Lycodon deccanensis GANESH, DEUTI, PUNITH, ACHYUTHAN, MALLIK, ADHIKARI & VOGEL, 2020

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Higher Taxa	Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names
Synonym	Lycodon deccanensis GANESH, DEUTI, PUNITH, ACHYUTHAN, MALLIK, ADHIKARI & VOGEL 2020 Lycodon travancoricus – SCLATER 1891 (part.) Lycodon sp. – GANESH et al. 2018 Lycodon sp. – GANESH et al. 2020 Lycodon deccanensis — KALKI et al. 2020
Distribution	India (Karnataka) Type locality: Devarayana Durga (13.371°N, 77.210°E; 1,060 m asl) in Tumkur district, Karnataka, India.
Reproduction
Types	Holotype: BNHS 3596, coll. K.G. Punith and Ashok Kumar Mallik in June 2012. Paratype: ZSI 13271 from South Arcot district, Tamil Nadu, India; Mus. Coll. Jaffa (also see Sclater 1891).
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A species of Lycodon inhabiting the Deccan plateau of India, characterized by: small size (total length < 470 mm); scales smooth, in 16–17:17:15 rows, without apical pits; usually 9 supralabials (10, in one case); ventrals 181–201 (n = 9) angulate laterally; anal plate undivided; subcaudals 68–78 (84; n = 8), paired; loreal in contact with internasal, separate from eye; nasal not in contact with prefrontal; anterior pair of genials subequal to posterior pair; supraocular usually contacting prefrontal; preocular usually not contacting frontal (preocular separating frontal, prefrontal, and supraocular in one case); dorsum brown in adults and black in juveniles, with white cross bars. Due to the slender body and smaller head, the new species superficially resembles the genus Dryocalamus, its higher midbody scale rows (17) and lower ventral counts (181–201; avg. 190; n = 9) [vs. rows 13–15; ventrals 200+ in Dryocalamus, see Smith 1943] clearly indicate this species belongs to the genus Lycodon, even if Dryocalamus is regarded as a valid genus (Ganesh et al. 2020).
Comment
Etymology	Toponym, named after its region of occurrence – the Deccan plateau, a raised table land of late Cretaceous origin, situated between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats of the Indian peninsula.
References	Ganesh S.R., Bubesh Guptha 2021. Herpetological diversity in the Central Eastern Ghats, Peninsular India. Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (3): 18-44 - get paper here Ganesh SR, Deuti K, Punith KG, Achyuthan NS, Mallik AK, Adhikari O, Vogel G. 2020. A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14 (3): 74–83 (e256) Ganesh, S.R.; A. Kalaimani, P. Karthik, N. Baskaran, R. Nagarajan & S.R.Chandramouli 2018. Herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, India – II From Western Ghats to Coromandel Coast. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, July 2018. Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 28-45 - get paper here Ganesh, S.R.; S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, G. Babu Rao & S. Babu 2020. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. JoTT 12 (9): 16123–16135 - get paper here Kalki Y, Gowda S, Agnivamshi M, Singh K, Patel H, Mirza ZA 2020. On the taxonomy and systematics of the recently described Lycodon deccanensis Ganesh, Deuti, Punith, Achyuthan, Mallik, Adhikari, Vogel, 2020 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from India. Evolutionary Systematics 4(2): 109-118 - get paper here Sclater, W. L. 1891. List of snakes in the Indian Museum. Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp. - get paper here
External links	National Center for Biotechnology Information http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:79E6BFD8-DD3A-4604-ACB2… https://www.facebook.com/groups/stshc/posts/358317273059544 Google images

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