Naja Laurenti, 1768

Wallach, Van, Wüster, Wolfgang & Broadley, Donald G., 2009, In praise of subgenera: taxonomic status of cobras of the genus Naja Laurenti (Serpentes: Elapidae), Zootaxa 2236, pp. 26-36 : 29-30

Subgenus Naja Laurenti, 1768

Naia Merrem, 1820: 147 (unjustified emendation of Naja Laurenti, 1768 )

Aspis Wagler, 1830: 173 (not Laurenti) (type species Coluber naja Linnaeus, 1758 ) Tomyris Eichwald, 1831: 171 (type species Tomyris oxiana Eichwald, 1831 ) Naga Nicholson, 1874: 104 (unjustified emendation of Naja Laurenti, 1768 )

† Palaeonaja Hoffstetter, 1939: 57 (type species † Palaeonaja romani Hoffstetter, 1939 )

Type species: Naja lutescens Laurenti, 1768 (= Coluber naja Linnaeus, 1758 ), by subsequent designation ( Leviton, 1968).

Gender: feminine.

Etymology: derived from the Sinhala Naya , cobra.

Distribution: southern and south-eastern Asia and the East Indies, from Transcaspia to the Philippines and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Content: eleven species:

Naja (Naja) atra Cantor, 1842: 482

Naja (Naja) kaouthia Lesson, 1831: 122

Naja (Naja) mandalayensis Slowinski & Wüster, 2000: 260

Naja (Naja) naja ( Linnaeus, 1758: 221)

Naja (Naja) oxiana ( Eichwald, 1831: 171)

Naja (Naja) philippinensis Taylor, 1922: 265

Naja (Naja) sagittifera Wall, 1913: 247

Naja (Naja) samarensis Peters, 1861: 690

Naja (Naja) siamensis Laurenti, 1768: 91

Naja (Naja) sputatrix Boie, 1827: 557

Naja (Naja) sumatrana Müller, 1890: 277

Diagnosis: Extracranial (ventral) anterior Vidian canal position, 0–1 solid maxillary teeth in all species ( Wüster, 1990—only 6 out of 650 specimens examined in that study had 2 solid maxillary teeth), seven supralabials with penultimate (sixth) shield low, combination of single preocular and two (occasionally three) anterior temporals, rostral broader than deep; internasals shorter than prefrontals; fang structure variable, all species except N. naja and N. oxiana have some degree of adaptation to spitting ( Wüster & Thorpe, 1992b). We tentatively include the extinct † Naja (Naja) romani ( Hofstetter, 1939) in this subgenus based on the shared derived condition of the basisphenoid morphology and the vestibular window, despite the possession of two solid maxillary teeth ( Szyndlar & Rage, 1990).

Comments: this is a morphologically relatively conserved, but ecologically highly adaptable subgenus that appears to be the result of a single colonization event of Asia from an African origin ( Slowinski & Wüster, 2000; Wüster et al., 2007; Wüster, unpublished data).

The issue of the type species of Naja has a complex background. Laurenti’s (1768) Naja was based upon six species from Seba (1734 –1735), all of which Linnaeus (1758) included in his synonymy of Coluber naja (in addition to 1735: pl. 85, fig. 1 and 1735: pl. 94, fig. 1): N. brasiliensis (1735: pl. 89, fig. 4) = Naja naja , N. fasciata (1735: pl. 89, fig. 3) = Naja naja , N. lutescens (1734: pl. 44, fig. 1) = Naja naja , N. maculata (1735: pl. 90, fig. 2) = Naja naja , N. non Naja (1735: pl. 90, fig. 1) = Naja kaouthia , and N. siamensis (1735: pl. 89, figs. 1–2) = Naja siamensis . Naja naja (Linnaeus) has been considered the type species of Naja by tautonymy, monotypy, and subsequent designation of Stejneger (1936: 140), M. Smith (1943: 426), Oshima (1944: 204), and others. However, David & Vogel (1996: 146) suggested that those assumptions were incorrect and that the only valid type species designation was that of Williams & Wallach (1989: 97), who selected Naja lutescens . However, Leviton (1968: 547) designated Naja lutescens Laurenti (= Coluber naja Linnaeus ) as the type species of Naja Laurenti and several earlier nomenclatural acts precede this action. Cantor (1847: 1038) could be considered the first revisor as he synonymized Naja lutescens with Coluber naja Linnaeus. Deraniyagala (1945: 108–109) then restricted the name Naja lutescens to the race of cobras inhabiting India south of 20° N Latitude. The type locality of Seba’s (1735) pl. 44, fig. 1 was given as “ India Orientali.” Deraniyagala (1945) recognized Naja naja lutescens as a subspecies and designated the type locality as Madras, with N. fasciata and N. maculata as synonyms.