Gonyosoma Wagler

Chen, Xin, Grismer, L. Lee, Matsui, Masafumi, Nishikawa, Kanto & Burbrink, Frank T., 2014, The phylogenetIc posItIon and taxonomIc status of the RaInbow Tree Snake Gonyophis margaritatus (Peters, 1871) (Squamata: ColubrIdae), Zootaxa 3881 (6), pp. 532-548 : 537

Gonyosoma Wagler

Gonyosoma Wagler, 1828 . Type species Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Boie)

Gonyophis Boulenger, 1891 . Type species Gonyophis margaritatus (Peters) , by monotypy Syn.n. Rhadinophis Vogt, 1922 . Type species Rhadinophis frenatus (Gray) Syn. n.

Rhynchophis Mocquard, 1897 . Type species Rhynchophis boulengeri Mocquard , by monotypy Syn.n.

Diagnosis. The genus Gonyosoma is comprised of six currently recognized species ( Table 3), which form a monophyletic group based on Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference using six genes. Morphological characters for this genus are listed as follows: body size from medium to large (80 cm to 240 cm); body slender, compressed, head elongated and distinct from neck; relatively large eyes with round pupil; tail relatively long (20% to 30% of total length) and slender; various color patterns represented but generally displaying some green, yellowish or tan ground color; single preocular; postoculars two; mid-body dorsal scales rows 19 or 23; mid-dorsal scales smooth or weakly keeled; 186–257 ventral scales with well-developed lateral keels; 91–149 paired subcaudals; precloacal plate usually divided (some Gonyosoma prasinum populations remain undivided); primarily arboreal or semi-arboreal and mainly found in tropical rain forest or subtropical montane forest habitats; distribution extends from Southern China, Southeast Asia and South Asia; diurnal; oviparous ( Schulz 1996; Zhao 2006; Das 2010; Schulz & Gumprecht 2013).

Finally, our reconstructed phylogeny indicates that the two tropical clades comprising the genera Gonyosoma and Coelognathus are not closely related to the Old World and New World ratsnake assemblages as typically considered in the literature (Schultz 1996; Utiger et al. 2002, Burbrink & Lawson 2007), which currently includes the New World tribe Lampropeltini and the Old World genera Oreocryptophis , Archelaphe , Euprepiophis , Orthriophis , Elaphe , Rhinechis , Zamenis , Coronella and Oocatochus . Although Gonyosoma , Coelognathus and the ratsnake radiation group all originated around the early Miocene (~25–20 Ma), comparison of the species richness of the three groups shows obvious asymmetries in biodiversity ( Gonyosoma = 6 taxa, Coelognathus = 5 taxa, and the ratsnakes = ~70 taxa), implying that the tropical Asian environment has not provided more opportunities for species divergence within these two genera or extinction has been elevated relative to the temperate groups.