Pseudoxenodon macrops (Blyth, 1855)

Dau, Vinh Quang, Hoang, Thao Ngoc, Nguyen, Truong Quang & Pham, Anh Van, 2024, New records and an updated list of reptiles from Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. e 134976-e 134976 : e134976-

Pseudoxenodon macrops (Blyth, 1855)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: HDU 5001 ; individualCount: 1; sex: Subadult; occurrenceID: EC18872D-893F-5981-B002-FF64F40C1956; Taxon: scientificNameID: Pseudoxenodon macrops ; scientificName: Pseudoxenodon macrops ; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Colubridae ; genus: Pseudoxenodon ; specificEpithet: macrops ; scientificNameAuthorship: (Blyth, 1855); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Thanh Hoa; county: Thanh Hoa; municipality: Ba Thuoc; locality: Near Thanh Son Commune ; verbatimElevation: 1006 m; verbatimLatitude: 20 ° 48335 ’ N; verbatimLongitude: 105 ° 09964 ' E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS 84; Event: eventDate: June; eventTime: 2024; eventRemarks: collected by V. Q. Dau; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Reptilia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: HDU 5002 ; individualCount: 1; sex: Subadult; occurrenceID: 3B88177D-B7BA-5718-B556-DF1F71DF3055; Taxon: scientificNameID: Pseudoxenodon macrops ; scientificName: Pseudoxenodon macrops ; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Colubridae ; genus: Pseudoxenodon ; specificEpithet: macrops ; scientificNameAuthorship: (Blyth, 1855); Location: country: Vietnam; countryCode: VN; stateProvince: Thanh Hoa; county: Thanh Hoa; municipality: Ba Thuoc; locality: Near Thanh Son Commune ; verbatimElevation: 1006 m; verbatimLatitude: 20 ° 48335 ’ N; verbatimLongitude: 105 ° 09964 ' E; verbatimCoordinateSystem: WGS 84; Event: eventDate: July; eventTime: 2024; eventRemarks: collected by V. Q. Dau; Record Level: language: en; collectionCode: Reptilia; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Morphological characters of the specimens from Thanh Hoa Province agreed well with the descriptions of Smith (1943) and Pham et al. (2014): SVL 200.0– 200.6 mm, TaL 37.0–40.0 mm (n = 2, subadults). Body cylindrical; head distinct from neck; snout elongate; rostral as broad as high, partly visible from above; internasals as wide as long, not in contact with loreal; prefrontal about half the length of frontal; frontal pentagonal; parietals longer than wide; nasal paired; loreal 1 / 1; supralabials 8 / 8, fourth to fifth entering orbit, seventh largest; infralabials 10 / 10, first to fourth bordering chin shields; preoculars 2 / 2; postoculars 2 / 2, bodering anterior temporals; anterior temporals 2 / 2; posterior temporals 2 / 2; dorsal scale rows 19–17 – 15, keeled; ventrals 158–160 in juvelines; cloacal scale paired; subcaudals 59–60, paired.

Colouration in preservative. Dorsal surface brownish-grey with short white cross-bars of black edge; a large V-shaped black spots on neck; chin and venter yellowish-cream, with large black spots anteriorly (Fig. 6 ).

Distribution

In Vietnam, this species has been recorded from Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Son La, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Da Nang and Lam Dong Provinces ( Pham et al. 2014). Elsewhere, this species is known from India, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Laos ( Nguyen et al. 2009, Uetz et al. 2024).

Type locality: " near Darjiling " [Darjeeling, E India] ( Uetz et al. 2024).

Ecology

Two subadults were found between 09: 00 h and 12: 00 h on the ground, near a slow flowing stream. The surrounding habitat was evergreen secondary forest.

Figures

Figure 6. Pseudoxenodon macrops (subadult, HDU 51001) from Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Photo by V. Q. Dau.