Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis, Loredo & Wood & Quah & Anuar & Greer & Ahmad & Grismer, 2013

Loredo, Ariel I., Wood, Perry L., Quah, Evan S. H., Anuar, Shahrul, Greer, Lee F., Ahmad, Norhayati & Grismer, L. Lee, 2013, Cryptic speciation within Asthenodipsas vertebralis (Boulenger, 1900) (Squamata: Pareatidae), the description of a new species from Peninsular Malaysia, and the resurrection of A. tropidonotus (Lidth de Jude, 1923), Zootaxa 3664 (4), pp. 505-524 : 514-517

Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov.

Mirkwood Forest Slug Snake

Figures 2 , 3

Pareas vertebralis Smedley 1931:122 ; Tweedie 1953:34 (in part), 1957:35 (in part); Sly 1976: 156; Tweedie 1987:36 (in part); Rao and Yang 1972:144; Lim et al. 2002:55; Manthey and Grossmann 1967:378; Cox et al. 1998:79; Leong and Lim 2003:133; Das & Yakkob 2007:74.

Asthenodipsas vertebralis Grossman and Tillack 2003:177 ; Iskandar and Colijn 2002; (in part); Das 2010:160 (in part); Grismer et al. 2010:155 (in part); Grismer 2011:170 (in part).

Holotype. Adult male, LSUHC 8869 collected by L. Lee Grismer, P. L. Wood Jr., J. L. Grismer, and C. K. Onn on 2 March 2008 from Bukit Larut , Perak, Malaysia (4º 44.596’ N, 100º 45.537’ E; 1184 m).

Paratypes. Adult female (LSUHC 9050) bears the same data as the holotype. Adult male (LSUHC 9098) collected by L. Lee Grismer, P. L. Wood Jr., J. L. Grismer, and C. K. Onn on 6 June 2008 on Pine Tree Trail at Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, West Malaysia (3º 43.234’ N, 101º 45.478’ E; 1203 m) . Adult female (LSUHC 6954) collected by L. Lee Grismer and C. K. Onn on trail 11 at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia (4°31.275’N, 101°23,193’E; 2050 m) . Adult female (LSUHC 9150) collected by Norhayati Ahmad and L. Lee Grismer on Bishop’s Trail at Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Malaysia (3º 42.590’ N, 101º 44.236’ E; 1239 m) .

Additional specimens examined. See Table 5 and appendix.

Diagnosis. Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all other species of the Pareatidae by the unique combination of having of a maximum TL 771 ( Smedley 1931); 15/15/14–15 dorsal scale rows167–190 ventrals; 54–77 subcaudal scales; one or two postorbitals; 1–2+1–3+1–2 temporals; 6–8 supralabials and infralabials; whitish ventral scales bearing small dark lateral spots; dorsum of adults unicolor dark brown; dorsum of hatchlings and juveniles bearing an orangish to light gray ground color overlain with 42–56 irregularly shaped rhomboidal darker bands beginning posterior to dark nuchal bar and extending the length of body and tail and onto lateral spots; edges of ventral scales but not encircling body; a light vertebral stripe; whitish labials usually edged in darker color; dark brown to black head; dark red to red-orange eyes. These character states are summarized across all species in Table 3.

Description of holotype. Adult male SVL 412 mm and Tal 117 mm; rostral as wide as high; head somewhat bulbous in shape, longer than wide; nasals undivided; internasals shorter than prefrontals; prefrontals contact eye; frontal hexagonal, slightly longer than wide; loreals absent; supraoculars subpentagonal, half the length and same width as frontal; preoculars longer than wide; upper and lower postocular, lower postocular extending to below orbit; no suboculars; supralabials 7/7 with 3 rd and 4 th contacting orbit and 7 th elongate; temporals 2+2+2/2+2+2, left side has one small scale beteween postoculars and first pair of temporals; mental triangular wider than long; anterior inframaxillary rectangular, in contact with infralabials 1–5; inframaxillaries slightly rounded, elongated ovals in three pairs following the anterior inframaxillary; infralabials 8/8 with the 1 st pair in medial contact.

Body long, thin, laterally compressed, bearing a prominent keel-shaped vertebral region; dorsals smooth, 15/ 15/ 15 in number, vertebrals greatly enlarged; 189 ventrals; 64 divided subcaudals; anal scute entire; tail tapering to a point.

