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Platyceps ventromaculatus (GRAY, 1834)

IUCN Red List - Platyceps ventromaculatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPlatyceps ventromaculatus ventromaculatus (GRAY 1834)
Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai (KHAN & KHAN 2000) 
Common NamesE: Hardwicke's Rat Snake, Glossy-bellied Racer
G: Gefleckte Zornnatter 
SynonymColuber ventromaculatus GRAY 1834: 80
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — GÜNTHER 1859: 223
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — BOULENGER 1887: 408 (?)
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — BOULENGER 1893: 399
Zamenis ventrimaculatus BOULENGER 1920
Coluber ventrimaculatus CORKILL 1932
Coluber ventromaculatus – CONSTABLE 1949: 127
Coluber ventromaculatus — HAAS 1957: 79
Coluber ventromaculatus — MINTON 1966
Haemorrhois ventromaculatus
Eremiophis ventromaculatus ?
Coluber ventromaculatus —SCHÄTTI & WILSON 1986
Coluber ventromaculatus — GASPERETTI 1988: 216
Coluber ventromaculatus — DAS 1996: 55
Platyceps ventromaculatus — SCHÄTTI & MONSCH 2004
Argyrogena ventromaculatus — SHARMA 2004
Coluber ventromaculatus — WHITAKER & CAPTAIN 2004
Platyceps ventromaculatus — NAGY et al. 2004
Platyceps ventromaculatus — GRUBER 2009: 126
Coluber ventromaculatus — MURTHY 2010
Platyceps cf. ventromaculatus — SINDACO et al. 2014
Platyceps ventromaculatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 568

Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Coluber ventromaculatus bengalensis KHAN & KHAN 2000
Coluber ventromaculatus bengalensis — KHAN 2003
Platyceps ventromaculatus bengalensis — KHAN 2017

Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai (KHAN & KHAN 2000)
Coluber ventromaculatus indusai KHAN & KHAN 2000
Coluber ventromaculatus indusai — KHAN 2003
Platyceps ventromaculatus indusai — KHAN 2017 
DistributionSW Asia from N India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab [Dino Aulakh, pers. comm.], Jammu and Kashmir) to SE Turkey (Anatolia), Pakistan, U.S.S.R., Afghanistan (LEVITON 1959: 461), Jordan (Disi 1993),
Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (along the Arabian sea), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar

bengalensis: Pakistan; Type locality: Bengal, description from fig 1 Plate 80 of Gray 1830-35.

indusai: Pakistan (Indus valley)

Type locality: Upper and lower Indus Valley.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype, BMNH 1946.1.11.42, female (T. Hardwicke)
Holotype: lost [bengalensis]
Holotype: not given [indusai] 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (bengalensis): (based on the figured snake) 9 supralabials, 5- 6th in eye, 10-11 infralabials; approximately 220 ventrals; 70 divided subcaudals; a median dorsal row of 60+, 1-2 scale thick dark cross bands, much narrower than interspaces, replaced on tail by irregular narrow transverse streaks formed by approximation of dark edges of adjascent scales; distinct narrow orbito- labial and temporal stripes, an irregular interorbital cross band, few dark spots on temporals and a distinct median dorsal, one scale thick, nuchal streak. Ventrals with a lateral row of round dark spots on each side.


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CommentSubspecies: KHAN & KHAN (2000) didn’t specify any neotype for their new subspecies which are based on a figure in GRAY 1830. The status of these subspecies therefore remains uncertain (no holotype specified; no valid description after ICZN). BARABANOV (2002) indicated that the name C. v. bengalensis is not available and suggested the replacement name C. v. khanorum. Schätti et al. (2014: 310) stated that “the descriptions of two new subspecies of Gray’s Racer (Khan & Khan, 2000) are either invalid (indusai) or junior objective synonyms (bengalensis and the nomen novum khano­rum [= bengalensis] Barabanov, 2002) of P. ventromaculatus (Gray)”.

Synonymy: the status of Platyceps ventromaculatus has been unclear for a long time. Wall (1914) “found no option but to unite C.[oluber] ventromaculatus with C. rhodorachis to settle this taxonomic tangle.”

Distribution: See map in SCHÄTTI et al. 2014: 375. See map in Burriel-Carranza et al. 2019 for map in UAE. Despite the almost complete absence of precise collecting sites for Platyceps ventromaculatus from low-lying northwestern India, Schätti et al. (2014: 377) regard this species and P. r. rhodorachis to be largely parapatric (see their Figs 11, 15 and 25). In Qatar fide Wikipedia. 
EtymologyNamed after the dark spots on the lateral ventral side, from Latin venter = belly , stomach, and Latin macula = spot or mark.

P. v. bengalensis was apparently named after the Bengal region in India, although the species doesn’t occur there, so the type locality was likely in error.

P. v. indusai was named after the Indus valley. 
References
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