Ptyas doriae (BOULENGER, 1888)
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Ptyas doriae
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Doria's Green Snake E: Hampton's Green Snake [hamptoni] Chinese: 纯绿翠青蛇 |
| Synonym | Cyclophiops doriae BOULENGER 1888: 599 Ablabes doriae — BOULENGER 1890 Ablabes hamptoni BOULENGER 1900 Liopeltis hamptoni — WALL 1924: 865 Liopeltis doriae — WALL 1924 Eurypholis doriae — POPE 1935: 281 Opheodrys hamptoni — SMITH 1943: 180 Entechinus doriae — CUNDALL 1981 Liopeltis doriae — WELCH 1988 Entechinus doriae — WELCH 1988 Entechinus doriae — MCDOWELL & JENNER 1988 Entechinus hamptoni — MCDOWELL & JENNER 1988 Cyclophiops hamptoni — TORIBA 1989 Cyclophiops doriae — ZHAO & ADLER 1993 Ophiodrys doriae — DAS 1996: 58 Opheodrys doriae — SHARMA 2004 Cyclophiops doriae — ZHAO 2006: 189 Cyclophiops doriae — WALLACH et al. 2014: 202 Cyclophiops hamptoni — WALLACH et al. 2014: 202 Ptyas hamptoni — FIGUEROA et al. 2016 Ptyas doriae — FIGUEROA et al. 2016 |
| Distribution | China (Yunnan), Myanmar (= Burma) (Kachin Hills), India (Assam) Type locality: “Kakhien Hills” hamptoni: Myanmar (= Burma); Type locality: Mogok, Burma |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MSNG 30384; syntype: BMNH (?, type listed as missing 1928 in catalogue). Holotype: BMNH 1900.9.20.15; BMNH 1946. 1.5.32 fide Meetei et al. 2018 [hamptoni] |
| Diagnosis | Redescription: (Table 1, Figure 1, 2, 3 in Meetei et al. 2018) A small to medium sized snake with a maximum SVL of 843 mm (in the holotype of P. hamptoni); body slender; tail long (TAL/total length 0.21–0.24), head more or less distinct from neck; HW greater than HH; snout moderately elongated (ESD/HLB 0.37–0.39), obtusely pointed; from the prefrontal region the forehead slopes down steeply towards snout tip; eye moderately large (ED/HLB 0.23–0.28), with round pupil; rostral wider than high and contacts 6 scales, namely 1st SL, internasals and anterior nasals; suture between internasals smaller than that between prefrontals; lateral extensions of prefrontals descend onto upper parts of loreal region; loreal present or absent—for example, in ZSI 20503, 20504 and Regd. No. 40107 loreal is absent whereas a small loreal is present between posterior nasal, 2nd SL, pre-ocular and the prefrontal in NHML 1946.1.5.32, MCZ R 44714, VR/ERS/ZSI 501(A) and 501(J); amongst the specimens without a loreal, preocular contacts posterior nasal in two (ZSI 20503 and 20504) specimens whereas in Regd. No. 40107 the lateral extension of the prefrontal contacts the 2nd SL (however, an incomplete suture is present on the downward lateral extension of the prefrontal)—the pattern indicates that in the former loreal had fused with the pre-ocular while in the latter a fusion occurred between loreal and prefrontal; frontal pentagonal, longer than its distance from rostral, and contacts prefrontals, supraoculars and parietals; both the parietals and the suture between them are longer than the frontal; nasal divided and posterior nasal larger than its anterior counterpart; 1preocular; a very small pre- subocular either present or absent; postoculars 2 or 3 (Regd. No. 40107); TEMP (R/L) 1+2/1+2, lower posterior TEMP sometimes prevented from touching anterior TEMP by 7th SL (ZSI 11939, 20503, VR/ERS/ZSI 501(A), MCZ R 44714); SL (R/L) 6/6 (MCZ R 44714) or 7/7 (other specimens), 1st and 2nd SL touch nasals; in most of the specimens 4th and 5th SL contact eye while in ZSI 20503 and MCZ R 44714, 3rd also in contact with eye; 7th SL large, followed by a moderately large scale (regarded by some authors as the 8th SL located behind the corner of the mouth, so not considered here to be a supralabial); mental triangular; IL (R/L) 6/6 or 7/7, 1st to 4th IL contacts anterior genial while posterior genial is usually contacted by 4th and 5th IL except in ZSI 20503 where 5th IL is just separated from posterior genial; anterior genial 1.6–2.2 times longer than the posterior genial; dorsal scales smooth, DSCH:M:V 15:15:15; VEN 173–194, in ZSI 20503 178th VEN is divided; Anal 1; SC 74–80 pairs. Dentition was studied in ZSI 11939; this specimen possesses 26 or 27 recurved teeth on an elongated narrow maxilla; the number of maxillary teeth reported in the literature is 25–33 (Boulenger 1900; Wall 1924b; Smith 1943). Hemipenis was studied in ZSI 11939. The following description of hemipenis is from an in situ preparation as an everted preparation was not available and the description follows the terminology of Dowling & Savage (1960); the hemipenis extends upto 14th SC in situ; apart from the base of the organ which is devoid of ornamentation, the basal 2/3 part is covered with large spines; at about 2/3 length of the hemipenis, an abrupt transition from spinous to a calyculate area occurs; calyces away from distal end are large and formed of thick ridges, therefore appearing somewhat like flounces; the ridges of calyces are papillate; calyces become very small and closely set towards the end of distal part. In life, the head and dorsum are uniformly verdant green which extends to the outer edges of VEN while the venter is white to whitish cream. In preservative, the dorsum becomes turquoise. One specimen, Regd. No. 40107, has a hitherto unreported colour pattern (Figure 3). The specimen has 4 black lateral stripes on a green (bluish-grey in preservative) dorsum. These stripes start at the midbody and while the lower one terminates at vent, the upper stripe runs for about half the length of tail. The lower stripes occupy 2nd and 3rd dorsal scale rows while the upper stripes run along 5th and 6th scales rows. This particular specimen, collected from Manipur by the first author, agrees with other specimens in every other aspect including lepidosis. (from Meetei et al. 2018 who did not provide a diagnosis). Description (hamptoni): Uniform green above, the colour descending on to the outer margins of the ventral scales; upper lips and lower parts whitish. |
| Comment | Type species: Cyclophiops doriae is the type species of the genus Cyclophiops Boulenger 1888. Synonymy: partly after SMITH 1943; Figueroa et al. 2016: 21 and Li et al. 2020 synonymized Cyclophiops with Ptyas. Meetei et al. 2018 synonymized hamptoni with doriae. Abundance: both P. doriae and P. hamptoni are very rare; P. hamptoni is known only from the type, which is a female. There seem to be no photos of live P. doriae. It is still possible they are different species. Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | Named after Marchese Giacomo Doria (1840-1913), Italian zoologist who collected in Persia (Iran) with de Filippi (1862-1863) and in Borneo with Beccari (1865-1866). He founded the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Turin (1867-1913), and was its first Director. |
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