Oligodon russelius (DAUDIN, 1803)
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Oligodon russelius
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Churah Valley Kukri snake [churahensis] |
| Synonym | Coluber russelius DAUDIN 1803 (fide SMITH 1943) Coronella Russelii — SCHLEGEL 1837: 79 (fide DUMÉRIL et al. 1854) Simotes Russelii— DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 628 Simotes Russelii — JAN 1865 Simotes arnensis — BOULENGER 1890 (partim) Oligodon arnensis — WALL 1921 (partim) Oligodon arnensis — SMITH 1943 (partim) Oligodon churahensis MIRZA, BHARDWAJ & PATEL 2021 Oligodon russelius — BANDARA et al. 2022: 62 |
| Distribution | Nepal, N India, NE Pakistan Type locality: Vizagapatam (now Visakhapatnam; 17°41’12.54’’N, 83°13’06.53’’E, datum = WGS84; 169 m a.s.l.), Andhra Pradesh, India. churahensis: India (Himachal Pradesh); Type locality: near Thanei Kothi village, Churah Valley, Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh, India (32.835467, 76.119381, elevation 1864 m) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: iconotype: Plate 35 in Russell (1796), reproduced in Bandara et al. 2022: 56 (Fig. 3B), designated by Bandara et al. 2022. A juvenile specimen of 171.4 mm SVL (probably a female due to high ventral count, 188 [fide Russell 1796:41]). Holotype: NCBS NRC-AA-019, female (National Centre for Biological Sciences) Collected by Virendar Kumar Collection date: June 22, 2020; Paratype: BNHS 3657, male, collected on 25 June 2020, same data as for the holotype [churahensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Oligodon russelius comb. nov. is distributed in central, east and northern India, and is distinguished from other congeners by having the following combination of characters: adults reach maximum SVL 650 mm, a single preocular, two postoculars, a single loreal, divided cloacal plate, completely divided nasal, ventrals 169–180 in males and 183–207 in females, subcaudals 46–54 in both males and females combined, temporals 1 þ 2, seven supralabials with third and fourth in contact with eye, DSRs 17-17-15, TL 17.0–18.9% of total length in males, olive brownish dorsum with 30–45 more or less equal in size, pale-edged black cross stripes (with thickness of 1–2 vertebral scales and 4–6 scales in between cross stripes at midbody position) along the body and 6–10 on the tail, two V-shaped black markings on interorbital and parietal–frontal regions, another inverted Y-shaped black marking on the nape. Oligodon russelius comb. nov. is most similar to O. arnensis and the new species, but differs by having several diagnostic characters—see Table 1. Oligodon russelius comb. nov. is also similar to O. churahensis, but differs by having 30–45 (vs. 48–56) cross stripes with 4–6 (vs. 2–4) vertebral scales in-between cross stripes at midbody position along the body and 6–10 (vs. 10– 12) on the tail, inverted Y-shaped black marking (vs. elongated heart symbol) on the nape. (Bandara et al. 2022: 62) |
| Comment | Synonymy: this species was called Oligodon arnensis during most of its history. Lee et al. 2023 synonymized O. churahensis with O. russelius. Distribution: see map in Bandara et al. 2022: 65 (Fig. 10), Lee et al. 2023: 5 (Fig. 1) |
| Etymology | Named after Patrick Russell, a British medical doctor (see B |
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