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Amarasinghe, A.A. Thasun, Ineich, Ivan, Riyanto, Awal, Hallermann, Jakob, Andayani, Noviar, Abinawanto, A., Supriatna, Jatna (2022): Taxonomy and distribution of a common arboreal lizard, Bronchocela jubata Duméril & Bibron, 1837 (Reptilia: Agamidae), with designation of its lectotype from Java, Indonesia. Zootaxa 5150 (1): 65-82, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5150.1.3

Bronchocela jubata Duméril and Bibron, 1837 (Figs. 4, 5; Tables 2, 3) Bronchocela jubata Duméril & Bibron, 1837 Bronchocele (sic) intermedia Berthold, 1842 (not Calotes intermedia Peters & Doria, 1878) Calotes intermedius — Berthold 1846 Calotes jubatus — Boulenger 1885, de Rooij 1915, Smith 1935 Bronchocela jubata — Moody 1980, Manthey & Schuster 1992, Hallermann 2005, Manthey 2008, Amarasinghe et al. 2022 Lectotype (designated herein). MNHN-RA 2542, adult male (SVL 130 mm), collected from Java, Indonesia by Jean-René Constant Quoy and Joseph-Paul Gaimard in 1828. Note: The original syntypes were composed of four specimens: (i) MNHN-RA 2541 and (ii) MNHN-RA 2541A from Java, Indonesia (donated from the Leyden Museum) labelled as Calotes gutturosus on the original tag of Leyden, currently lost; (iii) MNHN-RA 2542 from Java, Indonesia (collected by Quoy and Gaimard); and (iv) MNHN-RA 2543 from Pondichéry, India (collected by Leschenault). Only the latter two syntypes are present at MNHN, and here we designate the one from Java as the lectotype. For the justification for lectotype designation see discussion. Diagnosis. A species of Bronchocela inhabiting the Greater Sunda Islands (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Bali), characterized as follows: morphologically most similar to its allopatric congener on Sumatra Island, B. hayeki (see Amarasinghe et al. 2022) and sympatric congener, B. cristatella, but differs by having a comparatively larger gular sac (smaller in B. hayeki and B. cristatella), ventral scales arranged in 10–12 non-enlarged rows (vs. 8–10 enlarged rows in B. hayeki and 10–14 slightly-enlarged rows in B. cristatella), lower number of mid body scale rows, 33–59 (vs. 64–75 in B. hayeki and 50–106 in B. cristatella), 1 or 2 upper dorsal scale rows directed upward (vs. 5–7 rows in B. hayeki and 4–10 in B. cristatella), well-developed nuchal crest (weakly-developed in B. cristatella) with crescent-shaped scales longer than ED (vs. lanceolate and shorter than ED in B. cristatella), enlarged scales on temporal region (vs. absent in B. hayeki), 3 rd finger shorter than fourth (vs. longer in B. hayeki), the orbital area and the tympanum mostly pale (vs. mostly black in B. hayeki), and tail colouration banded (vs. uniform in B. hayeki). In addition, Bronchocela jubata is distinguished from other congeners by having the following combination of characters: adults reach a maximum SVL of 141.0 mm in males and 142.0 in females, 9–11 supralabials, 10–12 nuchal crest scales to the level of axilla, 56–73 ventrals, 30–37 lamellae on fourth toe, third finger shorter than the fourth; large lateral scales directed downward anteriorly and straight backwards posteriorly, 1 or 2 upper dorsal scale rows on the lateral body directed upward along the body, mid gular scales enlarged, abdominal scales acuminated and enlarged compared to pectoral, keeled temporal scales with some enlarged scales and 6 or 7 rows between orbit and tympanum, tympanum more than half the size of orbit. Description of lectotype. MNHN-RA 2542, an adult male, SVL 130 mm. Head moderately large, elongate, HL 27.3% of SVL, narrow, subtriangular in dorsal and ventral aspects, HW 52.2% of HL; distinct from neck; snout elongate, snout length greater than eye diameter, ED 48.8% of ES; interorbital distance broad; eye large, pupil rounded; diameter of eyes slightly shorter than eye-tympanum distance, ED 98.7% of TYE; ear opening shallow, its greatest diameter dorsolaterally, tympanum smaller than orbit, nearly 60% of orbit diameter; tympanum surrounded by keeled scales; several temporal scales enlarged, keeled, juxtaposed, six scale rows between orbit and tympanum; forehead concave; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; scales on snout keeled, larger in size than those of occipital region; a well-developed nuchal crest continuing dorsally as a dorso-nuchal crest; dorsal crest rudimentary, consisting of 12 scales up to the level of axilla, no crest on the tail; rostral scale width greater than its height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with first supralabial, contacting posteriorly five more or less equal-sized postrostral scales; around nostrils on each side two supranasals, three postnasals, a single prenasal, and two subnasals, which separate the nasal from the supralabials; nostrils round located middle of the undivided nasal plate; canthus rostralis and supraciliary edges sharp; five canthal scales between supranasal and anterior margin of orbit; no distinct parietal plate; mental subtriangular, flat posteriorly, shorter than wide, posterior-laterally in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a smaller scale; each postmental pair bordered posteriorly by four smooth scales, including the medial scale, but exclusive of infralabials; chin scales keeled; gular pouch present, midgular scales enlarged; throat scales and midgular scales keeled, mucronate, and imbricate; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials eleven (ninth in midorbit position); infralabials eleven, decreasing in size toward gape. Body slender; lateral body scales large, equal, strongly keeled and imbricate; scales on lateral body slightly smaller than on the venter at same level, directed backward and downward anteriorly and directed straight backward posteriorly; lateral body scales on the posterior body slightly larger than the anterior body scales; 1 or 2 upper dorsal scale rows directed backward and upward along the body; 37 scales around the midbody; pectoral scales and abdominal scales keeled, acuminated, imbricate and keels forming regular and parallel continuous ventral ridges; abdominal scales larger than pectoral scales; 10–12 rows enlarged ventrally, without clear margin with the lateral scales; 64 ventrals. Forelimbs moderately short; no oblique fold (pit) present on shoulders, but shoulder scales keeled and smaller; dorsal scales on fore- and hind limbs keeled, enlarged, imbricate and mucronate; ventral scales on upper arm and lower arm keeled, imbricate, and mucronate; hind limbs relatively longer than forelimbs; scales on ventral surface of thigh keeled, enlarged, imbricate and mucronate; tibia comparatively longer than femur; keels on tibia forming a series of continuous parallel ridges; digits elongate, slender; relative length of digits (fingers) 4> 3> 2> 5> 1; (toes) 4> 3> 5> 2> 1; all bearing slightly recurved claws, claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire, bicarinate, and regular, 30 (left) subdigital lamellae on toe IV. Tail elongated and complete, 447 mm. Ventral scales on tail base keeled and imbricate, smaller in size than on dorsal tail; dorsal scales on tail enlarged, imbricate, keeled, mucronate, and keels forming continuous parallel ridges; tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, subequal, imbricate, keeled, and mucronate. Colouration.–– In preservative, colours faded and dorsum pale cream due to colour having been bleached. In life, based on field observations, dorsum bright luminous green to dark olive green; few sky blue markings on the lateral body; lateral head lemon green; nuchal crest scales blonde yellow, green or cream, dorsal head greyish or brownish green; ventral head bluish green or pale green; orbit, labial band including the tympanum same as body colours or sometimes pale or whitish; dorsal crest scales luminous green or same colour as body; knee, elbow, wrist, and heel darker; dorsal fingers and toes, posterior 2/3 rd of the tail greenish brown; ventral body, limbs, anterior tail, and mid gular lighter luminous green; ventral digits light brown. In some populations, especially in males, prominent white patch below the tympanum (sometimes this patch may extend to the lips as a labial band), lateral neck (below the nuchal crest), and the lateral sky blue markings may be visible as whitish stripes across lateral body (similar to Calotes calotes in Sri Lanka). Dentition. Based on our examination of three B. jubata specimens (MZB 2963, 3791, and 3898) from Java, all have two premaxillary teeth, 13 maxillary teeth, and 15 dentary teeth. Hemipenes. Based on MZB 6639 (Fig. 6), the hemipenis of B. jubata is well developed, single, width of the organ greater than its length; hemipenial lobes slightly divided for approximately 10% of its length; apex divided into four segments, two short dorsal segments and two long ventral segments by lateral and medial sulcus; calyculate ornamentation present on each lobe; thick-walled smooth calyces forming deep oval pits; apical calyces smaller than ventral and dorsal calyces; sulcus spermaticus converged and narrowly open at apex, proximal half deep, distal half shallow; sulcal lips smooth; a fleshy cardioid structure at the base of the ventral sulcus. ......continued on the next page TABLE 3. (Continued) Habitat, natural history, and distribution. B. jubata is usually found in areas of open canopy in primary forests (mostly forest edge) or undisturbed secondary forests, forests ecotones, other vegetation (e.g. coffee and pepper plantations) and in well-maintained home gardens. This could be an artefact since the species will be more visible in such areas and probably more difficult to observe in true dense forest where it also occurs. They usually forage on tree trunks and branches at 1.5 to 4 meters above the ground during the daytime, especially when basking, mostly around 0900 hr. At night, the adults prefer the highest branches of trees to sleep, mostly in open canopy areas, while juveniles prefer tiny branches of shrubs. Puruhita (2014) observed insects of the orders Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Odonata, Hemiptera, Orthoptera, and Coleoptera in the gut contents of B. jubata populations in Central Java which highlights its insectivorous feeding habit. This species is mostly distributed in the western parts of Java Island and southern parts of Sumatra Island (most frequently in Lampung Province). It is comparatively rare on the eastern part of Java and Bali Island. It seems extremely rare on Borneo Island and the only occurrence available to us was a couple of museum specimens collected from eastern Kalimantan. As we have noticed it seems that the abundance of B. jubata is correlated with the abundance of its sympatric congener B. cristatella. B. jubata is usually distributed in higher abundance when sympatric in areas where B. cristatella shows low abundance, probably in order to reduce the interspecific competition. In addition, the species is sympatric with several other arboreal agamids such as Gonocephalus chamaeleontinus, and Pseudocalotes tympanistriga. We always found several B. jubata close together at elevations below 1,300 m above sea level. Most of the individuals were observed at 300–800 m elevations. The reports from the Malay Peninsula, northern parts of Sumatra, the Philippines, and Wallacea are doubtful and we remove them from its distribution range—see discussion. Conservation status. Distribution of this species is scattered (Fig. 1) due to forest fragmentation. Forest habitat fragments are further threatened by encroaching agricultural and industrial lands on Java Island. The application of the IUCN Red List criteria (IUCN Standards & Petitions Subcommittee 2019) with our updated distribution data (excluding the single specimen reported from Borneo, ZMH R06163) shows that B. jubata is restricted to an area of occupancy (AOO) of 2752 km 2 and recorded from nearly 200 localities within 169,604 km 2 extent of occurrence (EOO).Although the species shows scattered distribution in severely fragmented forests patches in highly populated islands, given its wider area of occupancy, B. jubata should be considered as a Least Concern (LC) species., Published as part of Amarasinghe, A. A. Thasun, Ineich, Ivan, Riyanto, Awal, Hallermann, Jakob, Andayani, Noviar, Abinawanto, A. & Supriatna, Jatna, 2022, Taxonomy and distribution of a common arboreal lizard, Bronchocela jubata Duméril & Bibron, 1837 (Reptilia: Agamidae), with designation of its lectotype from Java, Indonesia, pp. 65-82 in Zootaxa 5150 (1) on pages 69-75, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5150.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6609925, {"references":["Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1837) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 4. Libr. Encyclopedique Roret, Paris, ii + 571 pp.","Berthold, A. A. (1842) Uber verschiedene neue oder seltene Amphibienarten. Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1, 47 - 72. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5510","Peters, W. C. H. & Doria, G. (1878) Catalogo dei retilli e dei batraci raccolti da O. Beccari, L. M. D'Alberts e A. A. Bruijn. nella sotto-regione Austro-Malese. Annali del Museo Civico de Storia Naturale di Genova, Series 1, 13, 323 - 450.","Berthold, A. A. (1846) Mittheilungen uber das zoologische Museum zu Gottingen. I. Verzeichnisss der aufgestellten Reptilien. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der Georg-Augusts-Universitat zu Gottingen, 8 - 10, 1 - 28.","Boulenger, G. A. (1885) Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. Printed by order of the Trustees, London, 450 pp.","de Rooij, N. (1915) The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. E. J. Brill, Leiden, 384 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5069","Moody, S. M. (1980) Phylogenetic and historical biogeographical relationships of the genera in the family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia). PhD thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 373 pp.","Hallermann, J. (2005) A taxonomic review of the genus Bronchocela (Squamata: Agamidae) with description of a new species from Vietnam. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 12 (3), 167 - 182.","Manthey, U. (2008) Agamid lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 1. Terralog 7, Frankfurt am Main, 160 pp.","Amarasinghe, A. A. T., Kamsi, M., Riyanto, A., Putra, C. A., Hallermann, J., Andayani, N., Abinawanto, A. & Supriatna, J. (2022) Taxonomy, distribution, and conservation status of a rare arboreal lizard, Bronchocela hayeki (Muller, 1928) (Reptilia: Agamidae) from northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Zootaxa, 5120 (3), 409 - 422. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 5120.3.7","Puruhita, O. R. (2014) Karakter morfologis dan keragaman pakan bunglon pohon (Bronchocela jubata Dumeril & Bribon, 1837) di sungai opak daerah istimewa Yogyakarta. Unspecified thesis, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. [unknown pagination]","IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee (2019) Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 14. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Subcommittee. IUCN, Gland. Available from: https: // www. iucn. org (accessed 17 May 2022)"]}

Erythrolamprus juliae cf. copeae (Parker, 1936) EXAMINED MATERIAL. ��� Six elements, all trunk vertebrae, collected from Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre islands (see Table 1), are attributed to the species Erythrolamprus juliae cf. copeae. DESCRIPTION Trunk vertebrae (6 elements; Fig. 6B) These six vertebrae have centra lengths between 2.7 and 3.2 mm. In dorsal view,they are more elongate than the previously described fossil vertebrae and clearly longer than wide (ratio CL/WIC = 1.18-1.35). The prezygapophyseal processes are thick, conical, with blunted apex, and are more anteriorly oriented than in Alsophis fossil morphotypes. Prezygapophyseal facets are ovoid in dorsal outline. The medial constriction is less pronounced than in the previously described vertebrae. The zygosphene is wide, with a slightly lobate anterior margin. The postero-medial notch of the neural arch is less flared than in other fossil vertebrae described here and forms an angle of 45��.There is no epizygapophyseal spine. In lateral view, the neural spine is long and low, approximately 3.5 times longer than high. This structure has a concave anterior margin with a slightly overhanging anterior projection and a vertical posterior margins without any overhang. The interzygapophyseal crest is straight.In the synapophysis, the diapophysis and parapo- F. physis are slightly more separated than in Alsophis morphotypes, but their relative positions are similar. The diapophysis is clearly larger than the parapophysis. Ventrally, a long and shallow hemal keel with a straight ventral edge and a slight posterior projection is visible. In anterior view, the cotyle is circular and it is bordered laterally by paracotylar foramina and deep paracotylar depressions. In posterior view, the condyle is circular and the neural arch is dorsally flattened. The centrum is cylindrical in transverse section. In ventral view, the centrum has weakly marked subcentral ridges and lacks the precondylar constriction occurring in Alsophis fossil vertebrae. The hemal keel is shaped like a gladius shape and its width is constant along its whole length. Two subcentral depressions of shallow depth and limited extent are visible on the anterior part of the centrum below the synapophysis.Sub-cotylar tubercles occur ventral to the cotyle on some specimens. REMARKS These vertebrae present two characters occurring in Erythrolamprus and not in Alsophis: the vertebra is clearly longer than wide and the neural spine is anteroposteriorly elongate and low. These same fossils also exhibit several differences with our two comparative extant specimens of Erythrolamprus perfuscus: lack of a strongly trilobed anterior margin of the zygosphene in dorsal view; cylindrical shape of the centrum with weakly defined lateral margins; lack of precondylar constriction separating the centrum from the condyle; and narrowness of the postero-medial notch in the neural arch forming an angle clearly less than 90�� in dorsal view. All these characters that do not occur in E. perfuscus occur on our unique individual of E. juliae copeae (MNHN-RA-1998.485). Still, some differences exist between this last individual and the fossil vertebrae. Most notably, in our modern individual, the prezygapophyseal processes are wider and shorter and the zygosphene is narrower than in some fossils. In addition, the hemal keel in the modern individual is shorter and its posterior end is enlarged in ventral view, and the cotyle is ovoid in anterior view. Considering the strong morphological affinities between the fossil vertebrae and our modern specimen of E. j. copeae and the fact that this sub-species currently occurs on the Guadeloupe Islands, the fossils may belong to that sub-species. However, because comparative specimens of Erythrolamprus juliae are scarce (n = 5) we are unable to determine if the observed morphological differences between fossils and our modern specimens are reliably diagnostic at the sub-species level. We thus conservatively identify these six fossil vertebrae as Erythrolamprus juliae cf. copeae. A gross comparison of the centrum length of fossil vertebrae with modern specimens indicates fossils snakes were about 44-54 cm in total length, a size similar to the modern individuals of E. j. copeae (see Breuil 2002). Superfamily COLUBROIDEA Oppel, 1811 EXAMINED MATERIAL. ��� 128 bone elements all representing colubridae (sensu lato) fragmented pre-cloacal and post-cloacal vertebrae could not be identified to the genus level., Published as part of Bochaton, Corentin, Boistel, Renaud, Grouard, Sandrine, Ineich, Ivan, Tresset, Anne & Bailon, Salvador, 2019, Fossil dipsadid snakes from the Guadeloupe Islands (French West-Indies) and their interactions with past human populations, pp. 501-523 in Geodiversitas 41 (12) on pages 512-514, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a12, http://zenodo.org/record/3699827, {"references":["PARKER H. W. 1936. - Some extinct snakes of the West Indies. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 18 (104): 227 233. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222933608655187 -","BREUIL - M. 2002. - Histoire naturelle des Amphibiens et Reptiles terrestres de l'archipel Guadeloupeen: Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthelemy. Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 348 p. (Patrimoines naturels; 54).","OPPEL M. 1811 -. - Die ordnungen, familien und gattungen der reptilien als prodrom einer naturgeschichte derselben. Joseph Lindauer, Munich, 87 p. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 4911"]}

