Liopeltis calamaria (GÜNTHER, 1858)
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Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Calamaria Reed Snake G: Calamaria-Halsbandnatter |
Synonym | Cyclophis calamaria GÜNTHER 1858 Cyclophis calamaria — GÜNTHER 1859: 231 Homalosoma baliolum JAN 1862 (fide SMITH 1943) Cyclophis nasalis GÜNTHER 1864 (fide SMITH 1943) Cyclophia calamaria (sic)— PHIPSON 1888 Ablabes calamaria — BOULENGER 1890 Liopeltis calamaria — WALL 1921: 251 Liopeltis calamaria — SMITH 1943: 184 Opheodrys calamaria — CONSTABLE 1949 Liopeltis calamaria indica DERANIYAGALA 1955 L. calamaria indicus (sic) — DERANIYAGALA 1955 Liopeltis calamaria — DAS 1996: 57 Liopeltis calamaria — KARUNARATHNA & AMARASINGHE 2011 Liopeltis calamarius — WALLACH et al. 2014: 385 Liopeltis calamaria — AMARASINGHE et al. 2020 |
Distribution | Sri Lanka, India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu), Nepal (Chitwan) Type locality: Ceylon indica: India (Kerala); Type locality: Waynad (=Wayanad), Kerala, India |
Reproduction | oviparous |
Types | Syntypes:. BMNH 1946.1.5.60 (adult male) and BMNH 1946.1.21.64 (subadult male) Lectotype: BMNH 1922.5.25.22 (male), designated by Amarasinghe et al. 2020. Paralectotypes. ZSI 18608 (male) [indica] |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Liopeltis calamaria can be separated from its congeners by the following combination of morphological characters: 130–136 ventrals in males; 66–76 subcaudals in males; longer snout, ED 60.6–65.5% of ES; no loreal; single nasal shield; dorsal scales in 15-15-15 rows, all smooth; single preocular, 2 postoculars and 1+2 temporals; 7 supralabials, of which 3rd and 4th in contact with the eye; 7 infralabials; nasal contacting internasal and prefrontal; prefrontal separated from supralabials by the preocular and the nasal; subcaudal scales paired, and dorsally light brown, greenish-brown or olive green coloration (from Amarasinghe et al. 2020: 41). Coloration: In life (based on live specimens, not collected), dorsally light brown, greenish-brown or olive green; the dorsal scales (5–6 rows above the ventrals) edged with black colour creating paired longitudinal lines on each side of the vertebral column, which break into spots anteriorly and continue well onto the tail; the area between these two lines is sometimes darker in colour; another less distinct line runs along the confines of the 3rd–4th rows; a series of black spots occur on each side of the head; ventral side pale yellow or cream. The black line is more prominent among juveniles than adults (Fig. 1); an ill-defined but distinct dark patch can be seen on the parietal region. Also, some juveniles exhibit lateral white linear stripes that begin on the neck and finish at the level of vent (Amarasinghe et al. 2020: 42). |
Comment | Distribution: Possibly in Bhutan (Lenz 2012). See map in Amarasinghe et al. 2020: Fig. 4. Photos: The photos of L. calamaria shown here may be mis-identified and assigned to another species (Amarasinghe et al 2020, and A.A. Amarasinghe, pers. comm., 12 June 2020). |
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