Sinomicrurus kelloggi (POPE, 1928)
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Sinomicrurus kelloggi
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Kellogg's Coral Snake Chinese: 福建华珊瑚蛇 E: Hou’s coralsnake [houi] Chinese: 海南华珊瑚蛇 (Hǎi Nán Huá Shān Hú Shé) [houi] |
| Synonym | Hemibungarus kelloggi POPE 1928: 6 Calliophis wongii FAN 1931 Callophis kelloggi — SMITH 1943: 426 Calliophis kelloggi DING & ZHENG 1974 Micrurus kelloggi — WELCH 1994: 85 Sinomicrurus kelloggi — SLOWINSKI, BOUNDY & LAWSON 2001 Hemibungarus kelloggi — ORLOV et al. 2003 Sinomicrurus kelloggi — WALLACH et al. 2014: 676 Sinomicrurus kelloggi — WANG et al. 2022 Sinomicrurus houi WANG, PENG & HUANG in PENG et al. 2018 Calliophis kelloggi — ZHAO 1990: 359. Calliophis kelloggi — CHU & HUANG, 1990: 152. Calliophis kelloggi — ZHAO & ADLER 1993: 265. Calliophis kelloggi — ZHAO 1998: 342 Calliophis kelloggi — SHI & MENG 2001: 83 Calliophis kelloggi — JI & WEN 2002: 236. Calliophis kelloggi — ZHAO 2004: 329 Sinomicrurus kelloggi — ZHAO 2006: 297. Sinomicrurus kelloggi — SHI, ZHAO & WANG 2011: 259, Plates XXIV-128 Sinomicrurus kelloggi — WANG 2014: 119 Sinomicrurus houi — TAN et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | Vietnam, N Laos (fide WELCH 1994), S China (Fujian, Hunan, incl. Hainan) Type locality: Chungan Hsien, Fukien (= Chongan Xian, Fujian), China houi: China (Hainan island), Laos (Khammouan), Vietnam (Quang Ninh, Nghe An); Type locality: forest edge on a path near a gutterway at the side of Tianchi Lake, Jianfengling NNR, Hainan island, Hainan, China (108°46′ E, 18°39′ N; 805 m elevation; Figure 4 in Peng et al. 2018). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: AMNH 33744 Holotype: HSU (also as HUM) 20170001 (Figures 1, 2), adult male, collected by Lijun WANG and Mian HOU on 17 Jun 2010, and deposited in the Museum of Huangshan University. Paratypes: Re5410, adult male, and CIB108251, adult female, from the same locality as the holotype, collected on 25 Mar 2011 by Lijun WANG and Mian HOU. The former deposited in the Shanghai Natural History Museum, the latter deposited in the Herpetological Museum of Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. HUM20170004, adult female, collected in the Diaoluoshan NNR, Hainan Island, Hainan, China (109°54′ E, 18°41′ N; 726 m a.s.l.) on 9 Jul 2012 by Yiwu ZHU. The specimen is deposited in the Museum of Huangshan University [houi] |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: A Hemibungarus with 15 rows of scales,no longitudinal lines on the body, and head rather distinct from the neck (from Pope 1928). Diagnosis (houi): Sinomicrurus houi sp. nov. differs from the known five congeners by a combination of the following characters: 1) dorsal scale rows (DSC) 15: 15: 15, smooth throughout; 2) ventrals (VL) 173–183; 3) subcaudals (SC) 27–38; 4) head relatively elongated, head length (HL) 2.0–2.1 times as long as head width (HW); 5) no loreal; 6) supralabials (SL) 7/7, infralabials (IL) 7/7; 7) dorsal surface scarlet, with 16–19 edged yellowish black bands on trunk of body, 2–4 on tail; 8) numbers of ventral spots 34–42; 9) dorsum of head having a narrow white broadwise band in the forefront of head (covering almost all the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th supralabials, preoculars, and continuing through forefront prefrontals) and two symmetric white stripes appearing a Chinese symbol for the figure eight (“八”, from both sides of frontal to neck sides and gradually widening); 10) maxillary teeth behind the fangs present. Variation (houi): The variation in measurement is given in Table 1 in Peng et al. 2018. The holotype and the paratypes are similar in general aspects. Comparisons (houi): Based from morphology analysis, the genus Sinomicrurus have three species groups, the S. macclellandi, S. kelloggi and S. japonicus groups. The S. macclellandi group species differs from the S. kelloggi group species by having 13 scale rows on the body, ventrals 195–241, subcaudals 25–46, 1 + 1 temporals, 6/6 infralabials, with (S. m. macclellandi, S. m. iwasakii, S. m. swinhoei) or without (S. m. gorei, S. m. univirgatus) black rings, the broader band on the head shaped in curve (S. m. macclellandi, S. m. iwasakii, S. m. univirgatus) or straight with irregular border (S. m. gorei，S. m. swinhoei), with a black vertebral stripe and the transverse bars restricted to the sides of the body or totally absent (S. m. univirgatus), having a pair black spots or one irregular spot between the black rings (Günther, 1858, 1964, 1968; Mell, 1929; Nakamura and Ueno, 1963; Orlov et al., 2003; Reinhardt, 1844; Shang et al., 2009; Shi et al., 2011; Smith, 1943; Stejneger, 1907; Wall, 1910, 1913, 1923; Zhao, 1998, 2004, 2006). The above characters refer to S. kelloggi which has 15 scale rows on the body, ventrals 154–202, subcaudals 27–38, 1 + 2 temporals, 6/6 (S. kelloggi) or 7/7 (S. houi sp. nov.) infralabials, with black rings, the broader band on head shaped like “V” (S. kelloggi) or “ 八 ” (S. houi sp. nov.), without any black vertebral stripe or any spots which between the black rings (Günther, 1858, 1964, 1968; Mell, 1929; Orlov et al., 2003; Pope, 1928; Shi et al., 2011; Smith, 1943; Zhao, 1998, 2004, 2006). The S. japonicus species group can be distinguished from the S. macclellandi group and S. kelloggi by a combination of characters: 13 (S. hatori, S. japonicus) or 15 (S. sauteri) scale rows on body, ventrals 196–269, subcaudals 28–31, 1 + 1 temporals, 6/6 (S. hatori, S. sauteri) or 7/7 (S. japonicus) infralabials. On the body they do not have rings (S. sauteri, S. j. takarai), have short whitish lateral band (S. hatori), only have black rings (S. j. japonicus) or have black rings with fresh white borders (S. j. boettger), the broader band on head is absent (S. japonicus) or there is a straight whitish band with irregular anterior border, with three (S. hatori, S. sauteri), five (S. j. japonicas [intermittently on lateral], S. j. boettgeri [completely]) or seven (S. j. takarai) black longitudinal stripes on the body (Nakamura and Ueno, 1963; Orlov et al., 2003; Shang et al., 2009; Steindachner, 1913; Stejneger, 1907; Takahashi, 1930; Zhao, 1998, 2004, 2006). Sinomicrurus houi sp. nov. differs from S. kelloggi by the following characters: 1. dorsum of head with a narrow white broadwise band in the forefront of the head (covering almost all the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th supralabials, preoculars, and continuing through forefront prefrontals) and two symmetric white stripes appearing a Chinese symbol for the figure eight (“ 八 ”, from both sides of frontal to neck sides and gradually widening); 2. a longer head (HL/HW is 2.02–2.10 vs. 1.35–1.45); 3. a higher number of infralabials (7/7 vs. 6/6); 4. the fourth infralabial distinct larger than the fifth as opposed to almost equal; 5. a smaller number of bands on dorsal (16– 19 vs. 19–24); 6. a smaller number of spots on ventral side (34–42 vs. 43–55); 7. the ground color is scarlet as opposed to brownish red (Günther, 1858, 1964, 1968; Mell, 1929; Orlov et al., 2003; Pope, 1928; Shi et al., 2011; Smith, 1943; Zhao, 1998, 2004, 2006). |
| Comment | Venomous! Behavior (houi): nocturnal Habitat (houi): terrestrial, in the forest floor of montane rain forest, usually hidden in deciduous or humic layers very close to streams or ditches. Diet (houi): primarily small snakes and the juveniles of snakes which live in the same habitats, such as Indotyphlops braminus, Argyrophis diardii, Hebius popei and H. boulengeri etc., presumably they also prey on grass lizards and skinks, and may also feed on the sleeping juveniles of Acanthosaura lepidogaster and Pseduocalotes microlepis resting on the roots of bushwoods. In captivity, they catch actively and feed on juveniles of Dinodon rufozonatum (Figure 5), Xenochrophis flavipunctatus, Pantherophis guttatus and skinks). NCBI taxonomy ID: 2719021 [houi] |
| Etymology | Named after Claude Rupert Kellogg (1886-1977), a zoologist, entomologist, and missionary who worked and collected in China (1911-1941). S. houi is a patronym honoring Mian HOU (Sichuan Normal University, China), a modern herpetological enthusiast and naturalist. He has been contributing substantially to the taxonomy and life history of amphibians and reptiles for 20 years. He collected 3 of the 4 type specimens. |
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