Boiga flaviviridis VOGEL & GANESH, 2013
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Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Yellow-green cat snake |
Synonym | Boiga flaviviridis VOGEL & GANESH 2013 Boiga flavivirirdis — GANESH et al. 2018 (in error) |
Distribution | India (Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal: from Berhampore near the River Mahanadi in the northeast to Kaigal near the southern Eastern Ghats in the southwest, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Odisha) Type locality: Berhampore, state of Orissa (Odisha), India (Fig. 1), 19°18’57’’ N 84°47’38’’E, 31m elevation. |
Reproduction | |
Types | Holotype: BMNH 1911.9.8.4, female (ventral tail base dissected), presented by Major Frank Wall in 1911. Paratype. MAD 1913 an adult female (tail base examined) labeled as “Dendrophis pictus” from Udayagiri, Nellore [district], state of Andhra Pradesh, India, 14°52’30’’N, 79°17’52’’E, 195 m elevation, collector unknown. |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody, a high number of ventral scales for the genus Boiga (248–259), a yellowish-green dorsal colouration with numerous faint black bands, an uniform, unpatterned yellow-coloured venter and a relatively short tail (0.180–0.200 of the total length). Diagnosis. A medium sized species of the genus Boiga characterized by: (1) 19 dorsal scale rows around the forepart of the body and 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody; (2) 248–259 ventrals; (3) 106–109 subcaudals in females; (4) a single anal scale; (5) 8 (rarely 9) supralabials with SL 3–5 touching the orbit; (6) preocular reaching upper surface of the head; (7) 2 temporals in the first row, 3 temporals in the second row with a total of 4 rows of temporal scales; (8) a yellowish-green dorsal ground colour; (9) more than 90 faint, hardly visible dark bands; (10) the dorsal part of the head with only faint ornamentations; (11) a postocular stripe ending at the jaw angle; (12) an uniform venter with no speckles or lines (13) relative tail length in females from 0.180 to 0.200. The new species can easily be recognized by the combination of high number of ventral scales together with the colouration especially the uniform belly and a proportionately shorter tail than in other species of this group, see Table 1 in VOGEL & GANESH 2013. |
Comment | Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
Etymology | The new species is named flaviviridis [flavus = yellow and viridis = green in Latin] as an adjective, after its diagnostic in-life colouration that easily serves to identify this species. |
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