Alsophis antillensis (Schlegel, 1837) EXAMINED MATERIAL. ��� A total of 840 bones from all 20 sites and six islands are attributed to Alsophis antillensis (Table 1). Among these are 82 cervical and caudal vertebrae that could not be unambiguously identified because of their strong morphological variability. These elements, which are not described in this study, were associated with A. antillensis on the basis of their sizes, and the taxonomic composition of the snake material of the different sites. DESCRIPTION Maxilla (4 elements; Fig. 4A) The most complete maxilla only lacks its anterior tip. It bears 16 tooth positions and measures 15.6 mm in maximum length. Maxillae are elongate, slightly incurved in dorsal and ventral views, and bear well-developed ectopterygoid and palatine processes. In ventral view, a short diastema is visible below the ectopterygoid process and separates the two last dental positions from the previous ones. The few teeth preserved and size of teeth alveolar niches show that the two last teeth are larger than the others (tendency to opisthomegadont dentition), no other observation can be made regarding the structure of maxillary teeth. In dorsal view, the ectopterygoid process is of sub-rectangular shape and occurs medial to the second and third last dental positions. The ectopterygoid process is wide, moderately long, and ventrally incurved with a rounded medial margin. The palatine process occurs medial to the fifth and ninth first dental positions. Still in dorsal view, this process is of sub-triangular shape with a longer anterior than posterior margin. The bone has a shallow dorsal notch and a weakly marked insertion area for the maxillary ramus of the ectopterygoid situated at the posterior base of the ectopterygoid process (broken on the bone depicted in Fig. 4A). Palatine (1 element; Fig. 4B) The only available element is a complete right palatine discovered in Blanchard Cave. This bone measure 6.5 mm in maximum length and bears 14 tooth positions. In lateral view, the bone bears a long, sub-triangular, and ventro-posteriorly oriented maxillary process. The vomerine process (sensu Szyndlar 1984) is well-developed, long, and sub-rectangular shaped in lateral view. In dorsal view, the choanal process (sensu Szyndlar 1984) prolonges the vomerine process in medioventral direction and is slightly posteriorly incurved. The anterior and posterior tips of the bone are blunted and neither is bifurcated. In ventral view, a large foramen for the maxillary nerve (= palatine foramen sensu Cundall & Irish 2008) is visible at the base of the maxillary process. The pterygoid process is short and bears a small ventral articular facet for contact with pterygoid bone. Pterygoid (3 elements; Fig. 4C, D) Three fragments of pterygoids corresponding to anterior (Fig. 4C) and posterior (Fig. 4D) parts of the bone are present in the studied assemblage. This bone is nearly flat in lateral view and anteriorly incurved in ventral view. Still in ventral view, on the medial edge of its anterior portion, the bone bears a row of 19 small and posteriorly incurved teeth. The posterior fragment of this bone (Fig. 4D) shows that at least the posterior one-third of the bone lacks teeth. The ectopterygoid process is well developed, distinct,and lies in line with the 13 th to 19 th dental positions in ventral view. This process is subtriangular shaped with a blunt lateral margin in ventral view. The posterior part of the bone is elongate and its medial surface is concave in ventral view. In dorsal view, the posterior part of the bone bears a deep imprint of the mandibular condyle of the quadrate bone; this imprint is separated from the medial part of the bone by a high and thick pterygoid crest. The posterior tip of the bone is rounded and bears a small lateral notch that contacts the posterior process of the compound bone when the living animal closes its mouth (Cundall & Irish 2008). Compound bone (3 elements; Fig. 4E) The two most complete compound bones are of two different sizes: the first one (Fig. 4E) is complete and measure 14 mm in maximum length, whereas the second one measure 28 mm long despite lacking its retroarticular process. The bone is elongate. The retroarticular process is well developed, longer than the glenoid fossa, of truncated conical shape, medially incurved in dorsal view, and perforated by a deep and large foramen near its anterior margin in medial view. In lateral view, the surangular crest is moderately developed with a nearly straight dorsal margin and a sharp ventral margin. The mental foramen is large, semi-circular, and opens anteriorly. In medial view, the development of the prearticular crest is variable, but this crest consistently is two times higher than the surangular crest on all specimens. In dorsal view, the mandibular fossa is long and deep, but its width varies. In medial view, the imprint of the angular is well marked and posteriorly pointed. Dentary (1 element; Fig. 4F) The only recovered dentary fragment corresponds to the posterior two-thirds of the bone. This fragment is moderately elongate and preserves seven tooth positions. In medial view, the Meckel groove is fully open with a narrower anterior opening that nearly reaches the anterior tip of the fragment. In lateral view, the bone has a large mental foramen situated in its median part. The bone bears a long posteroventral process with a blunted posterior apex. This process forms the ventral margin of a triangular insertion for the lateral process of the compound bone. Trunk vertebrae (741 elements; Fig. 5A, B) These vertebrae are weakly built and of variable size (centra lengths between 1 and 6.6 mm) corresponding to all ontogenetic stages from juvenile to adult individuals. In dorsal view, vertebrae are slightly wider than long to slightly longer than wide (ratio CL/WIC = 0.81-1.17) and exhibit a well-marked median constriction. The zygosphene is moderately wide and bears an anterior margin A p. p. e. p. m. d. n. di. p. p. e. p. m. Ventral view Dorsal view B m. p. f. m. n. pt. p. c. p. v. p. pt. p. v. p. c. p. Ventral view m. p. Lateral view e. p. p. C Ventral view e. p. p. Dorsal view D pt. c. m. c. l. g. l. q. Ventral view Dorsal view E mt. f. s. c. p. c. r. p. ma. f. p. c. g. f. mt. f. s. c. r. p. Lateral view Dorsal view F i. c. pv. p. mt. f. M. g. Lateral view Medial view fossa; i. c., insertion area for the lateral process of the compound bone; i. q., imprint of the mandibular condyle of the quadrate bone; l. g., lateral groove; m. c., medial concave surface; M. g., Meckel groove; m. p., maxillary process; ma. f., mandibular fossa; mt. f., mental foramen; p. c., prearticular crest; p. p., palatine process; pt. c., pterygoid crest; pt. p., pterygoid process; pv. p., posteroventral process; r. p., retroarticular process; s. c., surangular crest, v. p., vomerine process. Scale bars: 3 mm. whose shape varies from straight to slightly trilobate. The postero-medial notch of the neural arch is moderately deep and bracketed by flared lateral margins forming an angle of nearly 90��. On some specimens, a very reduced and slightly marked epizygapophyseal spine occurs, but this is absent on most of the vertebrae, including the two figured examples. Prezygapophyseal facets are rounded to ovoid in outline. The morphology of the prezygapophyseal processes is highly variable depending on the size of the specimen. These processes are anterolaterally oriented and conical shaped on small specimens, but tend to become shorter, wider, and blunter in large specimens although remaining elongate in some. In lateral view, the shape of these processes also varies from a transversally rounded in small specimens to a flattened shape in large specimens. Still in lateral view, the neural spine is well developed and longer than high. In most specimens the neural spine is two times longer than high, but this condition is variable in our material. The anterior margin of the spine is usually slightly incurved and a small dorsal anterior projection slightly overhangs the anterior edge of the spine whereas the posterior margin more strongly overhangs the posterior edge of the spine. The interzygapophyseal crest is straight in lateral view. Synapophysis bear moderately distinct diapophysis and parapophysis, the first being slightly larger and located more posteriorly. The hemal keel is well-visible in lateral view. The hemal keel is well-extended ventrally except along its anterior part where it shallows progressively until reaching the cotyle. In ventral view, the hemal keel is laterally well-delimited, thin, and exhibits a more or less spatulate shape (sensu Holman 2000) with a posterior enlargement of variable extend. However, rare specimens instead have a hemal keel shaped like a gladius (sensu Holman 2000). The hemal keel appears to exhibit important morphological variability in the material, but it is always laterally well-delimited. Still in ventral view, the centrum is triangular with well-marked lateral margins. It has subcentral depressions of variable extend and depth. A subcentral foramen occurs to either side of the hemal keel. In anterior view, the roof of the zygosphene is thin, ranging from slightly curved to straight. Still in anterior view, the cotyle is generally subcircular and slightly wider than high. However, the cotyle is round on some specimens. The cotyle is bordered by paracotylar foramina and deep paracotylar depressions of low extension. In ventral view, the cotyle also bears sub-cotylar tubercles on some specimens. In posterior view, the neural arch is moderately vaulted. In posterior outline, the condyle ranges from subcircular(often slightly dorsoventrally flattened) to round. It is separated from the centrum by a well-marked precondylar constriction best seen in ventral view. REMARKS The above described bones have been associated together on the basis of their size and of several morphological characters. They exhibit several characters occurring in ���colubrid��� (sensu lato) snakes: a slightly curved maxilla having well-developed palatine and ectopterygoid processes, with the number of teeth (16) between two and 36 (Marx & Rabb 1972), and with the two most posterior teeth larger than the others (Cundall & Irish 2008); the occurrence of distinct maxillary and choanal processes on the palatine bone (Cundall & Irish 2008); vertebrae are weakly build, with a thin zygosphene and neural spine, differentiated paradiaopophyses, paracotylar foramina, and well-developed prezygapophyseal processes (Rage 1984; Hsiou & Albino 2010). The fossils also exhibit a character occurring in xenodontine snakes: the occurrence of an extension (choanal process) of the vomerine process of the palatine in postero-ventral direction (Cundall & Irish 2008). Among the Lesser-Antillean xenondontine snakes, these fossils exhibit several differences compared to the genus Erythrolamprus (Erythrolamprus juliae). In the later genus: the maxilla has more teeth (25-26) and its palatine process bears a distinct, pointed, and posteriorly oriented distal tip; the pterygoid has posterior lateral and medial grooves that are less deep and extended, its ectopterygoid process is weakly separated from the pterygoid flange; and the compound bone is more elongate and has a shorter mandibular fossa. Additional differences also occurr on the trunk vertebrae (see below in description of fossil Erythrolamprus). By contrast, the fossil bones are entirely consistent with Alsophis antillensis, the second xenodontine species currently occurring on the Guadeloupe Islands. The fossils differ from other species of Alsophis we observed: on the compound bone the dorsal margin of the surangular crest is straight in medial view in A. antillensis and A. rijgersmaei, whereas it is slightly concave in A. rufiventris. The morphology of the vertebrae also is very different from A. rufiventris (see below in description of fossil Alsophis sp. 2) and also differs from A. rijgersmaei whose vertebrae bear a hemal keel consistently of gladius shape (sensu Holman 2000) with straight lateral margins and no posterior enlargement. In addition, gross size comparison with modern Alsophis specimens show that fossil vertebrae correspond to individuals between 25 and 150 cm in total length or between 18 and 112 cm in snout-vent length, a size matching that of modern A. antillensis (max. 93 cm of SVL see Henderson & Powell 2009), although some fossils appear to be larger than modern representatives. On the basis of these observations and the current occurrence of A. antillensis on the Guadeloupe Islands, we refer these remains to Alsophis antillensis. Compared with the snakes previously identified from fossils on the Guadeloupe Islands, our fossils aresimilar to the cf. Alsophis sp. and Colubroidea sp. 1 of Bochaton et al. (2015) in Cadet 2 cave (Marie-Galante Island), to the cf. Alsophis and Colubroidea of Bailon et al. (2015) in Blanchard cave (Marie-Galante Island), and to the Alsophis sp. of Boudadi-Maligne et al. (2016) from the site of Pointe Gros Rempart 6 (La D��sirade Island). Our observations of ontogenetic variability of Alsophis antillensis and of Erythrolamprus vertebral morphology suggest that small fossil dipsadid vertebrae previously left unidentified can be confidently attributed to A. antillensis., Published as part of Bochaton, Corentin, Boistel, Renaud, Grouard, Sandrine, Ineich, Ivan, Tresset, Anne & Bailon, Salvador, 2019, Fossil dipsadid snakes from the Guadeloupe Islands (French West-Indies) and their interactions with past human populations, pp. 501-523 in Geodiversitas 41 (12) on pages 507-510, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a12, http://zenodo.org/record/3699827, {"references":["SCHLEGEL H. 1837. - Essai sur la physionomie des serpents - Partie descriptive. M. H. Schonekat, Libraire-Editeur, Amsterdam, 606 p. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 4273","SZYNDLAR Z. 1984. - Fossil snakes from Poland -. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 1 (28): 1 156.","CUNDALL D. & IRISH F. 2008. - The snake skull, in GANS C., GAUNT A. S. & ADLER K. (eds), The Skull of Lepidosauria. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, New-York: 349 362.","HOLMAN J. A. - 2000. - Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology. Indiana University Press, Bloumington, 412 p.","MARX H. & RABB G. B. 1972. - Phyletic analysis of fifty characters of advanced snakes. Field Museum of Natural History 63: 1 321. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 2981 -","RAGE - J. C. 1984. - Serpentes, in Handbuch der Palaoherpetologie. Volume 11. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart, 80 p.","HSIOU A. S. & ALBINO A. M. - 2010. - New snake remains from the Miocene of northern South America. The Herpetological Journal 20 (4): 249 259.","HENDERSON R. & POWELL R. 2009. - Natural History - of West - Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 496 p.","BOCHATON C., GROUARD S., CORNETTE R., INEICH I., TRESSET A. & BAILON S. 2015. - Fossil and subfossil herpetofauna from Cadet 2 Cave (Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe Islands, F. W. I.): Evolution of an insular herpetofauna since the Late Pleistocene. Comptes Rendus Palevol 14 (2): 101 110. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. crpv. 2014.10.005","BAILON S., BOCHATON C. & LENOBLE A. 2015. - New data on Pleistocene and Holocene herpetofauna of Marie-Galante (Blanchard Cave, Guadeloupe Islands, French West Indies): Insular faunal turnover and human impact. Quaternary Science Reviews 128: 127 137. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. quascirev. 2015.09.023"]}

Alsophis sp. EXAMINED MATERIAL. ��� 1049 bone elements corresponding to broken trunk vertebrae, cervical vertebrae, and post-cloacal vertebrae are attributed to the genus Alsophis on the basis of their size and overall morphology. REMARKS The morphology of cervical and post-cloacal vertebrae was not deeply studied in the framework of this study which precludes a specific identification. These elements were associated to Alsophis mainly on the basis that it was possible to confidently assume they belong to a colubrid snake larger than Erythrolamprus and presenting no strong difference with our modern specimens of Alsophis., Published as part of Bochaton, Corentin, Boistel, Renaud, Grouard, Sandrine, Ineich, Ivan, Tresset, Anne & Bailon, Salvador, 2019, Fossil dipsadid snakes from the Guadeloupe Islands (French West-Indies) and their interactions with past human populations, pp. 501-523 in Geodiversitas 41 (12) on page 512, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a12, http://zenodo.org/record/3699827

Alsophis sp. 2 EXAMINED MATERIAL. ��� A total of 51 bones, all trunk vertebrae, from 11 sites on all islands except Petite-Terre (see Table 1) are attributed to an unknown species of the genus Alsophis. DESCRIPTION Trunk vertebrae (51 elements; Fig. 6A) These vertebrae are of intermediate size, with centra lengths between 2.7 and 4.4 mm. In dorsal view, their proportions range from short and slightly wider than long to slightly longer than wide (CL/WIC = 0.86-1.15) and consistently exhibit a strong medial constriction. Still in dorsal view, the zygosphene is wide with a slightly trilobate anterior margin, the prezygapophyseal facets are ovoid, and the prezygapophyseal processes are conical and elongate (1.5 longer than wide) with a blunted distal end. In lateral view, the neural spine is clearly higher than long and has vertical anterior and posterior margins. The hemal keel is more extended ventrally than in fossil trunk vertebrae of A. antillensis and has a straight ventral margin becoming shallower anteriorly. The hemal keel does not reach the sub-cotylar ring and it forms a distinct step under the posterior limit of the diapophysis. In ventral view, the hemal keel is laterally well-delimited, thin, and is more or less spatulate in shape (sensu Holman 2000) with a posterior enlargement of variable extent. In anterior view, the cotyle is small, deep, and circular. It is laterally bordered by paracotylar foramina and deep paracotylar depressions. In posterior view, the neural arch is strongly vaulted and thicker than in the other studied fossil dipsadid snakes, and the condyle is small and circular. In ventral view, the centrum is triangular and its anterior part bears well-marked subcentral ridges and deep subcentral grooves. REMARKS These fossil vertebrae exhibits significant differences relative to those attributed to Alsophis antillensis: they are shorter with a stronger medial constriction in dorsal view; the neural spine is higher and shorter in lateral view, with straighter anterior and posterior margins; well-marked subcentral ridges are visible in lateral view; the cotyle is small and circular in anterior view; and the neural arch is thicker and more vaulted in posterior view. We observed all these characteristics in modern Alsophis rufiventris trunk vertebrae, a snake occurring in Saba and possibly extinct in Saint-Christopher banks (Powell & Henderson 2012), which conservatively indicates that our fossil snake was part of the genus Alsophis. Similar vertebrae were identified as Colubroidea sp. 2 or Dipsadidae sp. 2 in previous studies (Bochaton et al. 2015; Bailon et al. 2015). However, comparative specimens are too scarce for us to confidently attribute these 51 vertebrae to A. rufiventris. Instead, we assign these specimens to an unknown and extinct species of Alsophis that was morphologically close to Alsophis rufiventris, a species known to have occurred at least 120 km north of the Guadeloupe Islands. Fossil vertebrae exhibiting a similarly short centrum and high neural spine were described by Auffenberg (1958) on Barbuda and attributed to the genus Clelia. Unfortunately, Auffenberg (op. cit.) never figured these vertebrae and his material is not available in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History. We believe it is likely that the vertebrae described by Auffenberg were similar to the ones we describe here and thus propose his material so that they also can be referred to the genus Alsophis. A gross size comparison with modern Alsophis specimens shows that fossil vertebrae from the Guadeloupe Islands correspond to individuals between 75 and 120 cm in total length., Published as part of Bochaton, Corentin, Boistel, Renaud, Grouard, Sandrine, Ineich, Ivan, Tresset, Anne & Bailon, Salvador, 2019, Fossil dipsadid snakes from the Guadeloupe Islands (French West-Indies) and their interactions with past human populations, pp. 501-523 in Geodiversitas 41 (12) on page 512, DOI: 10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a12, http://zenodo.org/record/3699827, {"references":["HOLMAN J. A. - 2000. - Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology. Indiana University Press, Bloumington, 412 p.","POWELL R. & HENDERSON R. W. 2012. - Island list of West Indian amphibians and reptiles. Bulletin of Florida Museum of Natural History 51 (2): 85 - 166.","BOCHATON C., GROUARD S., CORNETTE R., INEICH I., TRESSET A. & BAILON S. 2015. - Fossil and subfossil herpetofauna from Cadet 2 Cave (Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe Islands, F. W. I.): Evolution of an insular herpetofauna since the Late Pleistocene. Comptes Rendus Palevol 14 (2): 101 110. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. crpv. 2014.10.005","BAILON S., BOCHATON C. & LENOBLE A. 2015. - New data on Pleistocene and Holocene herpetofauna of Marie-Galante (Blanchard Cave, Guadeloupe Islands, French West Indies): Insular faunal turnover and human impact. Quaternary Science Reviews 128: 127 137. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. quascirev. 2015.09.023","AUFFENBERG W. 1958. - A small fossil herpetofauna from Barbuda, Leeward Islands, with the description of a new species of Hyla. Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Science 21: 248 254. http: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 41494603 -"]}

