Rhinophis mendisi GOWER, 2020
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Rhinophis mendisi
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| Higher Taxa | Uropeltidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Mendis’ rhino- phis or Mendis’ shieldtail Sinhala: Mendisge thudulla Tamil: Mendisin nilakael pambu |
| Synonym | Rhinophis mendisi GOWER 2020 Rhinophis homolepis — OLORI & BELL 2012 Rhinophis trevelyanus — OLORI & BELL 2012: table S1 |
| Distribution | SW Sri Lanka (near Balangoda) Type locality: Rosgalla or Rasagalla or Rosafalla, Ceylon based on specimen labels and MCZ catalogue. Most likely the village of Rasagalla (also spelled Rassagala), near (ca. 8 km to the northwest of) Balangoda, Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. (6.69° N, 80.64° E; ca. 550 m a.s.l.: data from GoogleEarth). There is an estate by the name of Rasagalla immediately to the West of the village, and the elevational range of this general area is ca. 550–700 m |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. MCZ 18037 (Fig. 1), adult male, collected by Frank Wall and Rasagalla is the only similar place name on Wall’s (1921) map, on which it lies close to and West of Balangoda. There is no collection date associated with MCZ 18037, but Wall (1868–1950) collected Indian and Sri Lankan snakes while he was in the Indian Medical Service, in which he served from 1894 until retiring to the UK in 1925 (Adler 1989). Paratypes (n = 4). MCZ 18034 (Fig. 3 in Gower 2020), 18035 (Fig. 4), 18036, and 18038 (Fig. 5); same collection data as for holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (n=14). A Rhinophis restricted to Sri Lanka with 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, more than 155 and fewer than 180 ventral scales (159–169 in the five types and 161–177 in eight referred specimens), a distinctive colour pattern with more punctate ventral surface and less punctate dorsal surface bearing thin, irregular off-white transverse bars, and a prominent, conical tail shield with small, low, homogenous, ridge-like spines (Gower 2020). |
| Comment | Rhinophis mendisi sp. nov. superficially resembles R. homolepis (Hemprich, 1820) in colour pattern and in its prominent, conical tail shield, but differs from that species in having far fewer ventrals (159–177, n = 13 versus > 195 in the types of R. homolepis and its subjective junior synonym R. gerrardi). |
| Etymology | Named in honour of L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe, in recognition of his substantial contributions to the discovery, documentation and conservation of Sri Lanka’s herpetofauna. For nomenclatural purposes, the species name is a noun in the genitive case. |
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