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Rhabdophis nuchalis (BOULENGER, 1891)

IUCN Red List - Rhabdophis nuchalis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Hubei Keelback
Chinese: 颈槽蛇 
SynonymTropidonotus nuchalis BOULENGER 1891: 281
Tropidonotus nuchalis — BOULENGER 1893: 218
Natrix swinhonis nuchalis — MELL 1931 [1929]
Natrix nuchalis — SMITH 1943: 284
Rhabdophis nuchalis MALNATE 1960
Rhabdophis nuchalis nuchalis JIANG & ZHAO 1983
Nuchisulcophis nuchalis — MAHENDRA 1984
Rhabdophis nuchalis nuchalis — NGUYEN et al. 2009
Rhabdophis nuchalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 636 
DistributionNE India (Nagaland), Myanmar (= Burma), Vietnam
China (Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Guangxi, E Tibet, Yunnan, Guangdong), elevation 1200-2750 m.

Type locality: “Ichang, Upper Yangtse-Kiang”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: unknown (fide NGUYEN et al. 2009) 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (599 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSome species of this genus are venomous although we do not have information about this particular species.

Group: the Rhabdophis nuchalis group contains 4 species, R. nuchalis, R. pentasupralabialis, R. leonardi, and R. chiwen, fide Zhu et al. 2022. Zhu et al. 2022 also present a key to the 4 species. However, Nguyen & David 2023 included 5 species in the group: Rhabdophis angeli, nuchalis, kaiyuanensis, leonardi, swinhonis, guangdongensis, and chiwen (although they say in the previous sentence that they recognize “6” species, but listed only 5; in a pers. comm., 31 Aug 2023, Tan Nguyen says there are the aforementioned 7).

Type species: Mahendra (1984) designated Tropidonotus nuchalis Boulenger 1891 as the type species of his new genus Nuchisulcophis.

Subspecies: Rhabdophis nuchalis pentasupralabialis JIANG & ZHAO 1983 has been elevated to full species. Rhabdophis pentasupralabialis has five supralabials where the 5th is the longest while the nominal R. nuchalis has six supralabials and 5th is the longest. The first two to three dorsal scale rows of the former taxon are smooth while only one row (rarely two) in the later one. The former taxon is shorter (500 mm) than the later (600 mm).

Diet: earthworms and firefly larva (Yoshida et al. 2020).

