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Type: Article
Published: 2021-05-20
Page range: 307–332
Abstract views: 346
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A new karst-dwelling, colorful pitviper (Viperidae: Trimeresurus) from northern Peninsular Thailand

Ranong Marine Fisheries Station, 157 Saphanpla Rd., Paknam, Muang, Ranong 85000, Thailand.
Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. opauwels@naturalsciences.be,
University of Phayao, Phayao, Thailand.
54 M. 2 Tha Pha, Ban Pong, Ratchaburi 70110, Thailand.
59 Soi Onnut 19 Suanluang, Bangkok 10250, Thailand. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7286-3604
Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Reptilia Thai-Malay Peninsula Gulf of Thailand Trimeresurus kuiburi sp. nov. taxonomy limestone

Abstract

We describe a colorful and distinctively patterned, karst-dwelling pitviper, Trimeresurus kuiburi sp. nov., from the isolated, coastal massif of Khao Sam Roi Yot in Kui Buri District, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, in northern Peninsular Thailand. The new species, member of the ‘Cryptelytrops group’ sensu Malhotra & Thorpe (2004) and morphologically and genetically allied to Trimeresurus kanburiensis and T. venustus, differs from all pitviper taxa by a combination of red/purple bands on a green dorsum; a white concave suborbital stripe in males (straight and less visible in females); white, spaced vertebral dots in males (absent in females); pale green belly lacking dark dots or stripe on the lateral sides of the ventrals; partially fused first supralabial and nasal scale; 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody; 164–171 ventrals; 63–65 subcaudals in males, 51–53 in females; maximal known SVL of 451 mm; and long, papillose hemipenes.

 

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