Rösler, Herbert, Grismer, L. Lee, Ineich, Ivan, Kaiser, Hinrich (2019): The purportedly Indo-Australian gecko species Cnemaspis timoriensis (Duméril & Bibron, 1836) is actually the first named species of the neotropical genus Gonatodes Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 4576 (3): 483-509, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4576.3.4

Gymnodactylus timoriensis Dum��ril & Bibron, 1836 is an older synonym of Gonatodes humeralis (Guichenot, 1855) Fran��ois Louis Nompar de Caumont La Force, Comte de Castelnau (1810���1880) was a French naturalist, who collected several geckos during his journey to South America in 1843���47 (Castelnau 1850). Dum��ril & Dum��ril (1851) considered these specimens, from the Mission de Sarayacu on the Rio Ucayali in Peru, as members of their species ���G. de Gaudichaud. Gaudichaudii Dum. Bib.��� (= Garthia gaudichaudii), but they described some differences in pholidosis and color pattern. Guichenot (1855) recognized that these differences should not be attributed to members of the same species but provided evidence that they represented a distinct species, which he described and illustrated as Gymnodactylus humeralis Guichenot, 1855 (= Gonatodes humeralis) in detail (see also the descriptions of synonyms of G. humeralis, including Gymnodactylus incertus Peters 1871:397, Goniodactylus sulcatus O���Shaugnessy 1875:265, and Gonatodes ferrugineus Cope 1864:102). Under consideration of observed intraspecific variation, the holotype of Gymnodactylus timoriensis conforms in all meristic characters as well as in the morphological and numerical aspects of scale characters to those of Gonatodes humeralis described in the literature. The one recognizable exception is the absence of a single, enlarged scale in the posterior part of the supraciliary flap, but this appears to be a variable character: similarly expanded ciliary scales near the end of the supraciliary flap were also missing in one of nine specimens from Surinam and Venezuela we examined. Like other specimens of G. humeralis, MNHN 0 810 possesses a short nasofrenal stripe, two postocular stripes that begin immediately on the posterior edge of the eye, and flecks in the shoulder area. Additional common elements of the color pattern include a relatively broad, light, unicolored vertebral stripe whose edge is produced by asymmetrical flecks, and laterally two linearly arranged rows of flecks and short stripes, where the upper row appears larger and darker than the lower row (see the descriptions and illustrations in Guichenot 1855; Mertens 1972; Hoogmoed 1973; Boos 1984; Hoogmoed & Avila-Pires 1991; Avila-Pires 1995; Lehr 2002; Cole & Kok 2006; Bernarde et al. 2011; Cole et al. 2013; Prudente et al. 2013; Morato et al. 2014; Roberto et al. 2014; Silva et al. 2016; Se��aris et al. 2018). Ultimately, we can only speculate about the exact collection locality of the holotype of Gymnodactylus timoriensis. Whereas Gonatodes humeralis does occur in Brazil, it does not occur as far south as Rio de Janeiro or even in a region close to this prominent stop in Gaudichaud���s travels (Vanzolini 1968a, b; Avila-Pires 1995; Ribeiro-J��nior & Amaral 2016: Fig. 92), and we therefore question whether Gaudichaud himself could have collected it (see above). However, in the first three volumes of their Erp��tologie G��n��rale, Dum��ril & Bibron (1834, 1835, 1836) cited a variety of herpetological collectors and donors as suppliers of specimens from South America and several Caribbean islands. Shipments from French Guiana, for example, are mentioned as having been sent by several named persons and, we think it is likely that MNHN 0 810 may have been sent to Rio de Janeiro in a similar shipment���some of which were shipped contemporaneously with Gaudichaud���s visits to South America. Based on the unpublished MNHN catalog for the period from 1832���1838, only two large South American collections were received, one from Gaudichaud and the other from the naturalist Alcide d���Orbigny (1802���1857), who detailed his collecting effort in the nine-volume compendium Voyage dans l���Am��rique M��ridionale (Orbigny 1835���44). Before 1832 there was no formal cataloging system in Paris and the earliest specimens accessioned into the herpetological collection are therefore untraceable. Nevertheless, with Gaudichaud listed as the collector, the most reasonable approach is to credit him for the delivery in which MNHN 0 810 arrived in Paris., Published as part of R��sler, Herbert, Grismer, L. Lee, Ineich, Ivan & Kaiser, Hinrich, 2019, The purportedly Indo-Australian gecko species Cnemaspis timoriensis (Dum��ril & Bibron, 1836) is actually the first named species of the neotropical genus Gonatodes Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Gekkonidae), pp. 483-509 in Zootaxa 4576 (3) on pages 499-500, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4576.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/3715752, {"references":["Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1836) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Tome Troisieme. Contenant l'Histoire de Toutes les Especes des Quatre Premieres Familles de l'Ordre des Lezards ou Sauriens, Savoir: les Crocodiles, les Cameleons, les Geckos et les Varans. Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France, 517 pp.","Guichenot, A. (1855) Animaux Nouveaux ou Rares Recueillis Pendant l'Expedition dans les Parties Centrales de l'Amerique du Sud, de Rio de Janeiro Lima, et de Lima au Para; Executee par Ordre du Gouvernement Francais Pendant les Annees 1843 a 1847, sous la Direction du Comte Francis de Castelnau. Volume 2. Reptiles. P. Bertrand, Paris, France, 95 pp.","Castelnau, F. L. N. de (1850) Expedition dans les Parties Centrales de l'Amerique du Sud, de Rio de Janeiro Lima et de Lima au Para, executee par Ordre du Gouvernement Francais pendant les Annees 1843 a 1847 sous la Direction de Francis de Castelnau. Jean-Jacques Champin, Paris, France, 103 pp.","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Dumeril, A. H. A. (1851) Catalogue Methodique de la Collection des Reptiles. Gide et Baudry, Paris, France, 224 pp.","Peters, W. C. H. (1871) Uber eine von Hrn Dr. Robert Abendroth in dem Hochlande von Peru gemachte Sammlung von Amphibien, welche derselbe dem konigl. zoologischen Museum geschenkt hat. Monatsberichte der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1871 (August), 397 - 404.","Cope, E. D. (1864) [1863] Description of new American Squamata, in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1863, 100 - 106.","Mertens, R. (1972) Herpetofauna tobagana. Stuttgarter Beitrage zur Naturkunde, Serie A, 252, 1 - 22.","Hoogmoed, M. S. (1973) Notes on the herpetofauna of Surinam. IV. The lizards and amphisbaenians of Surinam. Biogeographica, 4, 1 - 419.","Boos, H. E. A. (1984) The terrestrial reptiles of Monos Island. Living World, Journal of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club, 1983 - 1984, 14 - 18.","Hoogmoed, M. S. & Avila-Pires, T. C. S. (1991) Annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of Petit Saut, Sinnamary River, French Guiana. Zoologische Mededelingen, 65, 53 - 88.","Avila-Pires, T. C. S. (1995) Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoologische Verhandelingen, 299, 1 - 706.","Lehr, E. (2002) Amphibien und Reptilien in Peru. Natur und Tier-Verlag, Munster, Germany, 208 pp.","Cole, C. J. & Kok, P. J. R. (2006) A new species of gekkonid lizard (Sphaerodactylinae: Gonatodes) from Guyana, South America. American Museum Novitates, 3524, 1 - 13. https: // doi. org / 10.1206 / 0003 - 0082 (2006) 3524 [1: ANSOGL] 2.0. CO; 2","Bernarde, P. S., Machado, R. A. & Turci, L. C. B. (2011) Herpetofauna da area do Igarap Esperanca na Reserva Extrativista Riozinho da Liberdade, Acre, Brasil. Biota Neotropica, 11 (3), 117 - 144. https: // doi. org / 10.1590 / S 1676 - 06032011000300010","Cole, C. J., Townsend, C. R., Reynolds, R. P., MacCulloch, R. D. & Lathrop, A. (2013) Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 125, 317 - 578.","Prudente, A. L. C., Magalhaes, F., Menks, A. & de Melo Sarmento, J. F. (2013) Checklist of lizards of the Juruti, state of Para, Brazil. Check List, 9, 42 - 50. https: // doi. org / 10.15560 / 9.1.42","Morato, S. A. A., Calixto, P. O., Mendes, L. R., Gomes, R., Galatti, U., Trein, F. L., Oliveira, F. S. & Ferreira, G. N. (2014) Guia Fotografico de Identificacao da Herpetofauna da Floresta Nacional de Sarac-Taquera, Estado do Par. STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda., Curitiba, Brazil, 213 pp.","Roberto, I. J., Pinto, T., Schlickmann, A. & Fraga, A. (2014) From Amazonia to the semi-arid: the unexpected record of Gonatodes humeralis (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae) for the Caatinga Biome. Herpetology Notes, 7, 309 - 311.","Silva, M. B. da, Rocha, W. A. da & Nogueira-Paranhos, J. D. (2016) Checklist of reptiles of the Amazonia-Caatinga-Cerrado ecotonal zone in eastern Maranhao, Brazil. Herpetology Notes, 9, 7 - 14.","Senaris, J. C., Aristeguieta Padron, M. M., Rojas Gil, H. & Rojas-Runjaic, F. J. M. (2018) Guia Ilustrada de los Anfibios y Reptiles del Valle de Caracas, Venezuela. Ediciones IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela, 347 pp.","Vanzolini, P. E. (1968 a) Lagartos brasileiros da familia Gekkonidae (Sauria). Arquivos de Zoologia, Sao Paulo, 17 (1), 1 - 84. https: // doi. org / 10.11606 / issn. 2176 - 7793. v 17 i 1 p 1 - 84","Vanzolini, P. E. (1968 b) Geography of the South American Gekkonidae (Sauria). Arquivos de Zoologia, Sao Paulo, 17 (1), 85 - 112. https: // doi. org / 10.11606 / issn. 2176 - 7793. v 17 i 2 p 85 - 112","Ribeiro-Junior, M. & Amaral, S. (2016) Diversity, distribution, and conservation of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) in the Brazilian Amazonia. Neotropical Biodiversity, 2 (1), 195 - 421. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 23766808.2016.1236769","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1834) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Tome Premier. Contenant les Generalites de l'Histoire des Reptiles et Celles de l'Ordre des Cheloniens ou des Tortues. Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France, 447 pp.","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1835) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Tome Second. Contenant l'Histoire de Toutes les Especes de l'Ordre des Tortues ou Cheloniens, et les Generalites de Celui des Lezards ou Sauriens. Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France, 680 pp.","Orbigny, A. d' (1835 - 1844) Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale (le Bresil, la Republique Orientale de l'Uruguay, la Republique Argentine, la Patagonie, la Republique du Chili, la Republique de Bolivie, la Republique du Perou), Execute Pendant les Annees 1826, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832 et 1833. Librairie de la Societe Geologique de France, Paris, France."]}

Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857 Naia haie var. melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia: 61. Type locality: Gabon, syntypes ANSP 6875���76, 6878���79. Naja haje var. leucosticta Fischer, 1885, Jahr. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst. 2: 115, pl. v, fig. 11. Type locality: Cameroon and Ogoou�� River, Gabon, syntypes ZMH 4280, 7048, 7299���7302. Naia melanoleuca; Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, vars. A [a,b] & B [a,b]) Naja melanoleuca melanoleuca; Laurent, 1956: 290, pl. xxvi, fig. 2. Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca ; Wallach et al., 2009. Boulengerina melanoleuca; Wallach et al., 2014: 122. Aspidelaps bocagei Sauvage, 1884: 204 (type locality: Gabon and Majumba; holotype MNHN 1884.0015) has been listed as a synonym of N. melanoleuca (e.g., Broadley, 1983; Wallach et al., 2014; Cer��aco et al., 2017), but is in fact a synonym of Naja annulata, as is evident from Sauvage���s description, which notes approximately 20 dark double bands along the entire body length, and 21 mid-dorsal scale rows (see also Schmidt, 1923). Diagnosis: DOrsum blAck, OftEN with 1���3 sEmidividEd yEllOw crOssbANds ON thE NEck, thE first mAy bE AN OcEllus; vENtEr yEllOw with 4 tO 6 blAck bANds iN thE first 100 vENtrAls, thErEAftEr uNifOrm blAck. Variation: DOrsAl scAlE rOws ON NEck 19���27, At midbOdy 19 (vEry rArEly 17 Or 21); vENtrAls 209���230; subcAudAls 59���74 (TAblE 8). SuprAlAbiAls 7, thE third ANd fOurth ENtEriNg thE Orbit; iNfrAlAbiAls 8, thE first fOur iN cONtAct with thE ANtEriOr subliNguAls, NO cuNEAtE; prEOculAr 1; pOstOculArs 3 (vEry rArEly 2 Or 4); tEmpOrAls 1+2 Or 1+3; NuchAls bOrdEriNg tEmpOrAls 5���9, usuAlly 7. Colouration: HEAd brOwN, thE suprAlAbiAls bArrEd blAck ANd yEllOw, chiN yEllOw. BlAck AbOvE, sOmEtimEs A yEllOw mONOcEllAtE mArkiNg ON thE hOOd, Or 1���3 smAll yEllOw blOtchEs, thE dOrsAl scAlEs mAy bE tippEd with whitE iN juvENilEs (Fig. 8). YEllOw Or whitE bElOw with 4 tO 6 blAck bANds ON thE first 100 vENtrAls, usuAlly uNifOrm blAck thErEAftEr. Largest recorded: 2250+420 = 2670 mm, frOm MONiyA, IbAdAN, NigEriA (ButlEr, 1982: 110). Suggested common name: CENtrAl AfricAN fOrEst cObrA. Distribution: CENtErEd ON thE CONgO BAsiN, wEst tO sOuthwEstErN NigEriA ANd pOssibly sOuthErN BENiN, sOuth tO NOrthErN ANgOlA, NOt ExtENdiNg EAst Of thE AlbErtiNE Rift VAllEy, whErE it is rEplAcEd by N. subfulva. ThE wEstErN rANgE limits ArE pOOrly uNdErstOOd. POpulAtiONs frOm sOuthEAstErN NigEriA ArE clEArly AssigNAblE tO this fOrm. A fEw spEcimENs frOm LAmtA, sOuthErN BENiN (IRD 12.B, IRD 54.B, IRD 60.B), ANd GhANA (MNHN 1983.0663���64; NO furthEr lOcAlity iNfOrmAtiON) AlsO AppEAr tO bE AssigNAblE tO N. melanoleuca., Published as part of W��ster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-Fran��ois, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zolt��n T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, W��ster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel & Broadley, Donald G., 2018, Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Zootaxa 4455 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1456971, {"references":["Hallowell, E. (1857) Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Henry A. Ford. Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 9, 48 - 72.","Fischer, J. G. (1885) Ichthyologische und herpetologische Bemerkungen. V. Herpetologische Bemerkungen. Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten, 2, 82 - 121.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) III. British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Laurent, R. F. (1956) Contribution a l'herpetologie de la region des Grands Lacs de l'Afrique centrale. I. Generalites. II. Cheloniens. III. Ophidiens. Annales du Musee royal du Congo Belge, 48, 1 - 390.","Wallach, V., Wuster, W. & Broadley, D. G. (2009) In praise of subgenera: taxonomic status of cobras of the genus Naja Laurenti (Serpentes: Elapidae). Zootaxa, 2236, 26 - 36.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World. A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1227 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / b 16901","Sauvage, H. E. (1884) Notice sur une collection de reptiles et de poissons recueillie a Majumba, Congo. Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique de France, 9, 199 - 204.","Broadley, D. G. (1983) FitzSimons' Snakes of Southern Africa. Delta Books, Johannesburg, 376 pp.","Ceriaco, L. M. P., Marques, M. P., Schmitz, A. & Bauer, A. M. (2017) The \" Cobra-preta \" of Sao Tome Island, Gulf of Guinea, is a new species of Naja Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Elapidae). Zootaxa, 4324 (1), 121 - 141. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4324.1","Schmidt, K. P. (1923) Contributions to the herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909 - 1915. Part II. Snakes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 49, 1 - 146.","Butler, J. A. (1982) Capture au Nigeria d'un Naja noir et blanc de grande taille et notes sur les autres Najas de l'Ouest Africain. Notes Africaines, 176, 110 - 111."]}

