Boiga thackerayi Giri, Deepak, Captain, Pawar & Tillack, 2019

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 : 458-459

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4981.3.2

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:99295692-0941-4073-B10D-9DEC79A51767

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5047171

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/7510136E-C65C-946E-FF39-D1FEFE04F999

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Boiga thackerayi Giri, Deepak, Captain, Pawar & Tillack, 2019
status

 

Boiga thackerayi Giri, Deepak, Captain, Pawar & Tillack, 2019

( Fig. 1–2 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 , 6 View FIGURE 6 ; Table 1 View TABLE 1 )

Suggested common name: Thackeray’s cat snake.

Boiga ceylonensis (non Dipsadomorphus ceylonensis Günther, 1858 )— Boulenger 1896 part; Wall 1909 part; Wall 1919; Inger et al. 1984 part; Malhotra & Davis 1991 part; Das 2002 part; Whitaker & Captain 2004 part; Hutton & David 2009 part; Chandramouli & Ganesh 2010 part

Boiga ceylonensis dakhunensis (non Deraniyagala, 1955)— Sharma 2004; Wallach et al. 2014

Boiga cf. thackerayi — Ganesh et al. (2020)

Specimens examined. (n=33). INDIA. Tamil Nadu: MNHN 1946.67 About MNHN Kodikanel; BMNH 74.4 .29.66 Anamallais; CAS 13091 Puthuthotam , Anamallais ; BMNH 1955.1 .3.45 High Wavy mountains 3000-5000 ft; GoogleMaps BMNH 1955.1 .3.42 High Wavys ; CAS 13092 Valparai , Anamalais ; GoogleMaps BNHS 1840 View Materials a Paralai , Valparai ; CSPT /S-39 Madurai dt.,; GoogleMaps SACON / VR-75a one from Meghamalai , GoogleMaps SACON /VR-75b one from Anamalai ; CESS254 collected by SP in 2011 from Valparai (10.394N 76.992E; 1287 m asl), Tiruppur dt.,; GoogleMaps CESS292 collected by SP in 2011 from Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (8.605N 77.224E; 1052 m asl), Tirunelveli dt GoogleMaps .; Kerala: NMW 19937:1–2 Malabar; GoogleMaps FMNH 217702 About FMNH Trivandrum district;. GoogleMaps BNHS 1841 View Materials a Nelliampathy , Palghat District ; GoogleMaps BNHS 1844 View Materials a & b Nelliampathy , Palghat ; FMNH 217701 About FMNH Trivandrum District ; USNM 42469 About USNM Cochin hills,; GoogleMaps BNHS 1862 View Materials Bariami estate, Fairfeild , Travancore ; GoogleMaps CESS011 collected by AKM in 2009 from Vellimala (9.532N 77.371E; 1380 m asl), Periyar Plateau , Idukki dt.,; GoogleMaps CESS093 collected by SP & MP in 2010 from Sirivani (10.945N 76.645E; 1522 m asl), Palghat dt.,; GoogleMaps CESS 139 collected by SP & MP in 2010 from Silent Valley (11.111N 76.429E; 950 m asl), Palghat dt.,; GoogleMaps CESS 140 collected by SP & MP in 2010 from Silent Valley (11.177N 76.414E; 1140 m asl), Palghat dt.,; GoogleMaps CESS 107 collected by SP & MP in 2010 from Chemunji (8.678N 77.192E; 1330 m asl), Peppara, Kollam dt.,; Karnataka: GoogleMaps CESS534 collected by AKM in 2012 from Agumbe, Karnataka (13.576N 75.106E) GoogleMaps .

Complementary Diagnosis. Boiga thackerayi is phylogenetically sister to (node support 100%) a clade containing B. cf. ranawanei and B. flaviviridis . From B. flaviviridis , it is 11.4–12.6% divergent; and from B. cf. ranawanei of Sri Lanka, it is 10.5–11.1% divergent at cyt b. The highest intraspecific divergence was 3.6%, between two samples from Coorg and Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Hills situated on the Central and Southern Western Ghats respectively.

Description and variation. A medium-sized snake with a snout-vent length: 261–832 mm, tail length: 76–275 mm, relative tail size 21.8–23.5%; with slender habitus, thin neck, wide head; long tail; anterior dorsal scale rows 17–20 (17, 18 and 20 anterior dorsal scale rows in one, two and one specimens respectively out of 31 specimens examined); midbody scale rows 19; posterior scale rows 13–15 (13 in 2 out of 20 cases, 14 in 1 out of 31 cases); rostral visible from above; preocular 1, subequal to loreal; postoculars 2; loreal 1; supralabials 8/9, with 3 rd –5 th / 4 th –6 th ones touching eye; infralabials 11/12, with 1–5 touching genials; temporals 10–14; preventral 1; ventrals 207–239, angulate laterally; anal scale 1; subcaudals 86–109 pairs. Dorsal color brownish-grey, patterned with blackish brown cross bars, 55–76 on body, 19–29 on tail; cross bars covering 2–4 scales in size, extending either sides up to 3–4 scale rows across; interspaces often with sparse dark dots; distinct circular markings on top of head, on frontal, parietals, temporal and occipital parts; a distinct postocular stripe up to the jaw angle; labials, chin and venter ashy brown, finely spotted with darker hue; venter bordered along both sides by a series of large adjacent white and black blotches, alternating at an interval of every 3–4 ventrals.

Distribution and natural history: This species is endemic to the Western Ghats. It occurs in wet tropical evergreen forests. Its distribution covers most of the ranges including Agasthyamalai ( Inger et al. 1984), Kottamalai, Meghamalai (Chandramouli & Ganesh 2010; Malhotra & Davis 1991), Anaimalai ( Hutton & David 2009), Nilgiris, Wayanad ( Wall 1919), Malnad, Coorg, Kudremukh, Castle Rock (Ganesh et al. 2013), on to its type locality Koyna ( Giri et al. 2019). During fieldwork we recorded this species in almost all hill complexes of the Western Ghats. This species is nocturnal and live individuals were sighted in the field by us at night (19:30 h to 24:00 h). On one occasion, a resting adult female was sighted tucked underneath the peeling bark of a tree at 14:00 h. It is an arboreal species, with live snakes sighted almost always on the branches and twigs of vegetation, with perching heights ranging from 0.5 m to up to over 3 m. This species has been sighted both in pristine forests (evergreen rainforests, montane forests) as well as secondary forests and even amidst tea gardens. Its distribution ranges in elevation from 500–1500 m asl. On its juveniles from Nilgiri-Waynad, Wall (1919) stated that young ones measuring 450 mm length were sighted during August-September.

Comments. Originally described based on three specimens from a single locality in the Northern Western Ghats ( Giri et al. 2019). Our study has expanded the morphological and geographical boundary of this species, by examining a ten-fold higher number of specimens (n=33) from sites spanning over 1300 km, across the entire Western Ghats. We also depict its phylogenetic placement in a tree for the first time; in addition to genetic distances (also see Giri et al. 2019).

CAS

California Academy of Sciences

SACON

Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History

NMW

Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien

MP

Mohonk Preserve, Inc.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Colubridae

Genus

Boiga

Loc

Boiga thackerayi Giri, Deepak, Captain, Pawar & Tillack, 2019

Ganesh, S. R., Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Achyuthan, N. S., Shanker, Kartik & Vogel, Gernot 2021
2021
Loc

Boiga cf. thackerayi

Giri, Deepak, Captain, Pawar & Tillack 2019
2019
Loc

Dipsadomorphus ceylonensis Günther, 1858

Gunther 1858
1858
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