Boiga ceylonensis (Gunther, 1858)

Ganesh, S. R., Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Achyuthan, N. S., Shanker, Kartik & Vogel, Gernot, 2021, A new species of Boiga (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Southern Western Ghats of India with a molecular phylogeny and expanded characterisation of related species, Zootaxa 4981 (3), pp. 449-468 : 463

Updated key to the species of the Boiga ceylonensis complex (modified from Ganesh et al. 2020)

1a. Midbody scale rows 17 or 19............................................................................ 2

1b. Midbody scale rows 21 or 23............................................................................ 7

2a. Dorsum greenish, venter uniform lemon yellow................................................... B. flaviviridis

2b. Dorsum brownish, venter grey, powdered with brown dots..................................................... 3

3a. Crown not marked; subcaudals> 100 pairs........................................................ B. beddomei

3b. Crown marked with blackish-brown blotches; subcaudals <100 pairs............................................ 4

4a. Ventrolateral white blotches absent....................................................................... 5

4b. Ventrolateral white blotches present....................................................................... 6

5a. Crown marking on parietals mild and diffuse; bands orange, reduced to streaks.................... B. whitakeri sp. nov.

5b. Crown markings on parietals evident and dark; bands distinctly black, thicker and complete................ B. ceylonensis

6a. Preocular 1; 17 or 19 dorsal rows dorsum barred................................................... B. thackerayi

6b. Preoculars 3; 19 dorsal rows, dorsum blotched...................................................... B. barnesii

7a. Ventral and ventrolateral region unpatterned................................................... B. andamanensis

7b. Ventral and ventrolateral region with patterns............................................................... 8

8a. Temporals subequal to coastal body scales; dorsum uniform........................................... B. dightoni

8b. Temporals much larger than coastal body scales; dorsum barred........................................ B. nuchalis