Sinomicrurus swinhoei (VAN DENBURGH, 1912)
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Sinomicrurus swinhoei
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Swinhoe's temperate Asian coralsnake |
| Synonym | Calliophis swinhoei VAN DENBURGH 1912: 255 Micrurus macclellandi swinhoei — WELCH 1994: 87 Sinomicrurus macclellandi swinhoei — NGUYEN et al. 2009 Sinomicrurus swinhoei — SMART et al. 2021: 2251 |
| Distribution | Taiwan |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: CAS 14978 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Based on 40 individuals (25 males, 15 females); rel- atively small compared to congeners (1) SVL in males 192–476 mm (mean 368.6 mm), females 191–511 mm (mean 381.7 mm). (2) temporals 1+1; (3) zero teeth behind fang, palatine teeth 7, pterygoid teeth 0–4, and dentary teeth 8–10; (4) supralabials 7/7; (5) infralabials 6/6; (6) postoculars 2; (7) nuchal-band width 2–3.5 scales in males, 2.5–5 scales in females; (8) black body bands 27–37 in males, 26–38 in females; (9) two small contralateral black spots present in many, occupying less than one full scale and in-between dorsal black bands; (10) ventrals 207–221 in males, 223–239 in females; (11) anal divided; (12) paired subcaudals 36–41 in males, 32–36 in females; (13) tail bands 4–7 in males, 4–6 in females; (14) relative tail length (TL/SVL) 0.12–0.16 (mean 0.14) in males, 0.10–0.12 (mean 0.11) in females (Smart et al. 2021). Comparison. Sinomicrurus swinhoei, a banded temperate Asian coralsnakes with 13 dorsal scales rows (with S. annularis S. iwasakii, S. peinani, S. macclellandi, S. swinhoei; Table 2); most closely resembles its sister species S. annularis, but differs in having more ventrals (females 223–239 vs. 202–228, males 207–221 vs. 194–220) and subcaudals (females 32–36 vs. 24–34, males 36–41 vs. 26–38); from S. iwasakii, in having 1+1 temporals (vs. 1+2, at least on one side), a more caudal posterior edge of parietal-band at midline (1.59– 2.01 vs. 1.05–1.09, PPB-M-Ratio) and at level of eye (1.54–1.96 vs. 1.16–1.34, PPB-S-Ratio), more rostral posterior edge of snout-band at midline (0.22–0.57 vs. 0.54–0.60, PSB-M-Ratio), and more caudal posterior intersect of parietals (1.61–2.01 vs. 1.39–1.52, PIPs-M-Ratio); from S. peinani and S. macclellandi, differs in smaller overall size (mean SVL <400 mm vs. >400 mm); additionally from S. peinani, by having more subcaudals (females 32–36 vs. 26–34, males 36–41 vs. 28–32), longer tail (females 0.10–0.12 vs. 0.08–0.11, males 0.12– 0.16 vs. 0.10–0.11, TL/SVL), black rostral-band spilling into frontal (vs. not covering frontal), nuchal-band beginning at parietals or at their edge, straight in dorsal profile (vs. nuchal-band beginning at middle or posterior margin of mid-dorsal scale located after parietals, curved forward, Figure 8), more caudal posterior edge of snout-band at midline (0.22–0.57 vs. −0.15–0.19, PSB-M-Ratio), a more rostral posterior edge of parietal-band at midline (1.59–2.01 vs. 1.86–2.90, PPB-M-Ratio) and at level of eye (1.54–1.96 vs. 2.04–3.03, PPB-S-Ratio); additionally from S. macclellandi, by having more subcaudals (females 32–36 vs. 22–34, males 36–41 vs. 21–36), longer tail (females 0.10–0.12 vs. 0.07–0.12, males 0.12–0.16 vs. 0.08–0.15, TL/ SVL), more body black bands (females 26–38 vs. 0–35, males 27–37 vs. 0–29) and tail black bands (females 4–6 vs. 0–4, males 4–7 vs. 0–5), and a more caudal posterior edge of parietal-band at midline (1.86–2.90 vs. 1.59–2.01, PPB-M-Ratio). Sinomicrurus swinhoei can be distinguished from other congeners (Tables 4 and 5), from S. kelloggi in having fewer dorsal scale rows (13 vs. 15) and 1+1 temporals (vs. 1+2); from S. boettgeri, S. japonicus, and S. sauteri in lacking mid-dorsal stripe (vs. present); from S. boettgeri and S. sauteri in lacking lateral longitudinal stripes (vs. present); from S. boettgeri and S. japonicus, in having a complete pale parietalband (yellow/cream/white; vs. absent); from S. kelloggi, S. boettgeri, S. japonicus, and S. sauteri, in lacking maxillary teeth behind the fang (0 vs. 2–5); from S. iwasakii, S. kelloggi, S. boettgeri, and S. boettgeri, in having fewer palatine teeth (7 vs. 8–14); from S. kelloggi, S. boettgeri, S. japonicus, and S. sauteri, in having fewer pterygoid teeth (0–4 vs. 6–16); from S. kelloggi, S. boettgeri, and S. japonicus, in having fewer dentary teeth (8–10 vs. 13–18). Sinomicrurus swinhoei differs from other congeners in hemipenial morphology (Table 6, Figure 12C); from S. annularis in having