Rhabdophis chiwen CHEN, DING, CHEN & PIAO, 2020
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Rhabdophis chiwen?
Rhabdophis chiwen
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Chiwen Keelback Chinese: 螭吻颈槽蛇 |
| Synonym | Rhabdophis chiwen CHEN, DING, CHEN & PIAO in PIAO et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | China (Sichuan) Type locality: Jiguan Mountain, Chongzhou City, Sichuan Province (30°45'57.64" N, 103°14'3.52" E, and 1846 m a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. CIB116092, an adult male, collected on 1st July 2019 by Li Ding (Figure 2 and 3). Paratypes. CIB116093, an adult male, collected from the same locality as holotype on 1st July 2019 by Li Ding. CIB116094- 95, two specimens, an adult male and an adult female, collected from Xingou Village, Tianquan County, Sichuan Province (29°55'42.39" N, 102°23'9.19" E, and 1461 m a.s.l.) collected on 22nd July 2018 by Li Ding and Zening Chen. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: 1) nuchal groove present, with enlarged and paired scales on each side; 2) Dorsal body saddlebrown, DSR in 15 rows throughout, feebly keeled, the outer 1–2 rows smooth; 3) dorsal scales typically with black margins forming some spots and stripes, the margin of the outer row forming two faint dorsolateral black cross-bars alongside body; 4) a black oblique stripe below the eye, often with a black spot between the 2nd and 3rd SL and a black stripe (or separated as black spots) on the 5th SL and the 1st TEM; 5) Eyes dark khaki, pupils black; 6) SL 5, the 3rd and 4th touching the eye: 7) usually 7 ILs (occasionally 6 or 8), the first four contact with anterior chin-shields; 8) 1 LR, and TEM 1+1; 9) VEN 151-159, the outer margin of ventral scales and several lateral rows of dorsal scales forming ventrolateral longitudinal brownish-red coloration, with faint black spots in the middle of each ventral scale and between scales which line a black stripe; 10) anal divided; SC 45–59; 11) PRO 1 (rarely 2) and PTO usually 3 (occasionally 2); 12) medium-sized body (SVL of adult males: 404–431 mm and adult females: 409–476 mm); 13) tail moderate and longer in males than in females (adult males: 104-131 mm, adult females: 91–107 mm) (Chen et al. 2020). |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in Nguyen & David 2023: Fig. 1. |
| Etymology | The species name of the new species “chiwen” is in reference to the ninth son of Loong in ancient Chinese myth who likes eating fire, and indicates the firefly-eating habit of this new species (Yoshida et al., 2020). |
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