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Archelaphe bella (STANLEY, 1917)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesArchelaphe bella bella (STANLEY 1917)
Archelaphe bella chapaensis (BOURRET 1934) 
Common NamesE: Bella Rat Snake
E: Burmese Rat Snake (leonardi)
G: Leonards Kletternatter (leonardi)
Chinese: 方花蛇 
SynonymCoronella bella STANLEY 1917
Coluber leonardi WALL 1921: 43
Coluber leonardi — WALL 1923: 467
Wallophis bella — WERNER 1929
Coronella bella — MELL 1931 [1929]
Elaphe porphyracea leonardi — ANGEL & BOURRET, 1933: 134
Coluber leonardi — RENDAHL 1937
Elaphe leonardi — SMITH 1943: 156
Oligodon bella — DING & ZHENG 1974
Oligodon bellus — ZHAO et al., 1977: 64
Elaphe leonardi — SCHULZ 1996
Wallophis bella — WELCH
Oligodon bellus — JIANG et al. 2006
Oligodon bellus — ZHAO 2006
Maculophis bella — BURBRINK & LAWSON 2007
Elaphe bella — NGUYEN et al. 2009
Archelaphe bella — SCHULZ et al. 2011
Archelaphe bellus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 54
Maculophis bella — ZAW 2020

Archelaphe bella chapaensis (BOURRET 1934)
Coluber leonardi chapaensis BOURRET 1934
Elaphe leonardi leonardi WALL 1921
Elaphe bella chapaensis — SCHULZ et al. 2000
Elaphe leonardi chapaensis — ORLOV et al. 2003
Maculophis bella chapaensis — ORLOV et al. 2010
Maculophis bellus chapaensis — DAS 2010: 285
Archelaphe bella chapaensis — SCHULZ et al. 2011 
DistributionChina (Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan), Myanmar (Burma: Kachin), Vietnam (Lao Cai, Lang Son, Bac Thai, Vinh Phuc, Ha Tinh), India (Nagaland)

leonardi: Myanmar (= Burma), Vietnam (Hong river); Type locality: Birma: Kachin, Sinlum Kaba (Wall, 1921)

chapaensis: Vietnam (Bac-Phan), Myanmar, China (W Yunnan); Type locality: near Chapa village (= Sa Pa), Bac Phan province, N Vietnam.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: SNHM (SMNHC) 717-17-1-525, Shanghai Museum of Natural History
Lectotype: MNHN-RA 1935.0131; paralectotype: MNHN-RA 1933.0006 [chapaensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: An old, isolated clade of relatively smallgrowing ratsnakes (total length 800 – 1000 mm) within the collective genus Elaphe auct. which branched off after the Rhadinophis and the Euprepiophis-Oreocryptophis clades (Burbrink and Lawson, 2007). From the latter two genera, it is distinguished by (1) a weakly (vs. markedly) concave frontal shield; (2) a consistently lacking loreal shield (present in Oreocryptophis and Euprepiophis, lacking only exceptionally in some E. mandarinus); (3) a dorsal head pattern of an anteriorly open Vor Y-shaped marking (vs. a posteriorly open V-shaped marking in Euprepiophis, or a longitudinal midline streak in Oreocryptophis); and (4) its hemipenis with a slightly expanded, calyculate and indistinctly asymmetrical apex (vs. subcylindrical, spiny and bilobed in Oreocryptophis, and distinctly expanded, spiny and asymmetrically bipartite in Euprepiophis mandarinus and perlaceus, subcylindrical in E. conspicillatus).


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CommentSynonymy: WERNER (1929) established Zamenis brachyura Günther, 1866 (currently Coronella brachyura) as the type species of Wallophis, and allocated also “Coronella (Wallophis) pulchra” to his new genus. Wallophis was revived in a non-peer reviewed journal (Litteratura Serpentium), without adequate justification (by Ken Welch) and is thus not recognized here. Coluber leonardi WALL 1921 is a synonym of Coronella bella STANLEY 1917 (= Elaphe bella) fide SCHULZ (2000). See SCHULZ et al. 2011 for a more extensive chresonymy.

Maculophis BURBRINK & LAWSON 2007 is a nomen nudum fide BÖHME & DE PURY 2011.

Type species: Coronella bella STANLEY 1917 is the type species of the genus Archelaphe SCHULZ, BÖHME & TILLACK 2011.

Distribution: Not listed for India by Whitaker & Captain 2007. Schulz 2000 lists only China, Myanmar, and Vietnam as countries. Wallach et al. 2014 also list Laos and Nagaland in India. 
EtymologyDerived from the Greek word archaios (= old), archaic, in reference to the basal position of the Archelaphe clade in the phylogenetic tree of Elaphe auct. 
References
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