Cylindrophis burmanus Smith 1943

Amarasinghe, A. A. Thasun, Campbell, Patrick D., Hallermann, Jakob, Sidik, Irvan, Supriatna, Jatna & Abstract. - The, Ivan Ineich, 2015, Two new species of the genus Cylindrophis Wagler, 1828 (Squamata: Cylindrophiidae) from Southeast Asia, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 98) 9 (1), pp. 34-51 : 41-42

Cylindrophis burmanus Smith 1943

Cylindrophis rufus burmanus Smith 1943: 97

( Figs. 2 , 3 , 8 ; Tables 1 , 2 )

Proposed standard English name: Burmese Pipe-Snake

Lectotype (designated herein): BMNH 1940.3 .3.1, (SVL 320 mm), collected from Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) by an unknown collector, collection date unknown. This specimen was presented to BMNH by Professor F.J. Meggitt, University College Rangoon (according to the museum registry). Although Smith (1943) had several specimens at his disposal at the time, he provided the measurement for only the largest specimen in the series. Because the original description is not comprehensive enough, and because of the fact that the Cylindrophis population in Myanmar may represent more than one species, in order to stabilize the name with a recognized type specimen, we here designate BMNH 1940.3.3.1 as the lectotype.

Paralectotypes (6): BMNH 1940.3 .3.2, ( SVL 212 mm), collected from Rangoon, Burma by an unknown collector, presented by F.J. Meggitt ; BMNH 1908.6 .23.3, ( SVL 293 mm), Burma, collector and date unknown, presented by Major F. Wall ; BMNH 1891.11 .26.28, ( SVL 280 mm), Pyinmana , Upper Burma, collector and date unknown, presented by E.W. Oates ; BMNH 1925.4 .2.2, ( SVL 280 mm), Thandoung , Burma, collector and date unknown, presented by F. Wall ; BMNH 1925.12 .22.4, ( SVL 256 mm), Sahmaw , Myitkyina District, Burma, collector and date unknown, presented by F. Wall; and probably ZMB 3094 (fide Iskandar and Colijn 2002; indicated no justification). All these paralectotypes share the same characters as the lectotype and belong to the same species .

Diagnosis: Cylindrophis burmanus is distinguished from all congeners by having the following characters: 19 midbody scale rows (vs. 17 in C. engkariensis ; 23 in C. aruensis , C. opisthorhodus ; 21 in C. isolepis , C. lineatus , C. maculatus , and C. yamdena ), 201–225 ventrals (vs. 233–275 in C. melanotus ; 193–200 in C. boulengeri ; 186–197 in C. ruffus ), narrow and alternating bands on paler body (vs. dorsum uniform black with no crossbands in C. boulengeri ; wide, constant, dorsally interrupted bands encircling the dark body in C. ruffus ), a complete and narrow ring encircling the nape (vs. no ring on the nape in C. boulengeri ; a wide, dorsally interrupted band encircling the nape in C. ruffus ).

Description of lectotype: SVL 320 mm, tail length 10 mm; body elongate, rounded in cross-section; head not distinct from neck, broadened and dorsoventrally flattened in the orbital and sagittal regions; snout rounded in dorsal and lateral view.

Rostral shield large, visible from above with a conical apex; a single nasal, widely in contact behind the rostral, no internasals; nasals in contact with rostral anteriorly, with prefrontal dorsally, and the first and second supralabials ventrally; nostrils large; canthus rostralis weakly defined; prefrontal hexagonal, larger than frontal; frontal large, triangular, and longer than width; supraocular wide, triangular, wider posteriorly; parietal small, triangular, its rear border rounded, bordered by supraocular, frontal shield, upper posterior temporal shield, occipital shield, and two dorso-nuchal shields posteriorly on each side, the occipital shield smaller than other dorso-nuchal scales; loreal and preocular absent; eye small, pupil rounded; eye in broad contact with supraocular dorsally, prefrontal and third supralabial anteriorly, fourth supralabial ventrally, and postocular posteriorly; a single large postocular, subtriangular, posteriorly narrow, in broad contact with supraocular, anterior temporal, upper posterior temporal, and fourth supralabial; temporals 1+2, all triangular; anterior temporal smaller than upper posterior; anterior temporal in contact with both posterior temporals, 4 th and 5 th supralabials ventrally; anterior temporal does not meet parietals.

Five supralabials, 3 rd and 4 th largest in size; first supralabial in contact with rostral anteriorly and nasal dorsally; second supralabial in contact with nasal and prefrontal dorsally; third supralabial in contact with prefrontal and eye dorsally; fourth supralabial in contact with eye, postocular, and anterior temporal dorsally; fifth supralabial in contact with anterior and posterior temporals.

Mental small, triangular; first infralabial pair larger than mental plate and in broad contact with each other, in contact with anterior chin shield posteriorly; five infralabials in total, 1 st –3 rd in contact with first chin shield, 4 th and 5 th in contact with gular scales, and not touching the chin shields; anterior chin shields larger than posterior ones; a mental groove continues from the posterior tip of the mental until the posterior chin shields.

Body slender; transverse dorsal scale rows 19–19–17, all smooth, subcycloid, and weakly imbricate; vertebral and midventral scales undifferentiated from adjacent scales; 213 ventrals; cloacal plate divided, precloacal udivided and triangular, tail extremely short, relative TL (TL/total length) 3.0%, with a conical thick and robust tip; 6 or 7 (damaged) entire subcaudals.

Coloration: The lectotype (the largest specimen of the original syntypes) has a brown back with narrow and alternating white stripes along dorsal surface from behind nape to tail, each stripe covering about half of one scale; head entirely dark, a complete, narrow ring encircling the nape; the venter is brown with regular, mottled cream colored bars. See Fig. 2 for details of coloration in preservative.

Variation of paralectotypes: SVL range from 256–293 mm; body scale rows at neck ranges from 17–19; ventrals 201–225; relative TL 2.1–2.9%.

Distribution: Cylindrophis burmanus is only reported from Myanmar ( Fig. 8 ).

Figures

Fig. 2. Coloration of Cylindrophis burmanus lectotype, BMNH 1940.3.3.1 (A) head in dorsal view, (B) head in ventral view, (C) head in lateral view, (D) midbody in dorsal view, (E) mid- body in ventral view, and (F) tail in ventral view.

Fig. 3. Scalation of Cylindrophis burmanus lectotype, BMNH 1940.3.3.1 (A) head in dorsal view, (B) head in ventral view, (C) head in lateral view, (D) tail in ventral view, (E) midbody in dorsal view, (F) midbody in ventral view.

Fig. 8. Current distribution pattern of the genus Cylindrophis.