Coloration in life ( Fig. 2 ). Head, body and tail unicolor dark brown; labials white, edged in dark brown; belly white, edged in dark brown and bearing scattered, dark lateral blotches extending into midventral region; subcaudal region gray laterally white midventrally; iris orange.

Variation. The paratypes approximate the holotype in all aspects of coloration except that LSUHC 6593 and 9150 have fewer dark lateral ventral blotches.

Juvenile coloration ( Fig. 3 ). Juveniles LSUHC 7228, 7240, 9099, 9151, 10259–60, 10789, 10799, 10797, 10997 (see Table 2 for scalation and appendix for locality data) that are not part of the type series bear a coloration and pattern of having dark brown on the top of the head; an orangish to light gray ground color overlain with 42–56 irregular hourglass-shaped darker bands beginning posterior to the dark nuchal bar and extending the length of the body and tail and onto lateral edges of tventral scales but not encircling body; a light vertebral stripe; whitish labials and ventral scales usually edged in darker color; dark brown to black head; and red-orange eyes.

Distribution. Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. is known only from Genting Highlands, Fraser’s Hill, Cameron Highlands, Pahang and Bukit Larut, Perak ( Fig. 1 ). It is likely A. lasgalenensis sp. nov. and A. vertbebralis range throughout the montane cloud forests of northeastern Peninsular Malaysia as well as throughout similar habitats in southern Thailand south of the Isthmus of Kra.

Natural History. The localities from which Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. was found are montane cloud forests above 800 m in elevation. All specimens were found at least 1 m above the ground at night foraging or resting in vegetation.

Etymology. The specific epithet lasgalenensis is derived from the name Eryn Lasgalen which means in the “Wood of Greenleaves” in the fictional Sindarian language from J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1955). It was the name used by the Wood Elves for the Mirkwood Forest after its cleansing following the War of the Ring. This name was chosen because Tolkien’s (1955) description of this forest showed great similarity to the cloudy, upland forests within which this species is found.

Comparisons. Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. is differentiated from all other species of Asthenodipsas on the basis of phylogenetics ( Fig. 4 ; Table 2 ), morphology, color pattern (Tables 3,4; Figs. 2 –5,7), and perhaps microhabitat preference. It is discretely diagnosable from A. vertebralis (a species to which it was previously ascribed) and A. tropidonotus based on having 167–190 ventral scales as opposed to having 195–215 and 199–204 ventral scales, respectively. It is further separated from A. vertebralis in having a significantly lower mean number (x =46.8; 40–56) of trapezoidal-shaped dorsal bands as opposed to a higher mean number (x =62.0; 57–64) and a significant difference in the mean number of subcaudal scales (x =64.5; 54–77 vs. x =72.3; 65–77). It is discretely diagnosable from A. vertebralis in having yellow to orangish labials and ventrals as opposed to whitish labials and ventrals; a yellowish vertebral stripe throughout life as opposed to losing the light vertebral stripe between 316 mm and 349 mm TL; and a dorsal banding pattern throughout life as opposed to transforming from a dorsal banded pattern to a unicolor pattern between 316 mm and 349 mm TL. Furthermore, the top of the head in hatchling and juvenile A. lasgalenensis sp. nov. is dark brown as opposed to orange. Additionally, A. lasgalenensis sp. nov. appears to be terrestrial when sympatric with A. vertebralis as opposed to being arboreal.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution map of Asthenodipsas vertebralis (yellow circles), A. lasgalenensis sp. nov. (blue circles), and A. tropidonotus (orange circles) in Peninsular Malaysia and Northern Sumatra.

FIGURE 2. Upper. Adult male Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. from Bukit Larut, Perak (holotype LSUHC 8869). Lower. Adult female A. lasgalenensis sp. nov. from Cameron Highlands, Pahang (paratype LSUHC 6954).

FIGURE 3. Coloration of a hatchling Asthenodipsas vertebralis from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang (upper left LSUHC 9100) and a subadult female from Bukit Larut, Perak lower right LSUHC 9837. Coloration of hatchling A. lasgalenensis from Bukit Larut, Perak (LSUHC 10798, upper right and LSUHC 10797, lower left).

FIGURE 4. Bayesian Inference tree based on 1,073 bp of cyt b showing the relationships between Pareatidae and the placement of Asthenodipsas lasgalenensis sp. nov. Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP) and ML and MP bootstrap support values, respectively (BPP/ML/MP), at the nodes.