Ahaetuliinae

Figueroa, Alex, McKelvy, Alexander D., Grismer, L. Lee, Bell, Charles D. & Lailvaux, Simon P., 2016, A Species-Level Phylogeny of Extant Snakes with Description of a New Colubrid Subfamily and Genus, PLoS ONE 11 (161070), pp. 1-31 : 22-23

Subfamily Ahaetuliinae subfam. nov. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 22C47597-1DEF- 45A4-ABAC-11C4911557AD

Type genus: Ahaetulla Link [ 118]

Content: Four genera containing 56 species. Ahaetulla (8 species), Chrysopelea (5 species), Dendrelaphis (41 species), and Dryophiops (2 species).

Etymology: From the Sri Lankan language Sinhala, ahaetulla/ahata gulla/as gulla, meaning “eye plucker” or “eye picker” for belief that they pluck out the eyes of humans as accounted by the Portuguese traveler João Ribeiro in 1685 (as cited in [ 119]).

Diagnosis and definition: Snakes of this subfamily are arboreal and are diagnosed by keeled ventral and subcaudal scales (laterally notched in some species), and enlarged posterior grooved fangs lacking in some Dendrelaphis . Support for monophyly of this clade is very strong (SHL = 100) as also reported in Pyron et al [ 15]. Ahaetuliinae is further split into two monophyletic groups: 1) Dryophiops and Ahaetulla (SHL = 96) and; 2) Chrysopelea and Dendrelaphis (SHL = 100). Diagnostic characteristics of the first group include, elongate and laterally- compressed bodies, elongate heads, 15 smooth mid-body dorsal scale rows, and large eyes with horizontal pupils and well-developed canthus rostralis outfitting these snakes with binocular vision [ 120]. Features diagnostic of the second group include, slender body, rectangular slightly compressed heads, large eyes with round pupils, 13–17 smooth to weakly-keeled mid-body dorsal scale rows. Chrysopelea are celebrated for their unique gliding behavior, whereas Dendrelaphis are capable of jumping [ 121].

Sister taxon: Previously placed within Colubrinae , Ahaetuliinae forms a strong (SHL = 95) sister relationship with Colubrinae , also weakly supported by Pyron et al [ 15].

Distribution: Members of this subfamily inhabit various habitats, but are mostly associated with forests distributed from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, north to Nepal and Bangladesh, eastwards all throughout Southeast Asia to southern China, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and northeast Australia.

Remarks: The name Ahaetulla has suffered from a tumultuous nomenclatural history [ 122]. In addition, members of these genera have historically been grouped with unrelated taxa based on absence or presence of hypapophyses [ 123, 124].