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Liopholidophis sexlineatus (GÜNTHER, 1882)

IUCN Red List - Liopholidophis sexlineatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPseudoxyrhophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Six-lined Water Snake 
SynonymDromicus sexlineatus GÜNTHER 1882
Dromicus macrocercus GÜNTHER 1882 (?)
Tropidonotus sexlineatus — BOULENGER 1893: 246
Natrix sexlineatus — BARBOUR 1918: 487
Liopholidophis sexlineatus — GLAW & VENCES 1994: 338
Liopholidophis sexlineatus — CADLE 1996: 408
Liopholidophis sexlineatus — WERNING & WOLF 2007
Liopholidophis sexlineatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 396 
DistributionMadagascar (elevations up to more than 2000 m).

Type locality: “Eastern Betsileo, Madagascar” [= N Fianarantsoa Province, C Madagascar].  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.13.28-30 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Liopholidophis sexlineatus is distinguished from members of the stumpffi group in having 17-17-15 scale rows (vs. 19-19-17). It differs in details of color pattern from dolicocercus, grandidieri, and rhadinaea: venter largely solid black, or solid black with marginal white stripe, in grandidieri or dolicocercus, respectively; whitish to heavily, but irregularly, splotched with black (never solid black) in sexlineatus; three light nape spots and dorsolateral light stripe in rhadinaea (absent in sexlineatus).
Liopholidophis sexlineatus is most similar to L. pinguis in overall habitus and color pattern. Males of pinguis have short tails ( <35% total length; < 110 subcaudals) compared to males of sexlineatus (>40% total length; >120 subcaudals), and the relative eye size of pinguis is smaller than that of sexlineatus (Table 1). Most specimens of pinguis have less distinct stripes on the anterior body than sexlineatus, and the venter in the former is usually lightcolored (sometimes with edges of ventrals blackened or with a median series of small paired spots); in sexlineatus, the stripes are distinct the entire length of the body (flanks may be entirely darkened) and, although the venter may be immaculate, it is often heavily and irregularly splotched with black (Cadle 1996: 408).


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Comment 
References
  • Barbour, Thomas 1918. Vertebrata from Madagascar. 2. Amphibia and Reptilia. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 61 (14): 479-489. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Cadle, J. E. 1996. Snakes of the genus Liopholidophis (Colubridae) from Eastern Madagascar: New species, revisionary notes, and an estimate of phylogeny. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 154 (5): 369-464. - get paper here
  • Cadle, John E. 2009. Sexual Dimorphism and Reproductive Biology in the Malagasy Snake Genus Liopholidophis (Lamprophiidae: Pseudoxyrhophiinae) Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 60 (15): 461–502
  • Glaw ,F. & Vences, M. 1994. A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Vences & Glaw Verlag, Köln (ISBN 3-929449-01-3)
  • Glaw, F.; Nagy, Z.T.; Franzen, M. & Vences, M. 2007. Molecular phylogeny and systematics of the pseudoxyrhophiine snake genus Liopholidophis (Reptilia, Colubridae): evolution of its exceptional sexual dimorphism and descriptions of new taxa. Zoologica Scripta 36: 291–300 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1882. Ninth contribution to the knowledge of the fauna of Madagascar. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (5) 9: 262-266 - get paper here
  • Rosa, G., Edmonds, D., Lau, I., Andreone, F. & Bergo, P. E. 2012. Liopholidophis sexlineatus diet. Herpetological Review 43: 345-346 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Werning, H. & Wolf, C. 2007. Gebirge und Hochland - Reptilien und Amphibien in einem extremen Lebensraum. Draco 7 (27): 4-27 - get paper here
 
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