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Ahaetulla oxyrhynca BELL, 1825

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymDryinus oxyrhyncus BELL 1825: 326
Dryinus russellianus BELL 1825: 327
Dryophis passericki SCHINZ 1834: 134
Dryinus rostratus SCHINZ 1834: 142
Dryophis mycterizans var. zephrogaster WALL 1910: 229 (see comment)
Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha — MALLIK et al. 2020: 19 (in error)
Ahaetulla oxyrhynca — GANESH & GUPTHA 2021
Ahaetulla oxyrhynca — MAJUMDER 2022
Ahaetulla oxyrhynca — DAVID et al. 2022
Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha — JIGAR et al. 2022 (in error)
Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha — MAHETA et al. 2023 (in error) 
DistributionIndia (Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat)

Type locality: ‘Indes Orientalis’ = “Vizagapatam” now Vishakhapatnam, State of Andhra Pradesh, India.

russellianus: Type locality: “In Indiâ orientali” = Eastern India.

passericki: Type locality: None given, implicitly “In Indiâ orientali”.

rostratus: Type locality: None given  
Reproductionovoviviparous (5-15 live offspring) 
TypesSyntype: Plate XII in Russell 1796, vol. I
Holotype. Specimen depicted as the “Botla Passeriki” on Plate XIII and described on p. 18 of Russell (1796); most probably specimen BMNH 1904.7. 27.25, see Bauer et al. (2015). [russellianus]
Holotype. Specimen depicted as the “Botla Passeriki” on Plate XIII and described on p. 18 of Russell (1796) [passericki]
Holotype. None specified [rostratus]
Syntypes: “Botla Passeriki” on Plate XIII and described on p. 18 of Russell (1796); most probably specimen BMNH 1904.7.27.25, another specimen, and 3 syntypes of tephrogaster [zephrogaster] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This is a species of Ahaetulla with a long rostral appendage (vs. with short rostral appendage in A. isabellina comb. nov., A. malabarica sp. nov., A. farnsworthi sp. nov., A. borealis sp. nov.; vs. no rostral appendage in A. dispar, A. travancorica sp. nov. and A. perroteti), lacking loreal scale (present in A. dispar), having usually green body colouration (vs. usually grey-brown in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov., adult females often brown in A. anomala), possessing a white or yellow ventrolateral stripe (vs. absent in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov.); lacking any crown markings (vs. a distinct rhomboid crown marking present on top of the head in A. sahyadrensis nom. nov. and A. anomala); with a rostral appendage composed of a grooved elongate scale (vs. rostral appendage composed of multiple small scales in A. pulverulenta, A. sahyadrensis nom. nov. and A. anomala) (Table 2, Mallik et al. 2020: 19). 
CommentDiet: lizards and other vertebrates (by implication).

Synonymy: A. oxyrhyncha (including Dryinus russellianus and Dryophis passericki) was mostly considered a synonym of A. nasuta (fide SMITH 1943, BAUER 2015: 22) but was revalidated by Mallik et al. 2020. See also Ahaetulla nasuta. It seems that zephrogaster is most likely a lapsus calami for tephrogaster but Wall ‘s (1910a: 229) description of zephrogaster included five syntypes, in part distinct from those cited in the description of D. m. tephrogaster. Hence, David et al. 2022 consider Dryophis mycterizans var. zephrogaster to be distinct from Dryophis mycterizans tephrogaster and a synonym of oxyrhynca.

Distribution: See map in Mallik et al. 2020: 14 (Fig. 4).

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018, by implication). 
EtymologyFrom Latin, alluding to the pointed rostral scale; oxyus = sharp, rhynchus = of the nose / snout, literally meaning sharp-snouted. The original spelling, oxyrhyncus or its feminine oxyrhynca, should be conserved according to Art. 32.5. 1 of the Code (ICZN 1999). 
References
  • Bauer, Aaron M. 2015. Patrick Russell's snakes and their role as type specimens. Hamadryad 37 (1-2): 18-65 - get paper here
  • Bell, T. 1825. On Leptophina, a group of serpents comprising the Genus Drynus of Merrem, and a newly formed Genus pro- posed to be named Leptophis. The Zoological Journal, 2: 328
  • Cunha, O.R. da and Nascimento, F.P. 1983. Ofidios da Amazonia. XIX. As expécies de Oxyrhopus Wagler, com uma subespécie nova, e Pseudoboa Schneider, na Amaônia orientale e Maranhão (Ophidia: Colubridae). Bol. Mus. Paraense Emilio Goeldi, zool. 112: 42 pp. - get paper here
  • David, Patrick; Bartoz Nadolski, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan Ganesh, Omkar Dilip Adhikari, Achyuthan N. Srikanthan 2022. A Nomenclatural Review of Ahaetulla nasuta (Lacépède, 1789): resurrection of Ahaetulla fusca (Duméril, Bibron et Duméril, 1854) for the populations of the Indochinese Region (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Russian Journal of Herpetology 29 (1): 19–34. - get paper here
  • Ganesh S.R., Bubesh Guptha 2021. Herpetological diversity in the Central Eastern Ghats, Peninsular India. Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (3): 18-44 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Jigar, Solanki; Khare Rounak and Andhale Atmaram Vitthal 2022. CHECKLIST OF SNAKES FOUND IN MAVAL TALUKA, PUNE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. CIBTech Journal of Zoology 11: 182-192 - get paper here
  • Kalki, Yatin; Chayant Gonsalves , Daniel B. Wylie , Karthik A. K. Sundaram and Tristan D. Schramer 2021. Annotated checklist of the snakes of Bengaluru Urban District, Karnataka, India with notes on their natural history, distribution, and population trends over the last 150 years. Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (2): 26-41 - get paper here
  • Khanduri, S., Thirumurugan, V., CS, V., Chinnasamy, R., Das, A., & Talukdar, G. 2022. A note on opportunistic records of reptiles from the Moyar River Valley Landscape, Tamil Nadu, southern India. Journal of Animal Diversity 4 (4) - get paper here
  • Maheta, J., Thakor, R., Shankhala, P., Prajapati, D., Zala, A., Bharavad, L., ... & Patel, S. 2023. Updated checklist of snakes with the first record of Spalerosophis arenarius in Gujarat and range extensions of five fpecies of snakes in the northern region of Gujarat, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18403 - get paper here
  • Majumder, R. 2022. HERPETOFAUNAL COMMUNITY COMPOSITION IN AN AGRO-ECOSYSTEM IN THE GANGETIC PLAIN OF EASTERN INDIA. Zoology and Ecology 32(2): 122–132 - get paper here
  • MALLIK, A. K., SRIKANTHAN, A. N., PAL, S. P., D’SOUZA, P. M., SHANKER, K., & GANESH, S. R. 2020. Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India. Zootaxa 4874 (1): 1-62 - get paper here
  • Schinz,K.R. 1833. Naturgeschichte und Abbildungen der Reptilien. Wiedmann, Leipzig, 240 pp. - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Visvanathan, A., Anne, S., Kolli, A. K., & Vangari, S. M. 2022. Snakes of Telangana: An annotated checklist with new locality records and notes on natural history. Reptiles & Amphibians, 29(1), 279-285 - get paper here
 
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