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Type: Correspondence
Published: 2008-03-07
Page range: 65–68
Abstract views: 44
PDF downloaded: 3

On the type specimens of the recently described Sulawesi pitviper Tropidolaemus laticinctus Kuch, Gumprecht & Melaun 2007 (Squamata: Viperidae)

Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Section of Herpetology, Adenauerallee 160 D-53113 Bonn, Germany
Reptilia Squamata Viperidae

Abstract

Until recently, the Asiatic pitviper genus Tropidolaemus Wagler, 1830 comprised only two species, the rare T. huttoni (Smith, 1949) from India and T. wagleri (Boie, 1827) (for discussion about authorship and data of publication see Vogel et al. 2007), which is known to represent a polytypic complex of morphologically distinct species occurring in South Vietnam and from the Malaysian Peninsula through Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines and on Sulawesi (Iskandar & Colijn 2001, Vogel 2006). In a first paper of a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the T. wagleri complex, Vogel et al. (2007) demonstrated that these widespread and medically important venomous snakes actually represent at least three different taxa (wagleri, subannulatus, and philippensis), of which T. wagleri sensu stricto is restricted to Southern Thailand, West Malaysia as well as Sumatra and some adjacent islands. Therein, the green form of Sulawesi pitviper population (in addition to those of Borneo, and most Philippine islands) was preliminary assigned to the taxon subannulatus Gray, 1842.

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