Lycodon trifasciatus AMARASINGHE, ATHTHANAGODA, RANASINGHE, VOGEL & KARUNARATHNA, 2026
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Lycodon trifasciatus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Three-banded wolf snake; Sinhala: Thumudu (or Thrimudu) Radanakaya (තුමුදු රදනකයා) |
| Synonym | Lycodon trifasciatus AMARASINGHE, ATHTHANAGODA, RANASINGHE, VOGEL & KARUNARATHNA in AMARASINGHE et al. 2026: 287 Lycodon aulicus — SOMAWEERA et al. 2023 [partim] |
| Distribution | Sri Lanka Type locality: Anamaduwa (7°52'39.97"N, 80°00'40.02"E, datum = WGS84; 51 m a.s.l.), North Western Province, Sri Lanka |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. FMNH 165045, an adult male, collected by A. Fernando (date unknown). Paratypes (n=3). NMSL 2026.09.01 (Field No. DMSSK379), an adult male from Udadumbara (7°18'51.79"N, 80°52'40.45"E, datum = WGS84; 737 m a.s.l.), Central Province Sri Lanka; NMSL 2026.09.02 (Field No. DMSSK218), an adult female from Anuragoda (7°00'40.10"N, 80°06'48.76"E, datum = WGS84; 21 m a.s.l.); NMSL 2026.09.03 (Field No. DMSSK425), an adult female from Rambukkana (7°18'48.69"N, 80°23'17.28"E, datum = WGS84; 92 m a.s.l.), Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, collected by D.M.S.S. Karunarathna in November 2024. Other specimens. NMSL uncatalogued, a subadult female from Rambukkana, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, collected by A. de Silva in 2010 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (n=5): Lycodon trifasciatus sp. nov. is distinguished from other congeners by having the following combination of characters (Table 2): adults reach maximum SVL 615 mm; a single preocular; two postoculars; a single loreal scale; divided cloacal plate; nasal scale completely divided by the nostril; preocular in contact with frontal; ventrals 182–184 in 2 males and 192– 195 in 3 females; subcaudals 51–60+ in males and 40–65 in females; 2+3 temporals shorten; nine supralabials with 3rd –5th in contact with eye; dorsal scale rows 17-17-15; tail length 16.2– 18.1% of total length in males; reddish or dark olive brown dorsum (rarely black) with three (rarely four) white striated crossbands only on the anterior part of the body; crossbands with thickness of 2–4 vertebral scales and 22–28 scales in-between crossbands; 28–33 vertebrate scales between the parietal and first crossband on the body; poorly visible collar mark on the nape; absence of white lip band. (Amarasinghe et al. 2026) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about less than half a page) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Sympatry: Lycodon aulicus Note that the genetic analysis of this species and its congeners only included one specimen of L. aulicus and only 1 mitochondria gene (cyt b, Amarasinghe et al. 2026: 281, Fig. 2) |
| Etymology | Named after the neo-Latin compound adjective in the nominative case singular given in masculine, based on the classical Latin prefix “tri”, meaning “three times” and the adjective fasciatus (-a, -um), meaning “banded” or “having bands,” which refers to the pattern of “having three crossbands” on the dorsum, an obvious distinguishing character of the species. |
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