Dendrelaphis terrificus ( Peters, 1872 )

Rooijen, Johan Van & Vogel, Gernot, 2012, A revision of the taxonomy of Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) (Serpentes: Colubridae), Zootaxa 3272, pp. 1-25 : 19-20

Dendrelaphis terrificus ( Peters, 1872)

Figs. 14 , 15 .

Description. A species of the Dendrelaphis caudolineatus group, characterized by the combination of 1) a reduced pattern of black longitudinal stripes, stripes along the entire length of the body, 6 stripes at midbody; 2) a pale ventrolateral stripe along the entire length of the body; 3) a black postocular stripe which extends onto the neck where it becomes one the upper longitudinal stripe that borders the pale ventrolateral line; 4) 170–175 ventrals (males), 174–181 ventrals (females); 5) 94–102 subcaudals; 6) relative tail-length 0.245–0.260 (males), 0.255–0.265 (females); 7) 6–7 temporal scales on each side; 8) 9–11 infralabials on each side; 9) 4–5 scales touching the posterior borders of the parietal scales; 10) maximum total length males 97.5 cm, females 116.0 cm.

Description of the lectotype. ZMB 7416, juvenile from Gorontalo, Sulawesi, collected by A. B. Meyer ; SVL 23.0 cm; TAIL 7.7 cm; 172 ventral scales; 94 subcaudal scales; anal shield divided; dorsal scales in 13-13-11 rows; 9 supralabials, supralabials 5,6 touch eye; 9 infralalabials, infralabials 6 and 7 touch first sublabial; infralabials 1–5 touch first chinshield, infralabials 5,6 touch second chinshield; 2 postoculars; temporal formula 2:2:2/2:2:2; vertebral scales not enlarged; eye-diameter 3.1 mm / 3.0 mm; eye-nostril distance 2.5 mm / 2.6 mm; snout-width 2.8 mm; posterior edge of parietal scales touched by 4 scales; head-length 13.5 mm; ground-color olive-brown; supralabials, chin and throat yellow; venter yellowish; pronounced black temporal stripe covers nearly all of temporal region, extends onto neck, runs along whole body as black stripe; 4 black stripes anteriorly (including extensions of temporal stripes), 6 black stripes posteriorly; lower two black stripes enclose pale ventrolateral line that covers upper half of first dorsal row and lower half of second dorsal row; black stripe on underside of tail.

Sexual dimorphism. On average, males have 172 ventral scales whereas females have 178 ventral scales (F = 9.6; df = 1; p = 0.03). In addition, females grow larger than males (see description).

Distribution. Dendrelaphis terrificus is endemic to Sulawesi. Specimens included in this study originated from Manado and Gorontalo, both locations situated on the northern arm of Sulawesi, and “North Sulawesi”. These localities are in agreement with the distribution given by De Lang & Vogel (2005), who provided six localities, all situated on the northern arm. Wanger et al. (2011) carried out a survey in Central Sulawesi but did not document D. terrificus . However, the species has meanwhile been recorded in other parts of Sulawesi (Koch, pers. comm.).

Figures

FIGURE 14. Dendrelaphis terrificus (Peters, 1872) juvenile from Sulawesi, lectotype (ZMB 7416; TL 30.5 cm.).

FIGURE 15. Dendrelaphis terrificus (Peters, 1872) adult from Sulawesi (RMNH 40179 (1); TL 114.5 cm.).