A new species of snake of the genus Oligodon Boie in Fitzinger, 1826 (Reptilia, Serpentes) from the Western Himalayas

By

Mirza, Zeeshan A
Bhardwaj, Virender Kumar
Patel, Harshil

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-11-2

Original Publication

Evolutionary systematics

Volume

5

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

335--345

Subjects

Colubridae , cytochrome b , Himachal Pradesh , kukri snake , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Hamburg Centrum für Naturkunde (CeNak) 2017-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.5.72564

 

Abstract

A new species ofOligodonFitzinger, 1826 is described based on specimens collected from Churah Valley of Himachal Pradesh. The new species is related toO. arnensisbased on molecular as well as morphological data, however differs from it in several aspects. The new species shows a pairwise sequence divergence of 6–20% from congeners for mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Lack of pterygoid and palatine teeth of the new species suggests that the diet may largely comprise of eggs. Discovery of the new species is not surprising, as the Western Himalayas has been poorly explored in terms of its herpetofaunal diversity. Considerable genetic divergence in the sampled sequence suggestsOligodon arnensisis a species complex, likely represents multiple species and a revision of the group would be desirable.