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Calamaria annamensis BOURRET, 1937

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Calamariinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Collared Reed Snake
G: Braune Riednatter
Chinese: 尖尾两头蛇 
SynonymCalamaria pavimentata annamensis BOURRET 1937
Calamaria annamensis — KOROLEV et al. 2026 
DistributionVietnam (Quang Tri)

Type locality: “Dong Tam Ve (province de Quang-tri), Annam”, now within Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam (altitude 780 m asl)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA-1958.0456, formerly M. 540 (private Bourret), adult female; collected by Eugène Poilane in 1935 or 1936; deposited by René Bourret. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Calamaria annamensis stat. nov. (based on Bourret 1937a and this study) can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of morphological characters: rostral wider than high; prefrontal shorter than frontal and in contact with the first two supralabials; mental not in contact with the anterior chin shields; dorsal scales in 13-13-13 rows, smooth throughout; a single preocular and a single postocular; four supralabials, with the second and third contacting the eye; five infralabials; six scales surrounding the paraparietal; ventrals 182–204; paired subcaudals 14–22; tail relatively short (3.9–6.6% of total length), uniformly cylindrical anteriorly, tapering gradually posteriorly, and then abruptly tapering near the pointed tip. Dorsal surface uniform dark brown to olive-brown, sometimes with a faint pale or light-coloured nuchal ring on the neck; head dorsum dark brown with irregular yellowish mottling; labials yellowish-brown with dark speckling. Ventral surface light orange to salmon, each ventral with dark brown to blackish outer spots and corners; subcaudal region with a broad, distinct but discontinuous median black stripe. No light-coloured rings or blotches present on the tail. (Korolev et al. 2026)


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CommentSynonymy after INGER & MARX 1965, who mention Calamaria pavimentata semidoliata WERNER 1896 as “doubtful form”. Calamaria berezowskii GÜNTHER 1896 has been revalidated from the synonymy of C. pavimentata by Liang et al. 2024.

Subspecies: Calamaria pavimentata semidoliata is listed by INGER & MARX 196 as a “doubtful form” since they were not able to study the holotype the location of which is unknown. Might be synonymous to C. doederleini.

Conservation: C. p. miyarai is classified as “vulnerable” in Japan (Ota 2000).

Distribution: not on Java (Indonesia) fide de Lang 2017; the original type locality (Java, Indonesia) is in error. Also listed from Wonosobo, Central Java by BLEEKER (1858). However, INGER & MARX (1965) and ISKANDAR & COLIN (2001) list it from East and Southeast Asia up to Malaysia and Singapore. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin pavimentum (floor of stones) and the Latin suffix -atus (provided with, having the nature of, pertaining to), apparently named after the pattern that is reminiscent of floor tiles.

The subspecies miyarai was named after the collector of the type, Mr. Sonko Miyara. 
References
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