Naja (Boulengerina) savannula sp. nov. Broadley, Trape, Chirio & W��ster Naia melanoleuca (not Hallowell) Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, var. D). Naja ���banded form��� Hughes, 2013: 128. Naja sp. 1 cf. melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857 (yellow banded dorsum) Trape & Bald��, 2014:318. Naja sp. 1 cf. melanoleuca (banded savanna form) Trape & Bald��, 2014: 336. Holotype: MNHN 2018.0002, an adult male collected by Laurent Chirio on 31/03/ 2007 in Ni��ni��, W Biosphere Reserve, Benin, 11.05920 ��N, 2.20488 ��E, elevation 272 m (Fig. 7). Paratype: BMNH 1975.657, a male specimen collected on the grounds of Amadou Bello University Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria, by D. A. Warrell. Diagnosis: DistiNguishAblE frOm OthEr spEciEs Of thE N. melanoleuca cOmplEx by thE prEsENcE Of 3 tO 8 sEmidividEd yEllOwish Or whitish bANds ON thE ANtEriOr dOrsAl fOrEbOdy, bEcOmiNg uNifOrm blAck cAudAd; vENtEr yEllOw with 2 tO 8 blAck bANds. GENErAlly highEr mEAN subcAudAl scAlE cOuNts thAN thE OthEr spEciEs. GENEticAlly diAgNOsAblE thrOugh pOssEssiON Of uNiquE mitOchONdriAl hAplOtypEs (cytOchrOmE b: GENBANk MH337597 ���602; ND4: MH337403 ���408) ANd uNiquE PRLR ANd UBN1 hAplOtypEs (PRLR: MH337501 ���504; UBN1: MH337532 ��� 535). Description of holotype. DimENsiONs: A mAlE spEcimEN, sNOut���vENt lENgth 1815 mm, tAil lENgth 376 mm, tOtAl lENgth 2191 mm, rAtiO tOtAl lENgth: tAil lENgth 5.8. BOdy scAlAtiON: 25 scAlE rOws ArOuNd hOOd, 19 ArOuNd midbOdy, 15 ONE hEAd lENgth AhEAd Of thE vENt, All smOOth ANd ObliquE. DOrsAl scAlEs smOOth, ObliquE. VErtEbrAl rOw NOt ENlArgEd. 213 vENtrAls (ANd ONE iNcOmplEtE vENtrAl bEfOrE thE ANAl), 69 subcAudAls, All dividEd, ANAl siNglE. HEAd scAlAtiON: 7/7 suprAlAbiAls, 3rd & 4th cONtAct Orbit, 6th lArgEst; 8/8 iNfrAlAbiAls, first 4 cONtAct ANtEriOr chiN shiElds; pOstEriOr chiN shiElds iN NArrOw cONtAct At thEir ANtEriOr ENd, sEpArAtEd by mEdiAN scAlE AlONg mOst Of thEir lENgth; 1/1 prEOculAr, twicE As lONg As high; 3/3 pOstOculArs; 1/1 ANtEriOr tEmpOrAl; 3/3 pOstEriOr tEmpOrAls; rOstrAl brOAdEr thAN high, clEArly visiblE frOm AbOvE; 7 tEmpOrAls ANd NuchAls cONtActiNg thE pAriEtAls. PAttErN: uppEr sidE Of hEAd brOwN, lips ANd vENtrAl sidE Of thE hEAd pAlE crEAmy yEllOwish with EAch lAbiAl scAlE lAtErAlly bOrdErEd with blAck. NEck brOwN, dOrsum bEcOmiNg grAduAlly blAck tOwArds rEAr. TwO vEry distiNct pAlE dOrsAl crOssbANds At thE lEvEl Of vENtrAls (V) 24 tO 28, twO OthEr At lEvEl Of V 40 ��� 45, thrEE At lEvEl Of V 58 ��� 64, thrEE lEss distiNct At lEvEl Of V 77 ��� 83, ANd thrEE slightly mArkEd At lEvEl Of V 98 ��� 104. VENtrAls 1 tO 11, 13���19, 23��� 31, 38���47 ANd 57���66 pAlE crEAmy yEllOwish, V 20���22 ANd 32 ��� 37 blAck; V 12 ANd 48���56 yEllOwish spOttEd with blAck spOts. FrOm vENtrAl 67 tO thE vENt, vENtrAls spOttEd with blAck grAduAlly bEcOmE cOmplEtEly blAck. SubcAudAls blAck. Variation: DOrsAl scAlE rOws ON NEck 19���25, At midbOdy 19, bEfOrE vENt 12���15; vENtrAls 211���233, subcAudAls 63���77 (TAblE 8). DOrsAl sEmi-dividEd yEllOw bANds 3���8; vENtrAl priNcipAl blAck bANds 2���8 (Fig. 7). Etymology: ThE NAmE is dErivEd frOm thE cONtrActiON Of its sAvANNA hAbitAt ANd ANNulAtEd cOlOur pAttErN ANd wAs cOiNEd by BArry HughEs iN AN uNpublishEd 1968 mANuscript. WE hAvE rEtAiNEd this NAmE At thE rEquEst Of Our cOllEAguE BArry HughEs. Largest recorded: 1825+405 = 2230 mm, frOm MEdiNA DjikOyE, SENEgAl (IRD 6155.S). Suggested common name: WEst AfricAN bANdEd cObrA. Distribution: SENEgAl ANd GAmbiA EAst tO NOrthErN CAmErOON (Fig. 6). Naja savannula AppEArs tO bE rEstrictEd tO gAllEry fOrEst ArEAs iN AfricA iN GuiNEAN FOrEst/SAvANNA MOsAic, ExtENdiNg NOrthwArds iNtO WEst SudANiAN SAvANNA (ChiriO, 2003, 2013; MONAstEriO et al., 2016). Our rEcOrds ArE mOstly frOm lAtitudEs 10���14��N, ExcEpt iN thE DAhOmEy GAp iN EAstErN GhANA ANd BENiN, whErE thE spEciEs ApprOAchEs thE Gulf Of GuiNEA COAst. ThE EAstErN ExtENt Of thE rANgE is pOOrly uNdErstOOd. A spEcimEN frOm MArgui WANdAlA district, NOrthErN CAmErOON (ApprOx. 10.5��N 13.6��E; MNHN 1962.0022) AppEArs tO bE AssigNAblE tO this spEciEs, ANd ONE Of us (JFT) rEcENtly cOllEctEd A spEcimEN frOm MbOurA, 20 km SW BA��bOkOum, LOgONE OriENtAl PrOviNcE, ChAd (7.598��N, 15.596��E; IRD 2281.N), ANd thErE is A rEcENt rEcOrd frOm NEAr NiAmEy, NigEr (LC, uNpublishEd dAtA). It sEEms likEly thAt thE spEciEs hAs A widEr distributiON iN NOrthErN CAmErOON, ExtrEmE sOuthErN ChAd ANd pOssibly EvEN ExtrEmE NOrthwEstErN CENtrAl AfricAN REpublic (CAR)., Published as part of W��ster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-Fran��ois, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zolt��n T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, W��ster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel & Broadley, Donald G., 2018, Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Zootaxa 4455 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1456971, {"references":["Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) III. British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Hughes, B. (2013) Snakes of Benin, West Africa. Bulletin de la Societe Herpetologique de France, 144, 101 - 159.","Hallowell, E. (1857) Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Henry A. Ford. Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 9, 48 - 72.","Trape, J. - F. & Balde, C. (2014) A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa, 3900 (3), 301 - 338. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3900.3.1","Chirio, L. (2003) Inventaire des reptiles de la region de la Reserve de Biosphere Transfrontaliere du W (Niger / Benin / Burkina Faso: Afrique de l'Ouest). Bulletin de la Societe Herpetologique de France, 132, 13 - 41.","Chirio, L. (2013) Inventaire des reptiles de la region de Sangaredi (Guinee maritime). Bulletin de la Societe Herpetologique de France, 144, 67 - 100."]}

Naja (Boulengerina) subfulva Laurent, 1955 Naia melanoleuca (not Hallowell); Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, vars A [c] & E). Naja melanoleuca subfulva Laurent, 1955, Revue Zool.��� Bot. Afr. 51: 132. Type locality: Lwiro, 1850 m, Kabare, Kivu, Belgian Congo [= Democratic Republic of Congo], holotype MRAC 17514. Naja melanoleuca aurata Stucki-Stirn, 1979, Snake Report 721: 617���620. Type locality: Bamenda, Cameroon. No type designated. Naja subfulva; Chirio & Ineich, 2006: 54. Naja melanoleuca subfulva; Chirio & LeBreton, 2007: 584. Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca subfulva ; Broadley & Blaylock, 2013: 139. Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca; Conradie et al., 2016: 28. Diagnosis. MidbOdy scAlE rOws 19, ExcEpt AlONg cOAstAl rEgiONs Of EAst AfricA (KENyA, TANzANiA), whErE mOst spEcimENs hAvE 17 rOws. PAttErN highly vAriAblE. Adults Of mOst pOpulAtiONs distiNguishAblE iN hAviNg A brOwN fOrEbOdy, OftEN with spOts, gENErAlly bEcOmiNg dArkEr Or blAckish pOstEriOrly. LAbiAl pAttErN mAy bE AttENuAtEd iN mANy Adults. VENtEr with sEvErAl blAck, dArk brOwN Or grEyish crOssbANds ON thE first 50 vENtrAls, grAduAlly bEcOmiNg uNifOrm blAck cAudAd iN sOmE pOpulAtiONs, but OftEN rEmAiNiNg ENtirEly light, OftEN with ExtENsivE dArkEr spOttiNg Or spEckliNg. WhErE prEsENt, thE light fOrEbOdy ANd/Or light pOstEriOr vENtEr ArE diAgNOstic fOr this spEciEs. GENErAlly fEwEr vENtrAl bANds ANd vENtrAl scAlEs thAN N. melanoleuca Or N. savannula ANd fEwEr subcAudAls thAN N. savannula (TAblE 8). GENEticAlly diAgNOsAblE thrOugh pOssEssiON Of uNiquE mitOchONdriAl hAplOtypEs (cyt b: GENBANk MH337603 ���633; ND4: MH337409 ���439) ANd uNiquE PRLR ANd UBN1 hAplOtypEs (PRLR: MH337441 ���471; UBN1: MH337531, MH337536 ���562, MH337564 ���566). Variation. DOrsAl scAlE rOws ON NEck 19���27, At midbOdy 19 (vEry rArEly 17 Or 21); vENtrAls 196���226; ANAl ENtirE; subcAudAls 55���71 (TAblE 8). SuprAlAbiAls 7 (vEry rArEly 5 Or 6), thE third ANd fOurth ENtEriNg Orbit; iNfrAlAbiAls 8 (rArEly 7), thE first fOur (rArEly thrEE) iN cONtAct with thE ANtEriOr subliNguAls, NO cuNEAtE (vEry rArEly ONE); prEOculAr 1; pOstOculArs 3; tEmpOrAl 1+2 Or 1+3; tEmpOrAl bOrdEriNg pAriEtAls 5���9, usuAlly 7. Colouration. HEAd brOwN, thE suprAlAbiAls usuAlly bArrEd blAck ANd yEllOw, chiN yEllOw. DOrsum uNifOrm blAck, Or with fAiNt whitE crOssbArs Or whitE-tippEd dOrsAl scAlEs, rEsultiNg iN A stippliNg EffEct, iN All juvENilEs. Adults frOm thE pEriphEry Of LAkE VictOriA ANd pArts Of thE CONgO BAsiN (Fig. 9) hAvE A uNifOrmly blAck dOrsum As Adults, whErEAs iN mOst Of thE rANgE, Adults bEcOmE brOwN ANtEriOrly. ThErE mAy bE 2 Or 3 fAiNt yEllOw dividEd crOssbArs ON thE NEck. VENtrAl bANdiNg OftEN fAiNt iN Adults, with grEy Or pAlE brOwN vENtrAl bANds thAt mAy bE vEry iNcONspicuOus, Or lAckiNg AltOgEthEr. NArrOw AccEssOry vENtrAl bANds usuAlly AbsENt. Largest recorded. 2016+380 = 2396 mm (tAil truNcAtEd) [JPT 1856 ��� ZiNAvE, MOzAmbiquE], but NMZB-UM 17594 frOm INyANgANi TEA EstAtEs, ZimbAbwE, hAd A tOtAl lENgth Of 2690 mm (ONly hEAd ANd NEck prEsErvEd). Suggested common name. BrOwN fOrEst cObrA. This suggEstiON rEflEcts thE fAct thAt iN mOst pOpulAtiONs, with thE ExcEptiON Of thE surrOuNdiNgs Of LAkE VictOriA ANd sOmE lOcAtiONs iN thE CONgO BAsiN, thE ANtEriOr bOdy Of Adults is brOwN rAthEr thAN blAck. WE NOtE thAt thE distributiON Of this spEciEs iNcludEs mANy NON-fOrEstEd hAbitAts, iNcludiNg sAvANNAs ANd OpEN wEtlANds (SpAwls et al., 2018). HOwEvEr, rEtENtiON Of thE wOrd ���fOrEst��� iN thE cOmmON NAmE cONvEys thE phylOgENEtic iNfOrmAtiON thAt this spEciEs is pArt Of thE Naja melanoleuca cOmplEx. Distribution. FOrEst/sAvANNA mOsAic, ENcircliNg thE CONgO BAsiN, frOm thE grAssfiElds Of wEstErN CAmErOON NOrthwArd, rEAchiNg 13.45��N At BOl, ChAd, ON thE NOrthErN shOrE Of LAkE ChAd (IRD 2802.N), EAst thrOugh thE CAR ANd SOuth SudAN tO wEstErN EthiOpiA, sOuth thrOugh UgANdA, wEstErN KENyA, EAstErN DRC, RwANdA, BuruNdi ANd wEstErN TANzANiA tO NOrthErN MAlAwi, wEst thrOugh ZAmbiA ANd KAtANgA tO ANgOlA ANd thE LOwEr CONgO rEgiON (Fig. 6). ThE distributiON ExtENds disjuNctly EAst ANd sOuth tO thE EAst AfricAN cOAst frOm KENyA tO NOrthErN KwAZulu-NAtAl (SOuth AfricA), iNcludiNg iNlANd lOcAtiONs iN wEstErN ZimbAbwE. ThE prEcisE distributiON Of this tAxON iN thE CONgO rEgiON rEmAiNs tO bE AscErtAiNEd: wE hAvE hErE prOvidEd mOlEculAr EvidENcE Of multiplE spEcimENs Of this spEciEs frOm thE EvErgrEEN fOrEst zONE Of NOrthErN REpublic Of CONgO (LikOuAlA FOrEst ��� JAcksON et al., 2007) ANd thE NOrthEAstErN DRC (NOrthwEstErN OriENtAlE PrOviNcE AlONg thE CONgO RivEr). SOmE Of thEsE spEcimENs ANd pOpulAtiONs ArE difficult tO diffErENtiAtE frOm sympAtric N. melanoleuca, NEcEssitAtiNg thE usE Of DNA bArcOdiNg ApprOAchEs (HEbErt et al., 2003; ClAusE et al., 2016) tO ENsurE rEliAblE idENtificAtiON. TwO spEcimENs frOm sOuthEAstErN NigEriA with lOw vENtrAl scAlE cOuNts ANd lAckiNg vENtrAl bANdiNg Or displAyiNg A siNglE fAdEd bANd mAy AlsO bE AssigNAblE tO this spEciEs (DEgEmA, RivErs StAtE: BMNH 1902.11.10.9, ANd ���Oil RivEr ���: BMNH 88.8.29.20), suggEstiNg A widEr distributiON iN EAstErN NigEriA. Comment. This spEciEs displAys cONsidErAblE gEOgrAphic vAriAtiON iN pAttErN ANd scAlAtiON, As wEll As iNdicAtiONs Of phylOgEOgrAphic structurE. ThE prEsENt study fOcusEd ON thE rElAtiONships AmONg thE fivE mitOchONdriAlly dEfiNEd cANdidAtE spEciEs, ANd did NOt ENcOmpAss thE full rANgE Of mOrphOlOgicAl vAriAtiON iN N. subfulva. It is pOssiblE thAt futurE wOrk mAy idENtify AdditiONAl cryptic divErsity withiN this widE-rANgiNg ANd vAriAblE spEciEs., Published as part of W��ster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-Fran��ois, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zolt��n T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, W��ster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel & Broadley, Donald G., 2018, Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Zootaxa 4455 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1456971, {"references":["Laurent, R. F. (1955) Diagnoses preliminaires de quelques serpents venimeux. Revue de Zoologie et Botanique Africaine, 51, 127 - 139.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) III. British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Stucki-Stirn, M. C. (1979) Snake Report 721. Herpeto-Verlag, Teuffenthal, 650 pp.","Chirio, L. & Ineich, I. (2006) Biogeography of the reptiles of the Central African Republic. African Journal of Herpetology, 55, 23 - 59. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 21564574.2006.9635538","Chirio, L. & LeBreton, M. (2007) Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 686 pp.","Broadley, D. G. & Blaylock, R. (2013) The Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 387 pp.","Conradie, W., Bills, R. & Branch, W. R. (2016) The herpetofauna of the Cubango, Cuito, and lower Cuando river catchments of south-eastern Angola. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, 10, 6 - 36."]}

