Dendrelaphis effrenis (WERNER, 1909)
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Dendrelaphis effrenis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Sinhala: Sinharaja haldanda Tamil: Sinharaja komberi muken E: Sinharaja tree snake |
| Synonym | Dendrophis effrenis WERNER 1909 Dendrophis effrenis — WALL 1921: 219 (see comment) Dendrophis effrenis — WALL 1921: 152 Dendrelaphis sinharajensis WICKRAMASINGHE 2016 Dendrelaphis effrenis — DANUSHKA et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | Sri Lanka (Southern Province) Type locality: Colombo, Sri Lanka. sinharajensis: Type locality: Mideripitiya, Sinharaja Forest, Deniyaya, Matara District, Southern Province (N 06° 21' 24.72’’, E 080° 29' 21.63’’), 285 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Neotype: NMSL 2016.06.01 NH, adult female, SVL 672 mm, TL 323 mm, (map: Figure 1). The specimen was the holotype of D. sinharajensis until Danushka et al. 2020 designated it as neotype of D. effrenis. Coll. L. J. M. Wickramasinghe. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: D. effrenis is clearly distinguishable from Dendrelaphis caudolineolatus by having no loreal (vs present), three postoculars (vs two), a combination of a red neck and conspicuous red/white cross bars (vs oblique black stripes on anterior bronze body, that meets mid dorsally forming a ̳V‘ shape), a throat with black blotches (vs blotching absent). Furthermore, D. effrenis is clearly distinguishable by any of the species in a group of Malayan bronzebacks, D. caudolineatus complex, which has similar colour patterns, by having no black longitudinal dorsal stripes (vs present), no ventrolateral stripe (vs present), and 129 subcaudals (vs 101–113). The English translation of the German description by Werner (1909) is given in Appendix II of Danushka et al. 2020. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Dendrelaphis sinharajensis was synonymized with D. effrenis after the latter was revalidated from the synonymy of D. caudolineolatus by Danushka et al. 2020. WALL (1921) states that Dendrophis effrenis may be an aberrant species of D. caudolineatus. Habitat: arboreal. One individual was found in the canopy at around 15 m above ground level. The first specimen of D. sinharajensis was a road kill. Abundance: rare; only known from 4 specimens (Danushka et al. 2020). Sympatry: D. schokari. |
| Etymology | The species epithet sinharajensis is derived from “Sinharaja”, referring to the forest where the species was discovered. The specific name is an adjective from the geographical name. |
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