lobes attenuate (vs. subcylindrical), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), lip bordering basal pocket moderately thin (vs. moderately thick), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.19), lobe length/organ length 0.07–0.20 (vs. 0.23); from S. iwasakii in having lobes attenuate (vs. subcylindrical) with tips pointed (vs. round), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), spines around main body 14–16 (vs. 20), basal pocket shallow (vs. moderately deep), lip bordering basal pocket moderately thin (vs. moderately thick), main body bulge moderately enlarged (vs. slightly enlarged), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.4), basal pocket short— pocket length/organ length 0.14–0.24 (vs. 0.37), retractor muscle anterior vertebral insertion 27–28 (vs. 31–31; subcaudals); from S. peinani in having lobes attenuate (vs. bulbous) with tips pointed (vs. round), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), spines around main body 14–16 (vs. 18–23) and thin (vs. thick), base with many small spines (vs. many thick but short spines), basal pocket hallow (vs. moderately deep) with bordering lip moderately thin (vs. moderately thick), main body bulge moderately enlarged (vs. highly enlarged), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.21); from S. macclellandi in having sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), spines around main body 14–16 (vs. 18–30), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.21–0.23); from S. kelloggi in having lobes attenuate (vs. attenuate and horn-like), spines around main body 14–16 (vs. 20), base with many small spines (vs. few small spines), basal pocket shallow (vs. very deep) with bordering lip moderately thin (vs. very thick), main body bulge complete and moderately enlarged (vs. restricted to asulcate side and moderately enlarged) with groove above (asulcate side) shallow and narrow (vs. shallow and broad), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08– 0.15 (vs. 0.18), length to organ furcation/organ length 0.80–0.93 (vs. 0.56), base length/organ length 0.28–0.48 (vs. 0.12), lobe length/ organ length 0.07–0.20 (vs. 0.44); from S. boettgeri in having lobes attenuate (vs. subcylindrical) with tips pointed (vs. round), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal-revolute), base with many small spines (vs. smooth), lip bordering basal pocket moderately thin (vs. very thin), main body bulge complete and moderately enlarged (vs. absent), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.25– 0.26), length to organ furcation/organ length 0.80–0.93 (vs. 0.67– 0.75), basal pocket short—pocket length/organ length 0.14–0.24 (vs. 0.41–0.47), lobe length/organ length 0.07–0.20 (vs. 0.25–0.33); from S. japonicus in having lobes attenuate (vs. subcylindrical) with tips pointed (vs. round), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), base with many small spines (vs. smooth), basal pocket shallow (vs. extremely shallow to absent) with bordering lip moderately thin (vs. very thin), main body bulge complete and moderately enlarged (vs. absent), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.25), length to organ furcation/organ length 0.80–0.93 (vs. 0.68), base length/organ length 0.28–0.48 (vs. 0.56), basal pocket short— pocket length/organ length 0.14–0.24 (vs. 0.39), lobe length/organ length 0.07–0.20 (vs. 0.32); from S. sauteri in having lobe tips pointed (vs. round), sulcus spermaticus centrolineal (vs. centripetal), spines around main body 14–16 (vs. 17–19), base with many small spines (vs. smooth, very few tiny spines), basal pocket shallow (vs. very deep) with bordering lip moderately thin (vs. moderately thick), main body bulge complete and moderately enlarged (vs. absent), organ very short—organ length/TL 0.08–0.15 (vs. 0.30–0.31), basal pocket short—pocket length/organ length 0.14–0.24 (vs. 0.36–0.36) (Smart et al. 2021). Color. Pattern of eye and nuchal-bands almost identical to Sinomicrurus annularis, with former being convex posteriorly and stopping before entering parietals, and latter being either flat or mildly concave anteriorly, with only apex of parietals being black; all specimens examined displayed two small black lateral dots between each black body band along dorsal surface; first pair of same containing diamond shaped blotch in between them (Smart et al. 2021). |
| Comment | Synonymy: for a more extensive synonymy see Smart et al. 2021: 2251. |
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