Naja (Boulengerina) guineensis sp. nov. Broadley, Trape, Chirio, Ineich & W��ster Naia melanoleuca (not Hallowell) Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, var. B [c,d], C). Naja sp. 2 cf. melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857 (blackish dorsum) Trape & Bald��, 2014: 318. Naja sp. 2 cf. melanoleuca (forest form). Trape & Bald��, 2014: 336. Holotype: MNHN 1921.0485, a male from N���Z��b��la, Macenta Prefecture, Nz��r��kor�� region of forested southeastern Guinea (8�� 05���N, 9�� 05���W), elev. 490 m, Coll. Paul Chabanaud (1876���1959) between 1919���1920 (Chabanaud, 1921: 471) (Fig. 5). Paratype: BMNH 1960.1.3.72, a male from Njala, Kori, Sierra Leone, Coll. C.T. Pyne. Diagnosis. Naja guineensis cAN bE distiNguishEd frOm thE pArtly sympAtric N. savannula sp. NOv. by lAckiNg ExtENdEd dOrsAl bANdiNg, OftEN hAviNg 17 rAthEr thAN 19 dOrsAl scAlE rOws At midbOdy, A gENErAlly lOwEr subcAudAl scAlE cOuNt, fEwEr vENtrAl bANds, A lEssEr pOstEriOr ExtENt Of thE vENtrAl bANdiNg, ANd A strONg tENdENcy tOwArds mElANism iN Adults. SpEcimENs with 19 midbOdy dOrsAl scAlE rOws cAN bE distiNguishEd frOm N. melanoleuca thrOugh thE rEducEd NumbEr Of vENtrAl bANds, lEssEr pOstEriOr ExtENt Of bANdiNg ANd tENdENcy Of ONtOgENEtic mElANism frOm N. subfulva iN lAckiNg A lightEr ANtEriOr dOrsum ANd thrOugh ONtOgENEtic mElANism, ANd frOm N. peroescobari iN hAviNg thE pOstEriOr chiN shiElds iN cONtAct. Description of holotype. DimENsiONs: A mAlE spEcimEN with dissEctEd tAil bAsE, sNOut���vENt lENgth 1850 mm, tAil lENgth 370 mm, tOtAl lENgth 2220 mm, rAtiO tOtAl lENgth: tAil lENgth 6:1. BOdy scAlAtiON: 23 scAlE rOws ArOuNd hOOd, 17 ArOuNd midbOdy, 13 ONE hEAd lENgth AhEAd Of thE vENt, All smOOth ANd ObliquE; 208 vENtrAls, 62 subcAudAls, All dividEd, ANAl siNglE. HEAd scAlAtiON: 7/7 suprAlAbiAls, 3rd & 4th cONtAct Orbit, 6th lArgEst; 8/8 iNfrAlAbiAls, first 4 cONtAct ANtEriOr chiN shiElds; ANtEriOr pAir Of chiN shiElds ANd iNfrAlAbiAls 3���4 with AN ANOmAly ON bOth sidEs, thEy ArE wArty ANd cOvErEd with circumvOlutiONs; 1/1 prEOculAr, twicE As lONg As high; 3/3 pOstOculArs; 1/1 ANtEriOr tEmpOrAl; pOstEriOr tEmpOrAls 3/3; rOstrAl brOAdEr thAN high ANd slightly dAmAgEd ANtEriOrly, clEArly visiblE frOm AbOvE; 7 tEmpOrAls ANd NuchAls cONtActiNg bOth pAriEtAls. PAttErN: uppEr sidE Of hEAd ANd uppEr tEmpOrAl rEgiON dArk brOwN iNcludiNg pAriEtAls ANd tEmpOrAls but blAck bEhiNd thEm, lips ANd vENtrAl sidE Of hEAd crEAmy yEllOwish withOut dArk mOttliNg ON chiN ANd ANtEriOr thrOAt; EAch pOstEriOr suprAlAbiAl EdgE brOAdly OutliNEd iN blAck frOm EyE lEvEl tO mOuth cOrNEr; tEmpOrAls uNifOrmly brOwNish. DOrsum uNifOrm brOwNish-blAck thrOughOut. VENtEr: ANtEriOr first 32 cm (14% Of tOtAl lENgth) Of vENtEr with AltErNAtiNg yEllOw ANd blAckish irrEgulAr bANds, thE pOstEriOr yEllOw bANds iNcrEAsiNgly suffusEd with dArk mOttliNg. ONly vENtrAl 1 is uNifOrm clEAr yEllOw, vENtrAls 2���10, 19, 28���29, 32���35 yEllOw but AlwAys iNcrEAsiNgly suffusEd with dArk mOttliNg, rEmAiNiNg vENtrAls ANd uNdErsidE Of tAil blAck (AftEr vENtrAl 35). Variation. MidbOdy dOrsAl scAlE rOw cOuNts Of 17 ANd 19 ArE ApprOximAtEly EquAlly cOmmON iN this spEciEs. IN lArgE Adults, light pAttErN ElEmENts ON thE hEAd ANd thrOAt OftEN bEcOmE hEAvily suffusEd with blAck pigmENt, lEAdiNg tO A virtuAlly ENtirEly mElANistic sNAkE. SOmE spEcimENs hAvE 1���4 gENErAlly fAiNt Or pOOrly dEfiNEd light bANds AcrOss thE NEck, ANd OccAsiONAlly AN OcEllAtE hOOd mArkiNg. Largest recorded: 1818+437 = 2255 mm, frOm BAllAssOu, GuiNEA (IRD 4213.G), but lArgEr spEcimENs hAvE bEEN ObsErvEd. BAsEd ON lOcAlity, MENziEs��� (1966) rEpOrt Of A spEcimEN mEAsuriNg ���Eight fEEt, Eight iNchEs��� (264 cm) frOm BO, SiErrA LEONE, is likEly tO rEfEr tO this spEciEs. Etymology. ThE spEcific EpithEt guineensis mEANs ���frOm GuiNEA ��� ANd is chOsEN tO rEflEct thE distributiON Of thE spEciEs iN thE UppEr GuiNEA fOrEsts Of WEst AfricA, pArt Of thE WEst AfricAN FOrEsts biOdivErsity hOtspOt (MyErs et al., 2000). Suggested common name. BlAck fOrEst cObrA. Distribution. ThE distributiON Of Naja guineensis AppEArs tO bE rEstrictEd tO thE UppEr GuiNEA FOrEsts Of wEstErN AfricA, frOm wEstErN TOgO tO LibEriA ANd GuiNEA (TrApE & BAld��, 2014) (Fig. 6). ThErE is A siNglE rEcOrd frOm CONtubOEl, GuiNEA BissAu (MBL 535). All OthEr rEcOrds 10��N Or lOwEr., Published as part of W��ster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-Fran��ois, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zolt��n T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, W��ster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel & Broadley, Donald G., 2018, Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Zootaxa 4455 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1456971, {"references":["Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) III. British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Hallowell, E. (1857) Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Henry A. Ford. Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 9, 48 - 72.","Trape, J. - F. & Balde, C. (2014) A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa, 3900 (3), 301 - 338. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3900.3.1"]}

Naja (Boulengerina) savannula sp. nov. Broadley, Trape, Chirio & Wüster Naia melanoleuca (not Hallowell) Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, var. D). Naja “banded form” Hughes, 2013: 128. Naja sp. 1 cf. melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857 (yellow banded dorsum) Trape & Baldé, 2014:318. Naja sp. 1 cf. melanoleuca (banded savanna form) Trape & Baldé, 2014: 336. Holotype: MNHN 2018.0002, an adult male collected by Laurent Chirio on 31/03/ 2007 in Niénié, W Biosphere Reserve, Benin, 11.05920 °N, 2.20488 °E, elevation 272 m (Fig. 7). Paratype: BMNH 1975.657, a male specimen collected on the grounds of Amadou Bello University Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria, by D. A. Warrell. Diagnosis: DistiNguishAblE frOm OthEr spEciEs Of thE N. melanoleuca cOmplEx by thE prEsENcE Of 3 tO 8 sEmidividEd yEllOwish Or whitish bANds ON thE ANtEriOr dOrsAl fOrEbOdy, bEcOmiNg uNifOrm blAck cAudAd; vENtEr yEllOw with 2 tO 8 blAck bANds. GENErAlly highEr mEAN subcAudAl scAlE cOuNts thAN thE OthEr spEciEs. GENEticAlly diAgNOsAblE thrOugh pOssEssiON Of uNiquE mitOchONdriAl hAplOtypEs (cytOchrOmE b: GENBANk MH337597 –602; ND4: MH337403 –408) ANd uNiquE PRLR ANd UBN1 hAplOtypEs (PRLR: MH337501 –504; UBN1: MH337532 – 535). Description of holotype. DimENsiONs: A mAlE spEcimEN, sNOut–vENt lENgth 1815 mm, tAil lENgth 376 mm, tOtAl lENgth 2191 mm, rAtiO tOtAl lENgth: tAil lENgth 5.8. BOdy scAlAtiON: 25 scAlE rOws ArOuNd hOOd, 19 ArOuNd midbOdy, 15 ONE hEAd lENgth AhEAd Of thE vENt, All smOOth ANd ObliquE. DOrsAl scAlEs smOOth, ObliquE. VErtEbrAl rOw NOt ENlArgEd. 213 vENtrAls (ANd ONE iNcOmplEtE vENtrAl bEfOrE thE ANAl), 69 subcAudAls, All dividEd, ANAl siNglE. HEAd scAlAtiON: 7/7 suprAlAbiAls, 3rd & 4th cONtAct Orbit, 6th lArgEst; 8/8 iNfrAlAbiAls, first 4 cONtAct ANtEriOr chiN shiElds; pOstEriOr chiN shiElds iN NArrOw cONtAct At thEir ANtEriOr ENd, sEpArAtEd by mEdiAN scAlE AlONg mOst Of thEir lENgth; 1/1 prEOculAr, twicE As lONg As high; 3/3 pOstOculArs; 1/1 ANtEriOr tEmpOrAl; 3/3 pOstEriOr tEmpOrAls; rOstrAl brOAdEr thAN high, clEArly visiblE frOm AbOvE; 7 tEmpOrAls ANd NuchAls cONtActiNg thE pAriEtAls. PAttErN: uppEr sidE Of hEAd brOwN, lips ANd vENtrAl sidE Of thE hEAd pAlE crEAmy yEllOwish with EAch lAbiAl scAlE lAtErAlly bOrdErEd with blAck. NEck brOwN, dOrsum bEcOmiNg grAduAlly blAck tOwArds rEAr. TwO vEry distiNct pAlE dOrsAl crOssbANds At thE lEvEl Of vENtrAls (V) 24 tO 28, twO OthEr At lEvEl Of V 40 – 45, thrEE At lEvEl Of V 58 – 64, thrEE lEss distiNct At lEvEl Of V 77 – 83, ANd thrEE slightly mArkEd At lEvEl Of V 98 – 104. VENtrAls 1 tO 11, 13–19, 23– 31, 38–47 ANd 57–66 pAlE crEAmy yEllOwish, V 20–22 ANd 32 – 37 blAck; V 12 ANd 48–56 yEllOwish spOttEd with blAck spOts. FrOm vENtrAl 67 tO thE vENt, vENtrAls spOttEd with blAck grAduAlly bEcOmE cOmplEtEly blAck. SubcAudAls blAck. Variation: DOrsAl scAlE rOws ON NEck 19–25, At midbOdy 19, bEfOrE vENt 12–15; vENtrAls 211–233, subcAudAls 63–77 (TAblE 8). DOrsAl sEmi-dividEd yEllOw bANds 3–8; vENtrAl priNcipAl blAck bANds 2–8 (Fig. 7). Etymology: ThE NAmE is dErivEd frOm thE cONtrActiON Of its sAvANNA hAbitAt ANd ANNulAtEd cOlOur pAttErN ANd wAs cOiNEd by BArry HughEs iN AN uNpublishEd 1968 mANuscript. WE hAvE rEtAiNEd this NAmE At thE rEquEst Of Our cOllEAguE BArry HughEs. Largest recorded: 1825+405 = 2230 mm, frOm MEdiNA DjikOyE, SENEgAl (IRD 6155.S). Suggested common name: WEst AfricAN bANdEd cObrA. Distribution: SENEgAl ANd GAmbiA EAst tO NOrthErN CAmErOON (Fig. 6). Naja savannula AppEArs tO bE rEstrictEd tO gAllEry fOrEst ArEAs iN AfricA iN GuiNEAN FOrEst/SAvANNA MOsAic, ExtENdiNg NOrthwArds iNtO WEst SudANiAN SAvANNA (ChiriO, 2003, 2013; MONAstEriO et al., 2016). Our rEcOrds ArE mOstly frOm lAtitudEs 10–14°N, ExcEpt iN thE DAhOmEy GAp iN EAstErN GhANA ANd BENiN, whErE thE spEciEs ApprOAchEs thE Gulf Of GuiNEA COAst. ThE EAstErN ExtENt Of thE rANgE is pOOrly uNdErstOOd. A spEcimEN frOm MArgui WANdAlA district, NOrthErN CAmErOON (ApprOx. 10.5°N 13.6°E; MNHN 1962.0022) AppEArs tO bE AssigNAblE tO this spEciEs, ANd ONE Of us (JFT) rEcENtly cOllEctEd A spEcimEN frOm MbOurA, 20 km SW BAïbOkOum, LOgONE OriENtAl PrOviNcE, ChAd (7.598°N, 15.596°E; IRD 2281.N), ANd thErE is A rEcENt rEcOrd frOm NEAr NiAmEy, NigEr (LC, uNpublishEd dAtA). It sEEms likEly thAt thE spEciEs hAs A widEr distributiON iN NOrthErN CAmErOON, ExtrEmE sOuthErN ChAd ANd pOssibly EvEN ExtrEmE NOrthwEstErN CENtrAl AfricAN REpublic (CAR).

Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Campbell, Patrick D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Raha, Sujoy, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Ineich, Ivan (2016): Taxonomy and natural history of Eutropis beddomei (Jerdon, 1870) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including a redescription of the holotype. Zootaxa 4132 (4): 509-520, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4132.4.3

Eutropis nagarjunensis (Sharma, 1969) (Figs. 1���4; Tables 1���3) Mabuya nagarjuni (sic) Sharma, 1969 Holotype. Adult female, ZSI 21170 (SVL 47.5 mm), collected from Vijaypuri South near right bank of River Krishna, Andhra Pradesh, India by I.N. Maligi on 23 August 1962. Paratype. Adult female, ZSI 21171 (SVL 48.6 mm), other details the same as holotype above. Diagnosis. The following combination of characters distinguishes Eutropis nagarjunensis from all other Indian congeners: two dark paravertebral bands on the back, undivided lower-eyelid disc, single postnasal, 33���35 midbody scale rows, 41 paravertebral scale rows, 51 ventrals, five keels on dorsal scales, 21���24 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe, two long and one short pre-auricular lobule on each anterior tympanum, prefrontals slightly separated, two pairs of large nuchals. Redescription of the holotype. Characters of the holotype (ZSI 21170) followed, where appropriate, by those of other examined materials (n =3) within brackets. Female, SVL 47.5 mm (SVL 46.4���48.6 mm; ZSI 24698 B without head), tail broken; head moderately large, head length 27.6% of SVL (23.9���28.9%), and 55.3% of axillagroin distance (45.7���59.3%), narrow, head width 55.7% of head length (52.2���60.3%), and 15.4% of SVL (14.4��� 15.1%), indistinct from neck; snout short, snout length 35.1% of head length (39.5���40.5%), snout length 63.0% of head width (67.8���75.7%), slightly concave in lateral profile; rostral shield large, hemispherical, distinctly visible from above, posterior margin of midpoint curved towards the frontonasal; frontonasal slightly separated from rostral by supranasals which are also slightly separated; frontonasal narrow, lateral border touching the anterior loreal; prefrontals slightly separated, and the frontal and the frontonasal in slight contact, distance along the longitudinal axis of frontonasal equals the prefrontals in length, lower border touching both loreal scales, the posterior border touching the first supraocular, and frontal; frontal large, elongate, subtriangular, rounded posteriorly, equal in length to combined frontoparietals and interparietal lengths; two frontoparietals in contact, distinct, equal in size with interparietal; parietals large and completely separated by interparietal, touching temporals laterally; two pairs of nuchals, overlapping middorsally behind interparietal; interparietal with grey coloured parietal eye (pineal eye). Nostril large and situated in posterior nasal; single postnasal; loreals two, anterior loreal touching supranasal, frontonasal and prefrontal; posterior loreal longer than the anterior loreal in the longitudinal axis, touching prefrontal, first supraocular and first supraciliary; presuboculars two; eye large, orbit diameter 26.7% of head length (20.7���24.6%), orbit diameter larger than tympanum-eye length, pupil rounded; interorbital distance broad; postocular one; four wide supraoculars, second is the longest in the longitudinal axis and the widest in the transverse axis and fully contacts the frontal; first supraocular in contact with prefrontal; 2nd��� 4th supraoculars in contact with frontoparietals; 4th supraocular in contact with frontoparietal, parietal, and supraciliaries; three pretemporals; supraciliaries six; moveable eyelid covered with an undivided transparent disc. Supralabials six, fifth largest at mid orbit position; primary temporals three, secondary temporals three; infralabials six; ear opening deep, large, almost spherical and approximately one third of eye diameter; two long and one short pre-auricular lobule on each anterior tympanum. Mental large; a single large postmental followed by two chin shield pairs, the first pair not meeting along midline, the first chin shield in contact with second and third infralabial scales, the second pair in contact with 3rd and 4th infralabials. E. bibronii E. nagarjunensis Nuchals multicarinate, all body scales with five keels per scale; all scales imbricate and lacking apical pits; body slender, elongate, axilla-groin distance 49.9% of SVL (48.7���52.3%); midbody scale rows 33 (33���35); paravertebral scale rows 41; ventrals 51; five enlarged precloacal scales. Fore-limbs short, hind limbs relatively long, thigh length 14.9% of SVL (11.9���16.8%), shank length 17.7% of SVL (15.6���17.8%); thigh shorter than shank and 84.5% of shank length (76.3���97.4%); scales on the dorsal surface of fore-limbs, thigh, and shank strongly tricarinate; subdigital lamellae on toe IV, 22 (21���24); relative length of fingers: IV> III> II> V> I; those of toes: IV> III> V> II> I. Tail broken (complete in ZSI 24698 B), median scale row of subcaudals subequal, while the median row of the broken tail is enlarged and wider than antero-posterior length. Colouration. After about 53 years in preservative fluid, dorsal head, body and limbs appear dark olive-brown. Two dark vertebral bands on the back separated by a median olive-brown band, two additional dark longitudinal bands commencing from posterior eye over tympanum and fore-limbs; another two bands between axilla and groin; all vertebral and lateral bands extend to the tail. These bands covering approximately two-scale widths in length. Lateral body and belly light brown including subcaudals. Comparison. Congeners from India and Sri Lanka have suites of characters that distinguish them from Eutropis nagarjunensis. Eutropis nagarjunensis is most similar to E. bibronii (characters in brackets), but it can be distinguished from the latter by having broad vertebral stripes (narrow); 33���35 midbody scale rows (28���30); and 21���24 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe (15���19). Unlike E. nagarjunensis, E. andamanensis; E. beddomei; E. carinata; E. clivicola; E. floweri; E. gansi; E. macularia; E. madaraszi; E. multifasciata; E. quadricarinata; E. rugifera; E. tammanna; E. tytleri; and E. trivittata has a scaly lower-eyelid disc (vs. undivided and transparent eyelid disc). E. dissimilis has 47���52 paravertebrals (vs. 41). E. innotata has a single pair of nuchals (vs. two pairs). E. novemcarinata has nine keels on dorsal scales (vs. five). John Edward Gray���s ���Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species��� was published in the journal Annals and Magazine of Natural History in three parts; two in 1838 and one in 1839. The first part was published in June 1838, the second in December of 1838 and the third in January 1839. The description of Tiliqua bibronii appeared in the second part, published in December 1838 on page 290. The date printed on the first page (page 241) at the bottom, of this issue as follows ���Ann. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2 No. 10 Dec. 1838 ���. The same species based on the same type specimens, was described by A.M.C. Dum��ril & Bibron in ���the fifth volume of Erp��tologie G��n��rale��� (page 675). A.M.C. Dum��ril & Bibron���s publication was published on 23 November 1839 (Bour 2012). Therefore, according to the principle of priority (Article 23) and the principle of homonymy (Article 52) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999), the description of Gray (1838) has priority over that of A.M.C. Dum��ril & Bibron (1839). Eutropis bibronii has long been recorded in India from the northeastern coastal plains of Orissa to the southern coastal plains of Travancore, and inland in the Eastern-Ghats (Smith 1935, Venugopal 2010; Chandramouli et al. 2012). This skink has been reported from northeastern Sri Lanka (Jaffna, Mullaittivu, Chundikulam, Nilgala and Pollonnaruwa) by several authors (e.g. Smith 1935, Deraniyagala 1953, Somaweera & Somaweera 2009, Karunarathna & Amarasinghe 2011)���see Fig. 5. However, our attempts to locate any Sri Lankan voucher specimens of E. bibronii proved unsuccessful. There is also the possibility that previous authors may have mistaken E. beddomei for E. bibronii as it has a very similar body colouration and is also distributed in northeastern Sri Lanka (see Amarasinghe et al. 2016). As there are no confirmed records of this species, we here remove E. bibronii from the list of Sri Lankan skinks and we consider it an endemic species to India. However, should any live specimens from Sri Lanka or any museum specimens with accurate locality records from Sri Lanka be uncovered in the future then the status of E. bibronii will have to be reassessed. Based on morphological examination of our specimens in order to obtain accurate identifications, we consider E. bibronii to be common wherever they occur. The close morphometric similarities existing between each specimen examined along with their relative distributions may indicate a morphological homogeneity between different geographic populations. Hence, we treat them as a single morphologically homogenous species distributed widely across peninsular India. Sharma published his new species, Mabuya nagarjuni in the second issue of the first volume of the Bulletin of Systematic Zoology, Calcutta in December 1969 (printed at the top of page 71). The type locality of the species was given as ��� Vijaypuri South near right bank of River Krishna ��� which is close to the Nagarjuna Hills in Andhra Pradesh, India. Although Sharma (1969: 72) very clearly designated a holotype and a paratype, Srinivasulu & Das (2007) erroneously argued ��� The original description did not formally designate a holotype ���..���. Furthermore, they erroneously identified the original type series comprised of four specimens ������..for which reason, all four specimens from the original type series need to be considered syntypes ���. They also recovered two specimens as missing syntypes of E. nagarjunensis (see Srinivasulu & Das, 2007). However, it seems that the misleading information came from Srinivasulu et al. (2005). The phylogeography, intraspecific variation and speciation processes in the Asian genus Eutropis were investigated by Mausfeld and Schmitz (2003). However, their taxonomic rearrangement started a debate (see Datta-Roy et al. 2012). Based on morphological, morphometric, and meristic characters the closest congener of E. bibronii is E. nagarjunensis (see Figs. 1, 2, 4; Tables 2, 3). Both species possess a transparent lower eyelid disc and most of their scale counts fall within very close ranges. Body colouration is also very similar except in the case of the broader black paravertebral bands which occur in E. nagarjunensis (vs. narrower bands in E. bibronii). However, Datta-Roy et al. (2012) showed that the closest congener of E. bibronii is E. quadricarinata, and the closest congeners of E. nagarjunensis are E. trivittata and E. beddomei (see Table 2 for comparison of morphological, morphometric, and meristic characters). Furthermore, Sharma (1969) and Srinivasulu et al. (2005) considered the closest congener of E. nagarjunensis to be E. beddomei, and they provided a detailed diagnosis in order to distinguish E. nagarjunensis from E. beddomei. In their diagnosis (page 73 and page 1865 respectively), the number of lamellae beneath the fourth toe of E. nagarjunensis was stated to be within the range 16���22 (vs. 12���15 in E. beddomei). Based on our observations from three specimens of E. nagarjunensis (including the types) we counted 21���24 lamellae, while E. bibronii has 16���19 and E. beddomei has 12���16. However, Srinivasulu et al. (2005) examined a total of 18 specimens [12 live individuals + 4 syntypes (sic) + 2 additional museum specimens] of E. nagarjunensis. Therefore, the actual range of subdigital lamellae for this species could be much wider. However, based on our observations, the difference in the number of lamellae is a major distinguishing character between E. nagarjunensis and E. bibronii (21���24 and 16���19 respectively). Therefore, we discount the lamellae count given in Sharma (1969) and Srinivasulu et al. (2005) due to its dubious nature and we provide additional evidence for the distinction of E. nagarjunensis based on the findings resulting from our examination of the type specimens as described above., Published as part of Thasun, A. A., Campbell, Patrick D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Raha, Sujoy, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S. & Ineich, Ivan, 2016, Taxonomy of two endemic Indian skinks, Eutropis bibronii (Gray, 1838) and E. nagarjunensis (Sharma, 1969) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including redescriptions of their types, pp. 155-168 in Zootaxa 4154 (2) on pages 160-166, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4154.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/257560, {"references":["Sharma, R. C. (1969) Two new lizards of the genera Mabuya Fitzinger and Riopa Gray (Scincidae) from India. Bulletin of Systematic Zoology, 1, 71 - 75","Bour, R. (2012) The Erpetologie Generale (1834 - 1854) and its authors, Constant Dumeril (1774 - 1860), Gabriel Bibron (1805 - 1848), and Auguste Dumeril (1812 - 1870). In: Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles by A. M. Constant Dumeril, Gabriel Bibron & Auguste H. A. Dumeril, Introduction to the reprint in Volume I - II, pp. 5 - 107. [reprint 2012 by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles]","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1839) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. V. Paris, Roret, 854 pp.","Smith, M. A. (1935) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.","Venugopal, P. D. (2010) An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 2, 725 - 738. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.11609 / JoTT. o 2083.725 - 38","Chandramouli, S. R., Ganesh, S. R., Sravanan, M. & Baskaran, N. (2012) Record of the sea-shore skink Eutropis bibronii in the Eastern Ghats of southern India. Salamandra, 48, 241 - 242.","Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1953) A Colored Atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Tetrapod Reptilia. Vol. 2. National Museums of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 101 pp.","Somaweera, R. & Somaweera N. (2009) Lizards of Sri Lanka: a colour guide with field keys. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 304 pp.","Karunarathna, D. M. S. S. & Amarasinghe, A. A. T. (2011) A preliminary survey of the Reptile fauna in Nilgala Forest and its vicinity, Monaragala District, Sri Lanka. Taprobanica, 3, 69 - 76.","Amarasinghe, A. A. T., Campbell, P. D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, K., Raha, S., Karunarathna, D. M. S. S. & Ineich, I. (2016) Taxonomy and natural history of Eutropis beddomei (Jerdon, 1870) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including a redescription of the holotype. Zootaxa, 4132 (4), 509 - 520. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4132.4.3","Srinivasulu, C. & Das, I. (2007) Rediscovery of the missing syntypes of Mabuya nagarjuni Sharma, 1969 (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 104, 25 - 26.","Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B. & Rao, C. A. N. (2005) Present status of Eutropis nagarjuni (Sharma, 1969) (Reptilia: Scincidae) - an endemic skink from Andhra Pradesh, India. Zoos'Print, 20, 1865 - 1866. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.11609 / JoTT. ZPJ. 1307.1865 - 6","Mausfeld, P. & Schmitz, A. (2003) Molecular phylogeography, intraspecific variation and speciation of the Asian scincid lizard genus Eutropis Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Reptilia: Scincidae): taxonomic and biogeographic implications. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 3, 161 - 171. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1078 / 1439 - 6092 - 00068","Datta-Roy, A., Singh, M., Srinivasulu, C. & Karanth, K. P. (2012) Phylogeny of the Asian Eutropis (Squamata: Scincidae) reveals an ' into India' endemic Indian radiation. Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution, 63, 817 - 824. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1016 / j. ympev. 2012.02.022"]}

