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Issue: Vol. 4457 No. 4: 10 Aug. 2018
Type: Article
Published: 2018-08-10
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4457.4.3
Page range: 537–548
Abstract views: 81
PDF downloaded: 3

A study on Ptyas doriae (Boulenger, 1888) with comments on the status of Ptyas hamptoni (Boulenger, 1900) (Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae)

North Eastern Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong-793003, Meghalaya, India
Department of Life Sciences, Presidency University, Kolkata-700053, West Bengal, India
Department of Life Sciences, Darwin Centre, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW7 5BD, England
Reptilia Section, Zoological Survey of India, Fire-proof Spirit Building, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal, India
Amphibia Section, Zoological Survey of India, Fire-proof Spirit Building, Kolkata-700016, West Bengal, India
Cyclophiops Ptyas systematics species distribution modeling median absolute deviation synonym Reptilia

Abstract

Ptyas doriae is a rare snake in northeastern India, Myanmar and southern China. The original description and subsequent accounts of this species were all very brief. We studied most of the available specimens of this species and on this basis we provide a detailed redescription of the species. We give an account of intrapopulational variation in scalation characters and colouration and we also report on a previously undescribed colour morph from Manipur, India. We have examined the holotype of Ptyas hamptoni and found that characters used to distinguish it from P. doriae are inadequate and therefore we herein synonymize the former with the latter species. We also predict the potential distribution of P. doriae by using Maximum Entropy modeling.

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