Toxicocalamus pumehanae O'SHEA, ALLISON & KAISER, 2018
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Toxicocalamus pumehanae
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Managalas Plateau Snake |
| Synonym | Toxicocalamus pumehanae O'SHEA, ALLISON & KAISER 2018 |
| Distribution | Papua New Guinea (Oro) Type locality: Jarefa Camp village (09°12′ 19′′ S, 148°14′ 15′′ E; fig. 4), elevation 820 m, near Itokama (= Itogama), on the Managalas Plateau, Managalas Conservation Area, Ijvitari District, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: BPBM 36185 (figs. 2, 3), a juvenile female, collected by Allen Allison in March 2010. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Toxicocalamus pumehanae is only known from its holotype, a diminutive female specimen measuring 220 mm SVL + 21 mm TL = 241 mm TTL. It can be distinguished from all other Toxicocalamus by the following combination of characters: dorsum of head exhibiting fused prefrontal-internasal scutes but separate and distinct single preoculars (an extremely rare combination in Papuan elapids – see Discussion: Head scute fusion); undivided nasal scutes with small, central, circular nares; rostral as broad as high; paired postoculars; single anterior and paired posterior temporals; broad frontal between supraoculars; elongate paired parietals (fig. 5A′), six supralabials, with the 3rd-4th supralabials contacting the orbit (fig. 5C′ , D′ ); six infralabials with 1st-3rd contacting anterior genials, anterior genials overlapping, mental groove absent, posterior genials separated by two intergenials, anteriormost on midline, posterior to anterior genials; distinctive dark spot present on junction of 3rd-4th infralabials (fig. 5B′); dorsal scales in 15-15-15 rows; 235 ventrals, followed by a pair of precloacal scales (fig. 5E′); paired cloacal scales; 35 subcaudals, all paired; short tail, laterally slightly compressed, terminating in a conical terminal scale (figs. 5F′ , 7A). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The species name pumehanae is a matronym honouring Kathleen Imada, whose Hawaiian name is Pumehana and who was a collection technician in the Vertebrate Zoology Collection at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. She was instrumental in the development of the Museum’s herpetology collections database and the scientific success of the collection over more than a decade of service. She now works in the Museum’s Botany Collection. Most relevant to this paper and this new species is that Pumehana facilitated the visit by MOS to the collection in June 2014 so that he could examine New Guinea elapids; she also arranged a loan of 16 specimens, including the holotype, for further study at the University of Wolverhampton (United Kingdom), in late 2014. |
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