Eutropis beddomei (Jerdon, 1870) (Figures 1���5, Tables 1, 2) Synonym. Euprepes [sic] (Tiliqua) septemlineatus Blanford, 1870 Holotype (by monotypy). Adult male, BMNH 1946.8. 19.17, ���Mysore���, Karnataka State, India, collected by Thomas Claverhill Jerdon prior to 1870. Other specimens examined (n = 20). Sri Lanka: Pundalu Oya: BMNH 1905.3. 25.21 (SVL 57.0 mm); Polonnaruwa: NMSL uncatalogued. India: Berar, Madhya Pradesh: ZSI 2354 (SVL 53.6 mm), 2355 (SVL 52.8 mm), 2356 (SVL 43.4 mm; holotype of Euprepes septemlineatus); Tamil Nadu: ZSI 12921 (SVL 54.8 mm); BMNH 1882.5.22.106��� 108 (SVL 55.8 mm, 53.5 mm, 52.0 mm respectively); 1874.4.29.141��� 145 (SVL 54.5 mm, 55.1 mm, 51.8 mm, 56.8 mm, 50.0 mm respectively); Kerala: ZSI 21872 (SVL 57.3 mm), 21873 a���b (SVL 51.4 mm, 46.7 mm respectively); BMNH 1874.4.29.1296b���d (SVL 43.5 mm, 41.2 mm, 41.4 mm respectively); Maharashtra: BMNH 1874.4. 29.1452 (SVL 50.0 mm). Diagnosis. The following combination of characters distinguishes Eutropis beddomei from all other Indian and Sri Lankan congeners: five pale vertebral stripes on the back, divided (scaly) lower-eyelid disc, 29���34 midbody scale rows, 48���54 paravertebral scales, 53���59 ventrals, three (rarely four) keels on dorsal scales, 12���16 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe and a single pair of large smooth nuchals (Figs. 1���3). Description of holotype. Male, SVL 50.0 mm. Head moderately large (head length 22.4 % of SVL, head length 41.8 % of axilla-groin distance), narrow (head width 65.2 % of head length, head width 14.6 % of SVL), indistinct from neck; snout short (snout length 35.7 % of head length, snout length 54.8 % of head width), slightly concave in lateral profile; rostral shield large, hemispherical, distinctly visible from above, posterior margin of midpoint curved towards the internasal; frontonasal completely separated from rostral by internasals in wide contact; frontonasal narrow, lateral border touching first loreal; prefrontals in contact and completely separated from the frontal and the frontonasal, distance along the longitudinal axis of frontonasal equals length of prefrontals, lower border touching both loreal scales, the posterior border touching the first supraocular, and frontal; frontal large, elongate, subtriangular, rounded posteriorly, shorter in length than combined frontoparietals and interparietal; two frontoparietals in contact, distinct, each larger than interparietal; interparietal with a grey coloured parietal eye (pineal eye); parietals large and completely separated by interparietal, touching temporal scales laterally; single pair of nuchals, overlapping mid-dorsally behind interparietal. Nostril large and placed in the middle of nasal; two loreals, anterior touching internasal, frontonasal and prefrontal; posterior loreal longer than anterior loreal in the longitudinal axis, touching prefrontal and first supracilliary; five preoculars, 3 rd largest; eye large (orbit diameter 15.2 % of head length), orbit diameter smaller than tympanum-eye length, pupil rounded; interorbital distance broad; three postoculars; four wide supraoculars, second supraocular is the longest in the longitudinal axis and the widest in the transverse axis and is in full contact with the frontal; first supraocular in contact with prefrontal; 2 nd and 3 rd supraoculars in contact with frontoparietals; 4 th supraoculars in contact with frontoparietal, parietal, and upper pretemporal scale; three pretemporals; six supracilliaries; moveable eyelid covered with a transparent disc divided into five segments. Six supralabials, fifth largest and at mid orbit position (5 th and 6 th touching eye); three primary temporals, three secondary temporals; six infralabials; ear opening deep, small, near spherical and approximately one quarter of eye diameter; six short pre-auricular lobes on each anterior tympanum. Mental large; a single large postmental followed by two chin shield pairs, the first pair not meeting along midline, the first chinshield in contact with first and second infralabial scales, the second pair in contact with second and third infralabials (Fig. 3). Body slender, elongate (axilla-groin distance 53.6 % of SVL); with the exception of head shields, nuchal pair and first row of dorsal scales, all body scales are tricarinate; all scales are imbricate and lack apical pits; midbody scale rows 33; paravertebral scale rows 50; ventrals 59; five enlarged preanal scales. Forelimbs short; dorsal and ventral surfaces of forelimbs smooth; hind limbs relatively long (thigh length 11.4 % of SVL, shank length 14.0% of SVL); thigh short and 81.4 % of shank length; dorsal surfaces of hind limbs keeled; subdigital lamellae on toe IV, 14; relative length of fingers: IV> III> II> V> I; that of toes: IV> III> V> II> I. Tail broken, median scale row of subcaudals attached to the body subequal while the median row of broken tail is enlarged, wider than length. Variation. The variation between the holotype and other examined materials are shown in Table 1. Colouration in preservative. Based on the holotype. Dorsal head, body and limbs dark brown, snout and frontal yellowish brown. Five pale longitudinal stripes present on the body (one mid-dorsal and two laterally/on each side), the three bands on the mid-dorsum are light, grayish-brown while the two bands on lateral side are cream. The three mid-dorsal bands begin at the first dorsal scale and extend to the tail, while the two lateral bands (one on each side) start behind the eye and extend to the tail over the tympanum and limbs. Each of these five bands covers a width of, approximately, one scale or less. Lateral body, belly and subcaudals creamy white. Colouration in life. The live body colouration is more or less the same as in preserved specimen. Further characters are visible in Figures 1 and 2. Comparison with other species. Congeners from mainland India and Sri Lanka have the following suite of characters that distinguish them from Eutropis beddomei. Unlike E. beddomei, E. bibronii, E. dissimilis, E. innotata, and E. nagarjuni have undivided lower-eyelid discs (vs. divided/scaly). Eutropis beddomei has three keels on its dorsal scales (vs. 5���7 keels in E. trivittata; and 6 or 7 keels in E. tammanna). Eutropis carinata, E. multifasciata, and E. rudis have a uniform olive-brown dorsum lacking clearly visible bands; and E. madaraszi has a pale dorsolateral stripe from supralabials to midtail (vs. five pale complete or incomplete vertebral stripes). Eutropis clivicola has 17���19 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe (vs. 14���16). Eutropis gansi has 41 ventrals (vs. 55���59). E. macularia and E. floweri have 34���37 and E. quadricarinata has 41���43 paravertebral scales (vs. 48���54). Distribution and natural history. From the specimens we examined, Eutropis beddomei is recorded from Tamil Nadu State (Anantagiri, Chennai), Madhya Pradesh (SE Berar), Odisha State (Ghatgaon), and Kerala State (Palghat) in India. Additional data regarding its distribution in peninsular India were recently summarized by Srinivasulu et al. (2014). In Sri Lanka we observed this species from Polonnaruwa District: Kalu-Kale (7 �� 46 ' 37.67 " N, 81 ��˚03' 29.96 "E, alt. 60 m), Polonnaruwa (7 �� 46 ' 72.91 " N, 81 ��˚03' 37.72 "E, alt. 53 m); Monaragala District: Maldam-Ambe (7 �� 12 ' 30.21 " N, 81 �� 18 ' 52.97 "E, alt. 220 m), Nilgala (7 �� 11 'N, 81 �� 18 'E, alt. 200 m); Ampara District: Gal Oya (7 �� 13 'N, 81 �� 22 'E, alt. 100 m); Trincomalee District: Gantalawa (8 �� 26 '02.37" N, 81 �� 18 ' 52.97 "E, alt. 27 m); Kegalle District: Uda Maliboda (6 �� 53 '01.58" N, 80 �� 26 ' 31.18 "E, alt. 300 m); Mullaitivu District: Nanthi Kadal (9 �� 17 'N, 80 �� 46 'E; pers. comm. D.K. Kandambi with photographic evidence) (Fig. 4). Based on our observations, E. beddomei is a diurnal skink active between 7:00 and 16:00 hrs. It is able to move very quickly on dry sandy soil. It usually occurs up to an elevation of 300 m. The environmental parameters in their microhabitat during the day time are as follows: ambient temperature, 30.2���31.5 ˚C; ambient humidity, 58���64 %; ambient light intensity, 3428���4047 lux based on eight observations in open, dry shrub areas (at Polonnaruwa and Gantalawa, Sri Lanka). According to field observations, its diet consists mostly of brown coloured grasshoppers, small ground and litter-dwelling spiders, coleopteran beetles, noisy crickets and several other small insects. At night, this species hides under rocks, logs or leaf litter. The environmental parameters in the microhabitat at night are as follows: ambient temperature, 27.8���28.4 ˚C; ambient humidity, 68���75 %; and ambient light intensity, 17���28 lux based on three observations in open dry shrub areas (at Maldam-Ambe, Sri Lanka). During the morning hours (7:00��� 10:00 hr) they are actively foraging, but during the afternoon (12:00��� 14:00 hr) they rest in shady places. Information on the reproductive cycle of this species is unknown. We observed this species living in sympatric with other skink species such as Eutropis carinata, E. macularia, E. tammanna, Lankascincus fallax and Lygosoma punctata in a variety of different habitats. During the day individuals are able to escape quickly and hide in root holes, under grasses, in earth crevices, under dry stones or logs when disturbed. At night, we observed them sleeping under stones or logs, buried under white coloured sandy soil. Forest fragmentations are identified as major threats. Forest clearing and the burning of bush lands for farming, plowing the soil using heavy vehicles, and the use of the pesticides also adversely affect survival of this skink. We observed several species as natural predators��� birds: southern coucal (Centropus parroti), common mynah (Acridotheres tristis), and white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis); snakes: Indian krait (Bungarus caeruleus), buff-striped keelback (Amphiesma stolatum), green vine-snake (Ahaetulla nasuta), common bronzeback (Dendrelaphis tristis), and Merrem���s hump-nosed viper (Hypnale hypnale); lizards: juvenile land monitors (Varanus bengalensis). Conservation status (Sri Lanka). The result of the application to the IUCN Red List (2013) criteria B 2 ab (ii, iii) indicates that the Eutropis beddomei population in Sri Lanka is Vulnerable (VU). It is restricted to an area of occupancy (AOO), Published as part of Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Campbell, Patrick D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Raha, Sujoy, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S. & Ineich, Ivan, 2016, Taxonomy and natural history of Eutropis beddomei (Jerdon, 1870) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including a redescription of the holotype, pp. 509-520 in Zootaxa 4132 (4) on pages 511-517, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4132.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/255643, {"references":["Jerdon, T. C. (1870) Notes on Indian Herpetology. Proceedings of Asiatic Society of Bengal, March 1870, 66 - 85.","Blanford, W. T. (1870) Notes on some Reptilia and Amphibia from Central India. Journal of Asiatic Society Bengal, 39, 335 - 376.","Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B. & Molur, S. (2014) The Status and Distribution of Reptiles in the Western Ghats, India. Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP). Wildlife Information Laision Development Society, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu."]}

Ineich, Ivan, Fisher, Robert N. (2016): Rediscovery of the 220 - year-old holotype of the Banded Iguana, Brachylophus fasciatus (Brongniart, 1800) in the Paris Natural History Museum. Zootaxa 4138 (2): 381-391, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4138.2.10

