 69 Pareas malaccanus — MALKMUS & SAUER 1996 Internatus malaccanus — DAVID & VOGEL 1996 Pareas malaccanus — STUEBING & INGER 1999 Internatus malaccanus — NABHITABHATA et al. 2000 Internatus malaccanus — MALKMUS et al. 2002 — MALKMUS et al. 2002 Asthenodipsas malaccanus — ISKANDAR & COLIJN 2002 Asthenodipsas malaccanus — GROSSMANN & TILLACK 2004 Asthenodipsas malaccanus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 60 Asthenodipsas malaccana — QUAH et al. 2019 Asthenodipsas (Asthenodipsas) malaccana — POYARKOV et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra, Mentawai Islands); Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia); Thailand Type locality: “in der Nähe von Malacca” [Malaysia; PETERS, 1864a] |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 5041 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Dorsal scales smooth, in 15 rows throughout the body; vertebrals enlarged, hexagonal; sharp vertebral keel developed; head distinct from neck, snout blunt; one or two loreals; preocular and subocular scales absent; supraoculars may be fused to the postoculars; nasal undivided; prefrontal, loreal and at least one supralabial in contact with the eye; supraoculars may be fused to the postocular; frontal subhexagonal with the lateral sides converging posteriorly; two anterior temporals; the anterior single inframaxillary shield present (Figs. 5C–5F); inframaxillaries wider than long in two or three pairs; the first or third pair of inframaxillaries in contact with each other (Figs. 5C–5F); cloacal plate entire; subcaudals divided (Peters, 1864; Grossmann & Tillack, 2003; Quah et al., 2019, 2020; Table S14; from Poyarkov et al. 2022). |
| Comment | Type species: Asthenodipsas malaccana PETERS 1864 is the type species of the genus Asthenodipsas PETERS 1864. Some authors consider this genus as a synonym of Pareas (e.g. WILLIAMS & WALLACH 1989). Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). Distribution: not in Borneo fide Das 2023. |
| Etymology | Named after the type locality. The genus name is derived from the Greek word “asthenos” (aσθενώς) for “weak”, “lacking strength”, and the generic name “Dipsas”, which is believed to come from the name of a snake in Greek mythology “Dipsas” (Διψaς), the bite of which was believed to cause intense thirst (or “dipsa” [διψά] in Ancient Greek meaning “thirst”). The word “Dipsas” is feminine in gender, therefore Asthenodipsas must be treated as feminine, and the names of the included species have to be adjusted to feminine gender (e.g., malaccana). The species name “tropidonotus” (meaning “keel-backed” in Greek) represents a latinized adjective and therefore its gender has to be adjusted to the feminine gender of Asthenodipsas as “tropidonota”. |
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