Lycodryas maculatus (GÜNTHER, 1858)
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Lycodryas maculatus
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| Higher Taxa | Pseudoxyrhophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | Lycodryas maculatus maculatus GÜNTHER 1858 Lycodryas maculatus comorensis (PETERS 1874) |
| Common Names | E: Spotted Tree Snake [maculatus] |
| Synonym | Dipsadoboa maculata GÜNTHER 1858: 183 Lycodryas sancti johannis GÜNTHER 1879: 218 Stenophis maculatus — BOULENGER 1896: 43 Lycodryas maculatus — MEIRTE 1999 Lycodryas sanctijohannis — MEIRTE 1999 Lycodryas sanctijohannis — NAGY et al. 2010 Lycodryas maculatus — NAGY et al. 2010 Lycodryas sanctijohannis — HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2011 Lycodryas maculatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 399 Lycodryas sanctijohannis — EL-YAMINE et al. 2016 Lycodryas maculatus comorensis (PETERS 1874) Dipsas (Heterurus) Gaimardii var. comorensis PETERS 1874 Lycodryas sanctijohannis var. mayottensis BOETTGER 1913 Lycodryas maculatus comorensis — HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2012 |
| Distribution | Comoro Islands (Mayotte) Type locality: see comment, changed to ‘‘unknown’’ by Boulenger 1896. sanctijohannis: Comoro Island, Johanna Island, Mayotte; Type locality: “Anjouan island’’ |
| Reproduction | ovoviviparous |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.21.47 Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.5.20 [sanctijohannis] Holotype: Not traced and considered lost, juvenile [comorensis] Neotype: ZSM 42/2010, adult male; collected 7 February 2010; Comoros Archipelago, MAYOTTE, Petite-Terre, near Moya, under bark on a tree; by O. Hawlitschek, J. Berger, B. Brückmann. [comorensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (maculatus): Largest subspecies of Comoran tree snakes, snout-vent length max. 867 mm; max. snout-vent length for L. cococola cococola sp. n. 650 mm, for L. maculatus comorensis 757 mm and for L. cococola innocens ssp. n. 835 mm. 19 middorsal scale rows, no specimens with 17 known (see Table 1 and Fig. 3 for other taxa of Comoran Lycodryas). 233 to 259 ventral scales, 85 to 126 subcaudal scales, posterior ones divided. Loreal in contact with supralabials 2 and 3, as in L. maculatus comorensis, but unlike the other two subspecies. Anal shield divided. BMNH 1946.1.21.47 is the only specimen studied with 8/8 infralabial scales, while all other Comoran Lycodryas specimens have at least 9/9. Males dorsally grey, head with marbled pattern of darker spots and dots. Lower part of supralabials in males white, upper part brown or black. Body with regular middorsal band of dark brown blotches, scales between these blotches sometimes appearing brighter. Dark ventral stripe always absent. Females with typical pattern of reddish, brownish or yellowish dorsal and yellowish ventral side [from HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2012]. |
| Comment | Distribution: Erroneously reported from Madagascar. The original type locality given was “Central America”. The taxon Dipsas (Heterurus) gaimardii Schlegel var. comorensis Peters, 1874 [107], has been considered a record of L. gaimardii from Mayotte. According to HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2012, all Lycodryas from Mayotte belong to a single taxon that is not conspecific with L. gaimardii. Therefore, the designation of a neotype is necessary to stabilize the nomenclatural identity of Lycodryas populations from Mayotte. Synonymy: after BOULENGER 1896 and HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2012 (who synonymized Lycodryas sanctijohannis with L. maculatus). However, Zaher et al. 2019 found that sanctijohannis is more closely related to cococola than maculatus and thus warrants recognition. However, the GenBank sequences Zaher used were from different individuals, some of which were maculatus, some cococola. They are listed as sanctijohannis on GenBank because they were uploaded before L. maculatus was revalidated and L. cococola described (O. Hawlitschek, pers. comm., 8 Jan. 2020). NAGY et al. (2010) write “Lycodryas maculatus is here assigned to Lycodryas only tentatively. This taxon was (perhaps erroneously) reported from the region: It was originally described by Günther (1858) as Dipsadoboa maculata from Central America. The type of D. maculata has dorsal scales in 19 rows, has 243 ventrals and 126 subcaudals and an undivided anal scale. Furthermore, it has a single praeocular scale and three postoculars at both sides, and it is characterized by a total length of 655 mm (tail length: 165 mm) according to Boulenger (1896). According to Domergue (unpublished data), however, the specimen was not available for re-examination any more [in his unpublished notes he writes: ‘pas... reconnu (retrouve ́ )’. Type species: Lycodryas sanctijohannis is the type species of the genus Lycodryas GÜNTHER 1879. Definition and description (Lycodryas): Typically 8 (range: 7–9) upper labials (usually 4th and 5th touching eye); 6–10 lower labials; 1 loreal scale; 17–19 rows of dorsal scales at mid-body; 13 or 15 rows of dorsal scales at the last ventral; 185–284 ven- tral scales; anal plate usually divided; 70–130 subcaudals (divided, undivided or combination of both); pupil is a small vertical ellipse when contracted; hemipenis as far as known deeply divided. Further characters are given in Table 2 in NAGY et al. 2010. Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | Named after Johanna (Anjouan) Island (Comoro Islands). |
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