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Platyceps ventromaculatus (GRAY, 1834)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPlatyceps ventromaculatus ventromaculatus (GRAY 1834)
Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai (KHAN & KHAN 2000) 
Common NamesE: Hardwicke's Rat Snake, Glossy-bellied Racer
G: Gefleckte Zornnatter 
SynonymColuber ventromaculatus GRAY 1834: 80
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — GÜNTHER 1859: 223
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — BOULENGER 1887: 408 (?)
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — BOULENGER 1893: 399
Zamenis ventrimaculatus BOULENGER 1920
Coluber ventrimaculatus CORKILL 1932
Coluber ventromaculatus — HAAS 1957: 79
Coluber ventromaculatus — MINTON 1966
Haemorrhois ventromaculatus
Eremiophis ventromaculatus ?
Coluber ventromaculatus —SCHÄTTI & WILSON 1986
Coluber ventromaculatus — GASPERETTI 1988: 216
Coluber ventromaculatus — DAS 1996: 55
Platyceps ventromaculatus — SCHÄTTI & MONSCH 2004
Argyrogena ventromaculatus — SHARMA 2004
Coluber ventromaculatus — WHITAKER & CAPTAIN 2004
Platyceps ventromaculatus — NAGY et al. 2004
Platyceps ventromaculatus — GRUBER 2009: 126
Coluber ventromaculatus — MURTHY 2010
Platyceps cf. ventromaculatus — SINDACO et al. 2014
Platyceps ventromaculatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 568

Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Coluber ventromaculatus bengalensis KHAN & KHAN 2000
Coluber ventromaculatus bengalensis — KHAN 2003
Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis — KHAN 2017

Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Coluber ventromaculatus indusai KHAN & KHAN 2000
Coluber ventromaculatus indusai — KHAN 2003
Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai — KHAN 2017 
DistributionSW Asia from N India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab [Dino Aulakh, pers. comm.], Jammu and Kashmir) to SE Turkey (Anatolia), Pakistan, U.S.S.R., Afghanistan (LEVITON 1959: 461), Jordan (Disi 1993),
Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (along the Arabian sea), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar

bengalensis: Pakistan; Type locality: Bengal, description from fig 1 Plate 80 of Gray 1830-35.

indusai: Pakistan (Indus valley)

Type locality: Upper and lower Indus Valley.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype, BMNH 1946.1.11.42, female (T. Hardwicke)
Holotype: lost [bengalensis]
Holotype: not given [indusai] 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (bengalensis): (based on the figured snake) 9 supralabials, 5- 6th in eye, 10-11 infralabials; approximately 220 ventrals; 70 divided subcaudals; a median dorsal row of 60+, 1-2 scale thick dark cross bands, much narrower than interspaces, replaced on tail by irregular narrow transverse streaks formed by approximation of dark edges of adjascent scales; distinct narrow orbito- labial and temporal stripes, an irregular interorbital cross band, few dark spots on temporals and a distinct median dorsal, one scale thick, nuchal streak. Ventrals with a lateral row of round dark spots on each side.


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CommentSubspecies: KHAN & KHAN (2000) didn’t specify any neotype for their new subspecies which are based on a figure in GRAY 1830. The status of these subspecies therefore remains uncertain (no holotype specified; no valid description after ICZN). BARABANOV (2002) indicated that the name C. v. bengalensis is not available and suggested the replacement name C. v. khanorum. Schätti et al. (2014: 310) stated that “the descriptions of two new subspecies of Gray’s Racer (Khan & Khan, 2000) are either invalid (indusai) or junior objective synonyms (bengalensis and the nomen novum khano­rum [= bengalensis] Barabanov, 2002) of P. ventromaculatus (Gray)”.

Synonymy: the status of Platyceps ventromaculatus has been unclear for a long time. Wall (1914) “found no option but to unite C.[oluber] ventromaculatus with C. rhodorachis to settle this taxonomic tangle.”

Distribution: See map in SCHÄTTI et al. 2014: 375. See map in Burriel-Carranza et al. 2019 for map in UAE. Despite the almost complete absence of precise collecting sites for Platyceps ventromaculatus from low-lying northwestern India, Schätti et al. (2014: 377) regard this species and P. r. rhodorachis to be largely parapatric (see their Figs 11, 15 and 25). In Qatar fide Wikipedia. 
References
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