Distribution: see map in Nguyen & David 2023: Fig. 1. 
EtymologyEtymology not given in original description, but most probably referring to the "very distinct groove along the middle of the nape." 
References
  • Ahmed, M. Firoz and Abhijit Das 2006. FIRST RECORD OF RHABDOPHIS NUCHALIS (BOULENGER, 1891) (SERPENTES: COLUBRIDAE) FROM INDIA, WITH NOTES ON ITS DISTRIBUTION AND NATURAL HISTORY. Hamadryad 30 (1 & 2): 120 – 126 - get paper here
  • Basfore, B., Kalita, M. J., Sharma, N., & Boro, A. R. 2024. An updated checklist of snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) in northeastern India derived from a review of recent literature. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 16(11), 26131-26149 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1891. Description of new oriental reptiles & batrachians. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 6: 279-283 - 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
  • Das, I. 2012. A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of South-East Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford J, ohn Beaufoy Publishing - get paper here
  • Dowling, H.G., & Jenner, J.V. 1988. Snakes of Burma: checklist of reported species and bibliography. Smithsonian Herp. Inf. Serv. (76): 19 pp. - get paper here
  • Duan, M., Yang, S., Li, X., Tang, X., Cheng, Y., Luo, J., ... & Zhu, G. X. 2024. Chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of the Rhabdophis nuchalis (Hubei keelback). Scientific Data, 11(1), 850
  • Dunaev E.A., Orlova V.F. 2003. Diversity of snakes (on the materials of the exposition of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University). Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 376 pp
  • Guo, P., F. J. Zhang, and Y. Y. Chen. 1999. Catalogue of type specimens of reptiles in the Herpetological Collections of Chengdu Institute of Biology,the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Asiatic Herpetological Research 8: 43~47 - get paper here
  • Inger R F; Zhao E; Bradley Shaffer H; Guanfu Wu 1990. Report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from Sichuan, China. Fieldiana: Zoology (No. 58) : i-iii, 1-24 - get paper here
  • Jiang, YAO-MING, and ER-MI ZHAO. 1983. Studies on amphibians and reptiles of Mt. Gongga region, Sichuan, China. 3. A study of species-group nuchalis, genus Rhabdophis [in Chinese]. Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, [new ser.], 2 (1): 59-62 - get paper here
  • Kunz, Kriton 2015. Schlangen, die Wirbellose fressen. Terraria-Elaphe 2015 (5): 14-20 - get paper here
  • Liu, Q., Lyu, B., Xie, X., Zeng, Y., & Guo, P. 2023. Genomic evidence sheds new light on phylogeny of Rhabdophis nuchalis (sensu lato) complex (Serpentes: Natricidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 107893 - get paper here
  • Mahendra B C 1984. Handbook of the snakes of India, Ceylon, Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan. ANNALS OF ZOOLOGY (AGRA) 22 (B): i-xvi, 1-412
  • Mell,R. 1931. List of Chinese snakes. Lingnan Sci. Jour., Canton, 8 [1929]: 199-219.
  • Nguyen, S.V., Ho, C.T. and Nguyen, T.Q. 2009. Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 768 pp.
  • Nguyen, Tan Van & David, P. 2023. ON THE OCCURRENCE OF RHABDOPHIS LEONARDI (WALL, 1923) IN VIETNAM AND LAOS, WITH PRELIMINARY COMMENTS ON THE TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMPLEX OF RHABDOPHIS NUCHALIS (SQUAMATA: SERPENTES: NATRICIDAE). Russian Journal of Herpetology 30 (4): 224 – 236
  • Schmidt, KARL P. 1925. New reptiles and a new salamander from China. American Museum Novitates (157): 1-5. - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Stejneger, L. 1925. Chinese amphibians and reptiles in the United States National Museum. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 66 (2562): 1-115. - get paper here
  • TAKEUCHI, HIROHIKO; HIDETOSHI OTA FLS,, HONG-SHIK OH and TSUTOMU HIKIDA 2012. Extensive genetic divergence in the East Asian natricine snake, Rhabdophis tigrinus (Serpentes: Colubridae), with special reference to prominent geographical differentiation of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in Japanese populations. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105, 395–408 - 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.
  • Wang, Kai; Jinlong Ren, Hongman Chen, Zhitong Lyu, Xianguang Guo Ke Jiang, Jinmin Chen, Jiatang Li, Peng Guo, Yingyong Wang, Jing Che 2020. The updated checklists of amphibians and reptiles of China. Biodiversity Science 28 (2): 189-218 - get paper here
  • Yoshida, Tatsuya; Rinako Ujiie, View ORCID ProfileAlan H. Savitzky, Teppei Jono, Takato Inoue, Naoko Yoshinaga, Shunsuke Aburaya, Wataru Aoki, Hirohiko Takeuchi, Li Ding, Qin Chen, Chengquan Cao, Tein-Shun Tsai, Anslem de Silva, Dharshani Mahaulpatha 2020. Dramatic dietary shift maintains sequestered toxins in chemically defended snakes. PNAS 117 (11) 5964-5969 - get paper here
  • Zhao, E.M. 2006. The snakes of China [in Chinese]. Hefei, China, Anhui Sience & Technology Publ. House, Vol. I, 372 pp., Vol. II (color plates), 280 pp.
  • ZHU, GUANG-XIANG; YING-YONG WANG,HIROHIKO TAKEUCHI & ER-MI ZHAO 2014. A new species of the genus Rhabdophis Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Colubridae) from Guangdong Province, southern China. Zootaxa 3765 (5): 469–480 - get paper here
  • ZHU, GUANGXIANG; SHIJUN YANG, ALAN H. SAVITZKY, YUQI CHENG, AKIRA MORI, LI DING, DINGQI RAO & QIN WANG. 2022. Cryptic diversity and phylogeography of the Rhabdophis nuchalis group (Squamata: Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 166(107325). - get paper here
 
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