Oligodon tillacki BANDARA, GANESH, KANISHKA, DANUSHKA, SHARMA, CAMPBELL, INEICH, VOGEL & AMARASINGHE, 2022
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Oligodon tillacki
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Tillack’s Kukri Snakes G: Tillaks Kukrinatter |
| Synonym | Oligodon tillacki BANDARA, GANESH, KANISHKA, DANUSHKA, SHARMA, CAMPBELL, INEICH, VOGEL & AMARASINGHE 2022 Simotes russellii — GÜNTHER 1858 (partim) Simotes russellii — Nicholson 1874 (partim; Fig. 2 in Plate 11). Simotes russellii var. c — GÜNTHER 1864 Simotes arnensis — BOULENGER 1894 (partim) Oligodon arnensis — LINDBERG 1932 Oligodon arnensis — CHIKANE and Bhosle 2012 Oligodon arnensis — ARDESANA et al. 2018 Oligodon arnensis — PATEL et al. 2019 Oligodon arnensis — PAWAR et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | W India (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab) Type locality: Kurduvadi (18805050.9400N, 75825029.6500E, datum 1⁄4 WGS84; 518 m a.s.l.), Solapur, Maharashtra, India. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. MNHN-RA 1946.0058, adult female, donated by Dr. K. Lindberg on 2 April 1946. Paratypes: (n=4) NHMUK 1860.3.19.1317, adult female from Deccan (no precise locality, probably western India), India, collected by Colonel W.H. Sykes; MNHN 1946.0057, subadult female, other details same as holotype; NMW 24546:4 and 24545:1, adult males from India (no precise locality, probably somewhere from western India). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Oligodon tillacki sp. nov. is distributed in western 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 (rarely one), a single loreal scale (rarely absent), divided cloacal plate, nasal scale completely divided by the nostril, ventrals 180–190 in males and 198–201 in females, subcaudals 46–52 in males and females combined, temporals 1+2, seven supralabials with third and fourth in contact with eye, DSRs 17-17-15, TL 17.0–17.4% of total length in males, olive brownish dorsum with 25–35 black cross bands (with thickness of 4–6 vertebral scales and 2–4 scales in between cross bands at midbody position) along the body and 4–9 on the tail, anterior cross bands (5–8) wider than the rest of cross bands and visible as large blotches, first two anterior cross bands wider than the ground body color in between, two V-shaped black markings on interorbital and parietal–frontal regions, another large triangular black marking on the nape. The new species is also genetically divergent from O. arnensis sensu stricto with p-distances of 3% in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (fide Mirza et al. 2021). |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in Lee et al. 2023: 5 (Fig. 1) |
| Etymology | Named after Dr. Frank Tillack, a renowned herpetologist and the Collection Manager (Herpetofauna) of ZMB for his enormous contribution to the herpetological research, especially on the systematic research on snake fauna. |
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