Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., 15, 1947 



A NEW SNAKE FROM TOROKINA, BOUGAINVILLE 



ISLAND. 



By C. W. Brazcnor, Mammalogist, National Museum of Victoria. 



Fig. 1. 



(Received for publication July 7, 1947). 



Mr. R. Clarke, of Melbourne, Victoria, brought to the Museum 

 a number of reptiles collected during bis war service on Bougain- 

 ville, Solomon Islands. Amongst them are three snakes, belong- 

 ing to the genus Benisonia, which do not fit the descriptions of 

 either of the species previously described from that area. They 

 are therefore recorded as 



Benisonia, furva sp. nov. 



Eye two-thirds as long as its distance from the mouth. Rostral 

 much broader than deep; well visible from above. Internasals 

 about two-thirds the length of the prefrontals, which are broader 

 than long. Frontal a little longer than broad; more than twice 

 as broad as the superoculars ; one-and-a-half times as long as 

 the prefrontals, and three-quarters the length of the parietals. 

 Nasal a single scale, but showing a fold above the nostril; in 

 contact with a single preocular. One postocular. Temporals 

 1 + 1. Six upper labials, the third and fourth entering the eye 

 and the fifth largest. Six lower labials, four in contact with 

 the anterior chin shields which are about as long as the posterior. 

 Anal divided. Scales in 15 rows; ventrals 164; subcaudals 32, all 

 paired. 



Dorsal colour "deep slaty-brown" (Ridgway, L., 69 ' ' ', K), 

 lighter and warmer on the sides of the body where each scale has 

 a paler edge. Head as back but the parietals very slightly paler, 

 giving the effect of a faint V-shaped bar on the crown ; a whitish 

 patch on the cheek reaching from the second labial along the 

 lower border of the orbit to well behind the opening of the mouth. 

 Lower parts creamy white, the basal half of each ventral scale 

 barred for the whole of its width with pale, purplish-brown. Sub- 

 caudals barred with much colder pale grey 



Total length 431mm. ; tail 44mm. 



Locality, Torokina, Bougainville Island, November 12, 1944. 



Type in the National Museum of Victoria, No. D. 7738. 



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