Eutropis bibronii (Gray, 1838) (Figs. 1���4; Tables 1���3) Rachite de Bibron Cocteau, 1837 (nomen nudum) Tiliqua bibronii Gray, 1838 Gongylus (Eumeces) bibronii A.M.C. Dum��ril & Bibron, 1839 Euprepis trilineatus Gray, 1846 Syntypes (two specimens). Adult male (hemipenes partially everted), MNHN-RA 2940, SVL 50.0 mm; Adult female, MNHN-RA 7076, SVL 48.5 mm; ��� South Africa ��� (in error), collector and date unknown; here we suggest the type locality as Madras, South India based on the type locality of the syntypes for Euprepis trilineatus, a confirmed synonym of E. bibronii. Diagnosis. The following combination of characters distinguishes Eutropis bibronii from all other Indian congeners: two dark paravertebral stripes separated by a pale median stripe on the back, undivided lower-eyelid disc, single postnasal, 28���30 midbody scale rows, 37���41 paravertebral scale rows, 46���52 ventrals, 5 keels on dorsal scales, 15���19 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe, two long pre-auricular lobules on each anterior tympanum, prefrontals slightly or broadly separated, two pairs of large nuchals (rarely three). Redescription of the syntypes. Characters of the male syntype (MNHN-RA 2940) are followed, where appropriate, by those of the female syntype (MNHN-RA 7076) in brackets. Male, SVL 50.0 mm, tail length 76.0 mm (female, SVL 48.5 mm, tail length 59 mm); head moderately large, head length 22.6% of SVL (21.8%), head length 45.7% of axilla-groin distance (44.7%), narrow, head width 60.2% of head length (55.7%), head width 13.6% of SVL (12.2%), indistinct from neck; snout short, snout length 42.5% of head length (37.7%), snout length 70.6% of head width (67.8%), slightly concave in lateral profile; rostral shield large, hemispherical, distinctly visible from above, posterior margin of midpoint curved towards the frontonasal; frontonasal slightly separated from rostral by slightly separated supranasals; frontonasal narrow, lateral border touching first loreal; prefrontals broadly (slightly) separated, and the frontal and the frontonasal in contact, distance along the longitudinal axis of frontonasal equals the prefrontals in length, lower border touching both loreal scales, the posterior border touching the first supraocular, and frontal; frontal large, elongate, subtriangular, rounded posteriorly, equal in length of combined frontoparietals and interparietal; two frontoparietals in contact, distinct, larger than interparietal; parietals large and completely separated by interparietal, touching temporals laterally; two pairs of keeled nuchals, overlapping middorsally behind interparietal; interparietal with faint grey coloured parietal eye (pineal eye). Nostril large and situated posteriorly on a single nasal plate; single postnasal; loreals two, anterior loreal touching supranasal, frontonasal and prefrontal; posterior loreal longer than the anterior loreal in the longitudinal axis, touching prefrontal and first supraciliary; presuboculars two; eye large, orbit diameter 23.9% of head length (20.7%), orbit diameter smaller than tympanum-eye length, pupil rounded; interorbital distance broad; postoculars two; four wide supraoculars, second is the longest in the longitudinal axis and the widest in the transverse axis and fully contacts the frontal; first supraocular in contact with prefrontal; third and fourth supraoculars in contact with frontoparietals; fourth supraocular in contact with frontoparietal, parietal, and supraciliaries; two pretemporals; supraciliaries six; moveable eyelid covered with an undivided transparent disc. Supralabials six, fifth largest at mid orbit position; primary temporals three, secondary temporals three; infralabials six; ear opening deep, small, near spherical and approximately one quarter of eye diameter; two long pre-auricular lobules on each anterior tympanum, upper one longest. Mental large; a single large postmental followed by two chin shield pairs, the first chin shield in contact with 2nd and 3rd infralabial scales, the second pair in contact with 3rd and 4th infralabials. Parietals and nuchals multicarinate, all body scales with five keels per scale; all scales imbricate and lacking apical pits; body slender, elongate, axilla-groin distance 49.4% of SVL (48.9%); midbody scale rows 28; paravertebral scale rows 41; ventrals 49 (damaged); five enlarged preanal scales. Fore-limbs short, hind limbs relatively long, thigh length 15.0% of SVL (14.6%), shank length 15.2% of SVL (13.2%); thigh short and 98.7% of shank length (thigh long, 110.9%); scales on the dorsal surface of fore-limbs, thigh, and shank strongly carinate; subdigital lamellae on toe IV 16 (19); relative length of fingers: IV> III> II> V> I; those of toes: IV> III> V> II> I. Tail complete, original (regenerated), median scale row of subcaudals similar to body scales while the median row of the regenerated tail is enlarged, wider than long. Colouration. After more than 178 years in preservative fluid, dorsal head, body and limbs dark brown. Two dark vertebral stripes on the back separated by a median pale stripe, two additional dark stripes situated laterally and commencing from posterior eye to posterior member level approximately; the vertebral stripes extend up to mid body point and then fading away; the lateral stripes extend to flank over tympanum and end on the hind limbs. The medio-dorsal band covers a distance of approximately half to one scale width, whereas the lateral band is larger and covers a distance of 1 to 1.5 scale width ��� the second band is also much more visible anteriorly and fades away posteriorly. Lateral body and belly creamy white including subcaudals. Comparison. Related congeners from India and Sri Lanka have suites of characters that distinguish them from Eutropis bibronii. Eutropis bibronii is most similar to E. nagarjunensis (characters in brackets), but it can be distinguished from the latter by having narrow vertebral stripes (broad); 28���30 midbody scale rows (33���35); 15���19 subdigital lamellae under fourth toe (21���24). Unlike E. bibronii, E. andamanensis (Smith, 1935) [Andaman Islands]; E. beddomei [Sri Lanka and India]; E. carinata (Schneider, 1801) [Sri Lanka and India]; E. clivicola (Inger, Shaffer, Koshy & Bakde, 1984) [Western Ghats, Peninsular India]; E. floweri (Taylor, 1950) [Sri Lanka]; E. gansi (Das, 1991) [Western Ghats, Peninsular India]; E. macularia (Blyth, 1853) [Sri Lanka and India]; E. madaraszi (M��hely, 1897) [Sri Lanka]; E. multifasciata (Kuhl, 1820) [Northeast India and Sundaland]; E. quadricarinata Boulenger, 1887 [Northeast India]; E. rugifera (Stoliczka, 1870) [Nicobar Islands and Sundaland]; E. tammanna Das, de Silva & Austin, 2008 [Sri Lanka]; E. tytleri (Theobald, 1868) [Andaman Islands]; and E. trivittata (Hardwicke & Gray, 1827) [India] has a scaly lower-eyelid disc (vs. undivided and transparent eyelid disc). E. dissimilis (Hallowell, 1857) [North India] has 47���52 paravertebrals (vs. 37���41). E. innotata (Blanford, 1870) [India] has a single pair of nuchals (vs. two or three pairs). E. novemcarinata (Anderson, 1871) [Northeast India and Burma] has nine keels on dorsal scales (vs. five)., Published as part of Thasun, A. A., Campbell, Patrick D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Raha, Sujoy, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S. & Ineich, Ivan, 2016, Taxonomy of two endemic Indian skinks, Eutropis bibronii (Gray, 1838) and E. nagarjunensis (Sharma, 1969) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including redescriptions of their types, pp. 155-168 in Zootaxa 4154 (2) on pages 157-158, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4154.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/257560, {"references":["Cocteau, J. - T. (1837) Tabulae synopticae Scincoiderum. Annales des sciences naturelles, 2 eme Serie. (Zoologie), 7, 124 - 126.","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1839) Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. V. Paris, Roret, 854 pp.","Gray, J. E. (1846) Descriptions of some new species of Indian Lizards. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 18, 429 - 430. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1080 / 037454809494450","Smith, M. A. (1935) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1887) Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. Trustees of the British Museum, London, 575 pp."]}

Thasun, A. A., Campbell, Patrick D., Chandramouli, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Raha, Sujoy, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Ineich, Ivan (2016): Taxonomy of two endemic Indian skinks, Eutropis bibronii (Gray, 1838) and E. nagarjunensis (Sharma, 1969) (Reptilia: Scincidae), including redescriptions of their types. Zootaxa 4154 (2): 155-168, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4154.2.3

Vogel, Gernot, Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan (2016): Resurrection of Pseudorabdion torquatum (A. M. C. Duméril, Bibron & A. H. A. Duméril, 1854), a former synonym of P. longiceps (Cantor, 1847) (Colubridae: Calamariinae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Zootaxa 4121 (3): 337-345, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4121.3.8

Results and discussion The original description by Alexandre Brongniart (1800). Named ���Iguane �� bandes���, Banded iguana, Brongniart (1800) noted in the description of this lizard that the only specimen he had on hand (thus, the holotype by monotypy) had a shorter second lighter band on its back that did not extend entirely to the belly (�� la seconde [bande dorsale] plus courte ��) on either side, thus having the appearance of a saddle (Fig. 1). The size of that unique specimen was, according to the original text, about 15 cm snout-vent length and a tail length three times longer than body length. These mensural data and this uncommon banding pattern allowed us to check the seven MNHN-RA historic specimens (18 th and 19 th century specimens only) and to determine if a specimen with such size and banding exists among them. The holotype of Brongniart was collected by Claude Gaspard Antoine Riche during the travel around the world of Antoine Reymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux from 1791 to 1794 in the search of La P��rouse. Riche died very young (35 years old) and Georges Cuvier himself wrote a laudatory biography of that exceptional man (Cuvier 1797). The voyage was made by two vessels, ��� La Recherche ��� and ��� L���Esp��rance ���, the latter with Claude Riche on board as naturalist. That expedition did not visit Fiji but only ���Tonga-Tabou��� (Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga) from 23 March 1793 to 10 April 1793 before continuing to New Caledonia. The drawing upon which the plate in the original description of 1800 (Fig. 1 A; Planche VI in the original description placed between pages 92��� 93 but not numbered) was made by Mar��chal, certainly based on the preserved type specimen deposited in the private collection of Brongniart at that time, as reported by Daudin (1802) (see below). On that plate is written for Fig. 1: �� 2 / 3 de la grandeur naturelle �� = 2 / 3 rd of the original size. Riche certainly only collected one unique specimen and he did not make a written description of the living specimen (since all descriptions refer to a blue coloration which corresponds to the green life colour faded into blue once the lizard was preserved in alcohol from several months). That first description dated 1800 is valid and we agree with Brygoo (1989) that the species description should be attributed to Brongniart (1800) and not to Brongniart (1805). Brachylophus fasciatus (Brongniart, 1800) and subsequent authors. Shortly after the original description, Daudin (1802) removed the species from Iguana and placed it in Agama. On page 354, he wrote �� Sous la base de chaque cuisse il y a une rang��e de six grains poreux. �� = 6 pores under the base of each thigh. Total length about 2 feet. Later he noted that �� le cou est mouchet�� en dessus par environ vingt-quatre petites taches arrondies, d���un bleu p��le; et il a en dessous d���autres taches plus petites d���un bleu fonc�� �� = the neck is spotted above by about 24 small rounded pale blue spots; it has other dark blue smaller spots below. Daudin (1802) also noted �� quatre bandes d���un bleu foible [= faible], transversales, plus larges sur les flancs, et dont la seconde est plus courte �� (= four transverse bands of light blue, larger on the flanks and among which the second is shorter). Like Brongniart (1800; 1805), Daudin (1802) also did not specify the side of the body on which the dorsal band is shorter, thus suggesting it is shorter on both sides and saddle-like. He also indicated (page 355) the location of the unique specimen he examined: �� Cet agame fait partie de la collection d���histoire naturelle de mon ami Alexandre Brongniart, qui a bien voulu me le communiquer �� = This agama is part of the private natural history collection of my friend Alexandre Brongniart who was so kind as to loan it to me. The examination made by Daudin corresponds without any doubt to the type specimen previously described by Brongniart two years earlier. The holotype is distinguishable by its second lighter midbody band which is interrupted on both sides rather than continuous onto the belly like the other bands. This character is very uncommon in B. fasciatus. Brongniart (1805) later noted the �� seconde bande du corps plus courte �� = second body band shorter. He indicated the size of the holotype as �� environ 7 d��cim��tres de long du museau �� l���extr��mit�� de la queue �� = about 7 decimeters (70 cm) long from snout to tail end, and also �� queue annel��e mais brune �� son extr��mit�� �� = tail annulated but brown at its end, �� La queue est pr��s de trois fois aussi longue que le corps �� = Tail is about three times as long as the body. In that second text, published five years after the original description, Brongniart (1805) again noted separately that the second body dorsal band does not reach the belly or that second lighter body band is shorter. Note also that although both plates of Brongniart (1800; 1805) were made by Mar��chal and represent the same specimen, they are not identical (Fig. 1). At that time it was not really expensive to produce different engravings for plates in publications and authors often used several distinct plates in different issues of their publications to illustrate the same specimen (R. Bour, pers. comm.). The particular second dorsal saddle-like lighter band not reaching the belly is clearly visible on the left and right side of the animal in both plates illustrating Brongniart���s holotype (1800; 1805) [see Fig. 1]. Dum��ril and Bibron (1837: 226���229) noted that in Brachylophus fasciatus the top of some femoral scales is pierced by a pore. They counted 8���9 pores in males. Measurements of only one specimen are indicated as: 74 ���, total length. 12 ���, body length. 4 ���, head length. 54 ���, tail length. Those measurements contain a mistake since body length + head length + tail length should be equal to total length. Thus 12 + 4 + 54 = 70 and not 74 cm. If we consider total length (74 cm), tail length (54 cm) and body length [without head] (12 cm) as correct, and that the mistake was made only in head length measurement (8 cm is right and not 4 cm as indicated), those measurements correspond to MNHN-RA 2372 and not to MNHN-RA 6812 (see Table 3). The former was collected by Quoy and Gaimard between 1826 and 1829 thus after the description of Iguana fasciata and the latter specimen has no data in MNHN-RA catalogues. Additionally MNHN-RA 2372 as measured by us is 19.2 cm SVL and represents the largest known Brachylophus fasciatus (see also Gibbons, 1981; Pregill & Dye 1989). The second and third largest specimens known are also from Tonga and are 18.2 and 17.9 cm, this is out of 70 B. fasciatus measured from Fiji (Fisher, unpub. data). Dum��ril and Bibron (1837) clearly examined several specimens but did not note that one of them had an incomplete mid-dorsal lighter band, as indicated several times by Brongniart (1800; 1805) for his holotype specimen. Thus, they certainly did not examine the holotype of Brongniart at that time. Dum��ril and Bibron (1837: 229) noted Tongatapu as the source of Quoy and Gaimard material, but incorrectly indicated the overall distribution for the species as ���Indes orientales, et dans quelques ��les de la Nouvelle-Guin��e��� (East Indies and some islands of New Guinea). In the 1851 catalogue of A.M.C. Dum��ril and A.H.A. Dum��ril, seven specimens are listed in the MNHN-RA collection (see Table 1). These authors also reported a specimen of Brachylophus fasciatus from: �� Ile Wallis (arch. Oua-Horn, Oc��anie): M. Arnoux �� [the main island, Wallis is also called ���Uvea, certainly indicated by ���Oua���] and another collected by ���Leguillou��� (original spelling is Le Guillou) with unknown origin but from ���Oceania���; they also noted the existence of three specimens collected by Quoy and Gaimard from Tongatabou (arch. des Amis [Friendly Islands] or Tonga, Oceania), another specimen from Arnoux also from Tonga and one specimen without any data from Oceania (MNHN-RA 6812). This is the only specimen without collection date whereas all others were collected after Brongniart���s original description according to their catalogue data. This mysterious specimen, if in agreement with Brongniart���s type specimen, could originate from the private collection of Brongniart. MNHN-RA 6812 was most likely still in the private collection of A. Brongniart and not available to Dum��ril and Bibron in 1837 (Dum��ril & Bibron 1837). We suspect that the whole or part of the private herpetological collection of Brongniart (1770���1847) arrived at MNHN-RA only after his death in 1847 and before 1851 since our suspected holotype was included in the 1851 MNHN-RA catalogue list (Dum��ril & Dum��ril 1851). The holotype of another species described by Brongniart in 1800 in the same publication, Chamaeleo bifidus Brongniart, 1800 [Furcifer bifidus] is also present in MNHN-RA collections, thus supporting the assumption that Brongniart���s types were given to MNHN-RA collections. An unpublished hand-written catalogue in the MNHN-RA Amphibian and Reptile collection begun ca. 1864 reveals (on p. 122) that six specimens present today (see below) were also present in 1864 (except the specimen from Wallis; Table 1) and also that MNHN-RA 5283 from Fiji, collected by Henri Filhol, arrived later, in 1876, and was registered on a subsequent page. Filhol was a member of one of the expeditions sent to observe the transit of Venus in 1874���1875. He travelled to Campbell Island and New Zealand, passing through Fiji where he collected several reptiles. Among them was Labionaris filholi Brocchi, 1876, an endemic elapid species named in his honour, but which had been previously described as Ogmodon vitianus Peters, 1864 and thus has to be considered as a synonym (see Zug & Ineich 1993). His MNHN-RA Brachylophus specimen can be identified as a typical B. bulabula endemic to Fiji (see Table 2 below). As in the previous 1851 catalogue (see above; Dum��ril & Dum��ril 1851), there is no collecting locality or collector noted in the 1864 catalogue for MNHN-RA 6812. The specimen indicated as from Wallis arrived in MNHN-RA collections before 1851 and is listed in both catalogues as having arrived in November 1846. In his type catalogue of the lizards in MNHN-RA collections, Guib�� (1954) did not consider Brachylophus fasciatus or Iguana fasciata. This indicated that he regarded the type as never having been present in the MNHN- RA collections. Gibbons (1981: 157) also noted earlier that ���Since there is no record of this specimen in Guib�����s (1954) list of lizard types in the Paris Museum, it appears to have been lost, or to have remained in Brongniart���s private collection���. Later in the catalogue of the iguanid type specimens of MNHN-RA collections, Brygoo (1989) indicated that the specimen figured on Pl. 6, fig. 1 of Brongniart (1800) is the holotype but that it should be considered lost since there is no indication that a specimen was collected by Riche or given by Brongniart to the MNHN-RA collections. Brygoo (1989: 43) also agreed that the genus Brachylophus should be attributed to Cuvier in Gu��rin-M��neville (1829). Both Etheridge (1982) and Hollingsworth (2004) in their checklists of iguanids indicated that no type was designated by Brongniart (1800) for fasciatus and both also list the Horn Islands (Wallis and Futuna) record based on Dum��ril and Dum��ril (1851). Specimens present in MNHN-RA collections on April 2015. As in the 1851 catalogue of Dum��ril and Dum��ril, only seven specimens of Brachylophus were present in the MNHN-RA collections on April 2015. However, there are some differences in specimen composition: three specimens from Quoy and Gaimard and one specimen from Le Guillou in the 1851 catalogue versus two specimens from Quoy and Gaimard and two specimens from Le Guillou in collections and catalogues on April 2015. That problem cannot be solved and there is no way to know which is the correct composition of the original collection. Note also that the seventh specimen now present in MNHN-RA collections (MNHN-RA 5283) was collected on Fiji by Filhol but was only acquired in 1876 as indicated above. Thus, there is clearly one specimen that was lost between 1851 (seven specimens without that of Filhol) and today (seven specimens with that of Filhol) and that specimen is the one reported from the Horn Islands above (Table 1). This one is especially significant as it represents the only record for the genus from that island chain (Wallis and Futuna Islands). A first step in our investigation was to check if its collector, Arnoux, really visited Wallis and Futuna Islands. Louis Arnoux (1814���1867) was a marine physician and thus participated on several expeditions (Anonymous no date; Serra-Tosio 1996). From 1842 to 1846 he travelled as a young chief surgeon (less than 28 years old) on the circumnavigatory voyage of the corvette ��� Le Rhin���. That ship had to take over the ship ��� L���Allier��� which was stationed in New Zealand. The logs of the corvette captain, Auguste B��rard, indicate that both Wallis and Futuna islands were visited between June and July 1845 just before traveling to New Caledonia in September and October 1845. Tonga was visited from 29 May to 14 June 1845, chiefly Tongatapu from 7 to 14 June. Wallis Island (sometimes called Uvea Island) was visited from 18 June to 4 July 1845 with a short trip to Futuna Island (the later together with Alofi Island called Horn (or Horne) Islands) located about 135 miles southwest of Wallis. Another MNHN-RA hand-written catalogue dated 1839���1864 (page 99) indicated that Arnoux donated two Brachylophus specimens in November 1846 (Fig. 2). One of these, that reported from the Horn Islands, must now be considered lost but the second (MNHN-RA 6809) clearly originated from Tonga (according to catalogue indications) and is referable to B. fasciatus (see Table 2). The donations by Louis Arnoux to the MNHN-RA collections are peculiar. They contain numerous specimens from Oceania with wrong localities and several nomenclatural problems have arisen from those mistakes. One of the most famous is Gymnodactylus arnouxii Dum��ril, 1851, collected by Arnoux and erroneously indicated as from New Zealand (where the species is absent), and which was considered as invalid despite its temporal priority over Nactus pelagicus (Girard, 1857), the valid binomen (ICZN 1991). A recent synthesis on Marquesas Islands specimens (Ineich in prep.) will show New Zealand endemic species indicated as from Marquesas Islands in Arnoux���s MNHN-RA collections. Most, if not all, of the specimens given by Arnoux to MNHN-RA have mixed localities. So even if the ��� Le Rhin ��� expedition went through Wallis and Futuna, there is a very high probability, given that the species has never again been reported from this island group, that the specimen reported as coming from there in Arnoux��� collection is in fact a specimen of B. fasciatus from Tonga. MNHN-RA 2372 and 6813 were collected during the first voyage of the ship L���Astrolabe (1826���1829) under the command of Jules S��bastien Dumont d���Urville with Jean Ren�� Constant Quoy as naturalist and physician and Joseph Paul Gaimard as naturalist and chief surgeon. That expedition visited both Tonga and Fiji but the two Brachylophus specimens they deposited in the MNHN-RA collections clearly indicate ���Tongatabou��� (Tongatapu) as the collection location. Both are typical Brachylophus fasciatus. The second expedition of Dumont d���Urville (1837���1840) was made with two ships, La Z��l��e (under command of Charles Hector Jacquinot with Elie Jean Fran��ois Le Guillou as naturalist (entomologist) and chief surgeon) and L���Astrolabe (under command of Jules S��bastien Dumont d���Urville with Jacques Bernard Hombron as naturalist and chief surgeon). That second expedition visited Samoa (Upolu [Apia]), ���Vavao��� (Vava���u Islands Group) and ���Hapai��� (Ha���apai Group) in the north of Tonga, and Fiji for a long time, particularly a Fijian island called Pao Island. Pao corresponds to the current Bau Island near the large island of Viti Levu where no Brachylophus population occurs but the nearby island of Viwa (also visited by the expedition) is still occupied by a population of B. bulabula. Thus MNHN-RA 2371 and MNHN-RA 6811, specimens from that expedition, could have originated from Viwa Island in Fiji. Both were collected by Le Guillou during the second voyage of Dumont d���Urville but are without reported collection locality. However, both Le Guillou specimens are females of B. bulabula and thus clearly originated from Fiji and not Tonga. Is the holotype of Brachylophus fasciatus (Brongniart, 1800) in MNHN-RA collections? MNHN-RA 6812 (the only specimen without data) is the most likely candidate to be the holotype of Brongniart (1800). It is clear that Dum��ril and Bibron (1837) did not have the specimen at hand and that later (Dum��ril & Dum��ril 1851) they did not know that this specimen was the holotype when writing their catalogue. The lizard arrived in the MNHN-RA collections after Brongniart���s death in 1847 without any data, not even Oceania. It was first reported in the collections when included in the 1851 catalogue (Dum��ril & Dum��ril 1851). Size (70 mm total length; see Table 3) and, most importantly, the atypical dorsal pattern with the interrupted second lighter saddle-like dorsal band (Figs. 3���4) are in total agreement with the descriptions of Brongniart (1800; 1805) and Daudin (1802). MNHN-RA 6812 is a typical specimen of Brachylophus fasciatus and, thus, it appears to be the one collected by Riche in Tongatapu in 1793 and described and figured in Brongniart (1800; 1805). The journey made by that expedition shows without doubt that the type locality of Brachylophus fasciatus has to be located in Tonga, on Tongatapu Island as indicated in the original description and not somewhere in Fiji, which was not visited by the expedition. Its coloration pattern today (lighter head spots) does not totally fit with the plates of Brongniart (1800; 1805), but differences are due to fading after more than 220 years in preservative, with some lighter spots disappearing (Figs. 1, 5), but also to the engraver who probably did not consider the position and number of the spots as important. We also checked the engraving with the opposite right side of the type specimen in the case engraving was mirrored but this seems not to be the case and differences were even greater. The abnormal mid-dorsal light band undoubtedly confirms MNHN-RA 6812 as the holotype described by Brongniart (1800). The specimen has 102 spines on its dorsal crest from above cloaca to the neck, thus bein, Published as part of Ineich, Ivan & Fisher, Robert N., 2016, Rediscovery of the 220 - year-old holotype of the Banded Iguana, Brachylophus fasciatus (Brongniart, 1800) in the Paris Natural History Museum, pp. 381-391 in Zootaxa 4138 (2) on pages 382-389, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4138.2.10, http://zenodo.org/record/259777, {"references":["Brongniart, A. (1800) Essai d'une classification naturelle des reptiles. Bulletin scientifique de la Societe Philomatique de Paris, Ventose, an 8 de la republique [3 eme annee, 2, n ° 12 (36)], N ° 36, 89 - 91, 1 pl.","Cuvier, G. (1797) Eloge historique de Cl. A. Gaspard Riche. Societe Philomatique de Paris, 13 decembre 1797, 377 - 424.","Daudin, F. M. (1802) Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere des Reptiles. Tome 4 & 5. F. Dufart ed., Paris, 452 pp., pls. XIX - XL, 397 pp.","Brygoo, E. - R. 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We report the first observations of the orange morph and new locality records for Atherissquamigera (Viperidae) in Gabon, and new Gabonese locality records, ecological data orunpublished museum material for Pelusios castaneus and P. chapini (Pelomedusidae),Kinixys erosa (Testudinidae), Trionyx triunguis (Trionychidae), Crocodylus niloticus,Mecistops cataphractus and Osteolaemus tetraspis (Crocodylidae), Agama agama and A.lebretoni (Agamidae), Chamaeleo dilepis, C. oweni and Rhampholeon spectrum(Chamaeleonidae), Hemidactylus echinus and H. mabouia (Gekkonidae), Gerrhosaurusnigrolineatus (Gerrhosauridae), Trachylepis maculilabris and T. p. polytropis (Scincidae),Varanus ornatus (Varanidae), Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, Dipsadoboa underwoodi,Hapsidophrys smaragdinus, Philothamnus carinatus and P. heterodermus, Rhamnophisaethiopissa, Thrasops flavigularis (Colubridae), Pseudohaje goldii (Elapidae), Aparallactusmodestus, Atractaspis boulengeri, Buhoma depressiceps, Hormonotus modestus,Psammophis cf. phillipsii (Lamprophiidae), Python sebae (Pythonidae), Indotyphlopsbraminus (Typhlopidae), Bitis nasicornis and Causus lichtensteinii (Viperidae). We add onespecies each to Estuaire, Haut-Ogooué and Ogooué-Ivindo provinces’ reptile lists. Twosnake species are added to Ivindo National Park, bringing the total number of reptile speciesrecorded from the park to 64, i.e., half of the species currently recorded from Gabon. Wedocument predation cases of Pycnonotus barbatus (Aves: Pycnonotidae) on Hemidactylusmabouia, Philothamnus heterodermus on Arthroleptis variabilis (Amphibia: Arthroleptidae),Hormonotus modestus on Hemidactylus mabouia, Psammophis cf. phillipsii onGerrhosaurus nigrolineatus, Causus lichtensteinii on Sclerophrys sp. (Amphibia:Bufonidae) and feeding of Varanus ornatus on spaghetti.

