Xenochrophis bellulus (STOLICZKA, 1871)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Xenochrophis bellulus?
Xenochrophis bellulus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Burmese White-barred Keelback |
| Synonym | Tropidonotus bellulus STOLICZKA 1871: 191 Tropidonotus bellulus STOLICZKA 1871: 432 Tropidonotus bellulus — BOULENGER 1890 Tropidonotus trianguligerus — BOULENGER 1893: 224 (in part) Natrix bellula — SMITH 1943: 298 Sinonatrix bellula — ROSSMAN & EBERLE 1977 Xenochrophis bellula — MALNATE & UNDERWOOD 1988: 195 Sinonatrix bellula — MCDOWELL & JENNER 1988 Sinonatrix bellula — RAO & YANG 1998 Xenochrophis bellulus — PAUWELS et al. 2001 Xenochrophis bellula — WALLACH et al. 2014: 797 Xenochrophis bellulus — LEE et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | Myanmar (= Burma) Type locality: ‘‘Prome, near Pegu’’ (now Pyay, Bago Region, Myanmar). Neotyp[e locality: Moyingyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary, Bago Region, Myanmar (17°35’27.4’’ N, 96°34’24.5’’ E; 3 m. in elevation). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Neotype: USNM 587200, Adult female, designated by Leet al. 2018, collected on Jul 2003 by Sai Wunna Kyi and Thet Win. Original holotype: Lost, according to Smith (1943). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Including data from Stoliczka (1871) and Smith (1943). Xenochrophis bellulus is separated from all other Southeast Asian natricine snakes by the following set of characteristics: (1) dark olive-brown to jet black dorsal coloration with anterior transverse bars dissipating around midbody; (2) supralabials and infralabials light cream with black sutures; (3) a single light dot on each parietal scale and one occipital scale bordering the parietals; (4) nine (rarely 10) supralabials, with the 4th–6th in contact with the eye; (5) dorsal scales keeled, 19–19–17 rows; (6) 135–144 unkeeled ventrals; (7) 63–83 unkeeled paired subcaudals; (8) single anterior temporal scale; (9) tail length 27.0%–30.0% of the total length; (10) bilobed hemipenis with large basal hooks, elongate spines on the tip of each lobe and a shallowly forked sulcus spermaticus; and (11) short, slender asymmetrical hemipenial lobes slightly separated from the rest of the hemipenial body, with the left lobe shorter and smaller in size compared to the right lobe [Lee et al. 2018]. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1113 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: MALNATE & UNDERWOOD 1988 placed Tropidonotus bellulus in the genus Xenochrophis but noted that this assignment was made “with some insecurity”. Boulenger (1893) synonymized this species with Tropidonotus trianguligerus F. Boie, 1827 (= Xenochrophis trianguligerus) with some reservations (i.e. with a question mark). |
| Etymology | ‘bellulus’’ is a diminutive of the word ‘‘bellus’’ which roughly means ‘‘pretty little one’’ or ‘‘beauty’’ in Latin. |
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