Xylophis chenkaruppan NARAYANAN, DAS, GHOSH, PALOT, UMESH, GOWER & DEEPAK, 2025
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Xylophis chenkaruppan?
Xylophis chenkaruppan
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| Higher Taxa | Pareidae (Xylophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Xylophis chenkaruppan NARAYANAN, DAS, GHOSH, PALOT, UMESH, GOWER & DEEPAK 2025 |
| Distribution | India (Kerala) Type locality: Vellarimala Hills , Wayanad district, Kerala, India (11.4677°N, 76.1463°E; 1409 m elevation |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ZSI / WGRC /IR. V.3825 ( Figs. 3A , 5 , 6 ), male, collected by Muhamed Jafer Palot, Avrajjal Ghosh and Umesh P. on 7th October 2015. See map in Fig. 1 . Paratypes (n=5). BNHS 3381 & BNHS 3383 , male, BNHS 3382 , female, collection details same as holotype. ZSI / WGRC /IR-V.3826& ZSI / WGRC /IR-V.3827from Kurichyarmala Hills, Wayanad District , Kerala (11.602652°N, 75.968739°E, 1431 m elevation) collected by Muhamed Jafer Palot & Sandeep Das on 30 th January 2010 . |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and comparison. A Xylophis with 13 dorsal scale rows at midbody, preocular pentagonal having minimal contact with the eye, posterior genials in midline contact, 126–131 ventral, and 23–38 subcaudal scales. Smaller (presumably younger) individuals are dark in coloration and larger (presumably adult individuals) generally have a reddish-dun dorsum with black mottling and reddish ventrum. Xylophis chenkaruppan sp. nov. is distinguished from X. stenorhynchus (and its putative synonym X. indicus ), X. captaini and X. deepaki in having 13 instead of 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody, and in having relatively long prefrontals (vs. short). Xylophis chenkaruppan sp. nov. differs from X. perroteti (and its synonym X. microcephalum ) in having the posterior pair of genial scales in midline contact ( Fig. 3A ) (vs. posterior pair of genial scales separated along the midline by the first ventral scale) ( Fig. 3C ). In terms of head scalation, the new species more closely resembles X. mosaicus ( Fig. 3B ) than its sister X. perroteti . Xylophis chenkaruppan sp. nov. and X. mosaicus differ in adult colour, having reddish rather than yellowish markings ventrally. Sample sizes are not large, but there is also an indication that the new species has fewer ventrals and more subcaudals than X. mosaicus for both males (<131 ventrals and>33 subcaudals, n = 5 versus> 127 and <34, respectively, n = 7) and females (131 and 23 or 24, n = 1 versus> 135 and> 16, n = 6) ( Fig. 4 ). (Narayanan et al. 2025) 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 8024 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after two words from Malayalam language, “Chem” = red and “Karupp” = black, in reference to the red and black dorsal coloration of the new species. For nomenclatural purposes, the specific epithet is treated as a noun in opposition. To be grammatically correct in Malayalam, the “m” of “chem” becomes an “n” when combined with “karupp”. We suggest a common name as “red and black woodsnake”, and a Malayalam name as “ Chenkaruppan”. |
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