Sitana deccanensis Jerdon, 1870 (Figs. 5, 6, 8; Tables 1, 2, 4) Sitana ponticeriana deccanensis ��� Deraniyagala (1953). Sitana minor ���Schleich & K��stle (1998), Schleich et al. (1998), Anders & K��stle (2002) [partim]. Sitana ponticeriana ���Das & de Silva (2005) [partim], Manthey (2010) [partim]. Syntypes. Male, BMNH 1946.8. 27.39, SVL 67.6 mm, India, presented by J. E. Gray; male, BMNH 1946.8. 27.40, SVL 60.0 mm, India, presented by J. E. Gray. Note. We discovered the original type series of S. deccanensis (comprising two syntypes) among the syntypes of S. minor G��nther, 1864 and they probably got mixed up later (probably after 1870). Other Specimens examined. Males, MNHN 2568, MNHN 6903 ��� 4, respective SVL 62 mm, 69 mm, and 78 mm, ���Indes Orientales���, coll. Jacquemont; Male, MNHN 6023, SVL 74 mm, ���Bellari (Inde)���, coll. Chaper; Male, BMNH 1946.8. 27.41 (now paralectotype of S. minor; see below), India (Madras, in error), SVL 60 mm, presented by T. C. Jerdon. Diagnosis for adult males. Sitana deccanensis differs from each congener by having the following characters: S. bahiri sp. nov. : larger SVL above 60.0 mm (vs. smaller SVL 40.0���50.0 mm), snout shorter ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW (vs. longer, ES 54.7���57.4 % of HW), throat-fan longer ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG (vs. shorter, ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG), femur longer FEL 79.7���82.9 % of TBL (vs. shorter, FEL 70.6���75.3 % of TBL), foot shorter FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL (vs. longer, FOL 158.9���159.8 of HL), supralabials 12 (vs. 7���8), midbody scales 66���70 (vs. 49���56), subdigital lamellae on toe III 13 (vs. 14���17), subdigital lamellae on toe IV 19���23 (vs. 23���26), enlarged scales above the tympanum absent (vs. present), equal and regular lateral scales without intermediate enlarged scales (vs. unequal and irregular lateral scales with enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red patch extending to vent (vs. bleached orange colour patch), 3���4 bright stripes from snout and behind the eye up to the shoulders (vs. a single pale stripe from snout up to the shoulder); S. devakai sp. nov. : larger SVL above 60.0 mm (vs. smaller SVL 40.0��� 45.6 mm), snout shorter ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW (vs. longer, ES 57.2���63.2 % of HW), throatfan longer ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG (vs. shorter, ADW 29.9���32.5 % of AG), femur longer FEL 79.7���82.9 % of TBL (vs. shorter, FEL 72.2���78.4 % of TBL), foot shorter FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL (vs. longer, FOL 154.7���180.2 of HL), supralabials 12 (vs. 8���9), midbody scale rows 66���70 (vs. 57���59), ventral scales 82���92 (vs. 100���108), subdigital lamellae on toe III 13 (vs. 15���16), enlarged scales above the tympanum absent (vs. present), lateral scales without intermediate enlarged scales (vs. with enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red patch extending to vent (vs. bright red colour patch restricted to mid throat-fan), 3���4 bright stripes from snout and behind the eye up to the shoulders (vs. a single pale stripe from snout up to the shoulder); S. ponticeriana: larger SVL above 60.0 mm (vs. smaller SVL 48.0���49.0 mm), snout shorter ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW (vs. longer, ES 61.5���68.1 % of HW), throat-fan longer ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG (vs. shorter, ADW 31.1���54.7 % of AG), foot shorter FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL (vs. longer, FOL 150.9���175.5 % of HL), supralabials 12 (vs. 8���10), midbody scale rows 66���70 (vs. 50���54), ventral scales 82���92 (vs. 65���69), no enlarged scales above the tympanum (vs. present), equal and regular lateral scales without intermediate enlarged scales (vs. unequal and irregular lateral scales with enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red patch extending to vent (vs. bright red colour patch restricted to mid throat-fan); Sitana sivalensis complex: larger SVL above 60.0 mm (vs. smaller SVL of 35.0��� 44.5 mm), throat-fan extending up to the abdomen (vs. not extending to the level of the axilla), breeding-males with bright red patch extending to vent (vs. no such red colour patch). Description of syntype. (Based on BMNH 1946.8.27.39). An adult male, 67.6 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 28.7 % of SVL), elongate (HW 62.4 % of HL), narrow (HW 17.9 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout short (ES 53.1 % of HW); snout length somewhat greater than eye diameter (ED 91.7 % of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 20.1 % of HL); eye large (ED 30.4 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter being dorsoventrally, ear-opening with enlarged unkeeled scales anteriorly but not posteriorly, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 40.7 % of ED); no spines or enlarged scales above the tympanum, but the scales above the tympanum are keeled; diameter of eyes greater than eye to ear distance (ED 122.9 % of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, smaller than those of occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with the first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasal and three equal sized postrostral scales; two supranasals around nostrils on each side, three postnasals with the lower smallest and the middle largest, a single upper supralabial and one prenasal; nostrils oval and located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���, parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental subtriangular, approximately equal in length and width, posteriorlaterally in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a third smaller median gular scale preventing contact between them; first postmental pair bordered posteriorly by four smooth scales exclusive of infralabial. Throat-fan large, posterior scales reach mid venter (DWL 70.6 % of SVL, ADW 50.3 % of AG), margin of the anterior part of the throat-fan covered with smooth, overlapping, bluntly pointed scales, posterior part (from the middle of the throat to the midventer) with long, elongate and lanceolate bluntly pointed scales; throat scales rounded, smooth and overlapping; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials 12 (9 th in mid orbit position); infralabials 10, decreasing in size towards gape; scales on the throat-fan smooth but adjacent ventral scales slightly keeled and mucronate, overlapping. Body slender (AG 45.6 % of SVL); mid dorsal scales equal, keeled, elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight forming longitudinal continuous parallel ridges; scales on dorsum at midbody larger than those of venter at same level; lateral body scales equal, regular, keeled, mucronate, smaller than dorsals and without randomly distributed enlarged scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed backwards and upwards, dorsoventral ones directed backwards and downwards; 70 scales around midbody; pectoral scales not enlarged, keeled, mucronate, short and overlapping; abdominal scales enlarged and bluntly-pointed; ventral keels forming regular and parallel continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals 92. Upper arm somewhat shorter than lower arm (UAL 19.5 % of SVL; LAL 19.8 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 26.5 % of SVL; TBL 31.9 % of SVL; FEL 82.9 % of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs not enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm not enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh keeled, overlapping and mucronate; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and mucronate, 13 subdigital lamellae on the toe III, and 19 on toe IV; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 2> 5> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail incomplete (broken); tail base swollen, ventral scales and dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; remnant tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, keeled, overlapping. Colour in preserved specimen. Based on syntype, BMNH 1946.8. 27.39. Colouration and markings almost faded. General colouration whitish dorsally and ventrally with some scattered darker marks irregularly placed. Throat-fan with three colours: anterior 3 / 4 th light blue and black and posterior 1 / 4 th whitish. Colour in life. See following corresponding figures of S. deccanensis in Manthey (2010: 155���157): RA04103��� 111 identified as ��� Sitana sp. A���. See also the illustration [Atlas - plate 16, figure 2] of S. ponticeriana which was made by Duvernoy (1846) but which corresponds to S. deccanensis. Variation in the second syntype (BMNH 1946.8.27.40). 66 scale rows around midbody; ventrals, 83; subdigital lamellae on the toe IV, 23. Suggested common names. English name: Deccan Fan-throat Lizard; French name: Sitane du Deccan. Distribution. See map Fig. 9. South-western India, observed (not collected) populations referred to Sitana deccanensis from Belgaum in Karnataka State and Satara in Maharashtra State. Also see MNHN 6023 which was collected from Bellary in Karnataka State., Published as part of Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Botejue, W. Madhava S. & Campbell, Patrick D., 2015, Two new species of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka, including a taxonomic revision of the Indian Sitana species, pp. 67-98 in Zootaxa 3915 (1) on pages 81-84, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3915.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/287771, {"references":["Jerdon, T. C. (1870) Notes on Indian Herpetology. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society Bengal, 1870, 66 - 85.","Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1953) A Colored Atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Tetrapod Reptilia. Vol. 2. National Museums of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 101 pp.","Anders, C. & Kastle, W. (2002) Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal - Lizards and Crocodiles. Koeltz Scientific Books, Konigstein, 39 pp. [Schleich, H. H. & Kastle, W. (Eds.)]","Manthey, U. (2010) Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 2 & Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira & A. C. S. Glaser, Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 168 pp.","Gunther, A. C. L. G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. The Ray Society, London, 452 pp.","Duvernoy, L. G. (1846) Atlas (Les reptiles). Le Regne animal distribue d'apres son organisation, pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparee, plate 16."]}

Sitana bahiri sp. nov. Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunarathna (Figs. 1���3; Tables 1���3) Litana Ponticereana [sic]��� Kelaart (1854) [partim]. Sitana ponticeriana ��� Smith (1935) [partim]; Taylor (1957) [partim]; Wermuth (1967) [partim]; Manamendra-Arachchi & Liyanage (1994) [partim]; Erdelen (1998) [partim]; Das & de Silva (2005) [partim]; de Silva (2006) [partim]; Somaweera & Somaweera (2009) [partim]; Manthey (2010) [partim]. Sitana ponticeriana ponticeriana ��� Deraniyagala (1953) [partim]. Sitana ponticertiana [sic]��� Bahir & Surasinghe (2005) [partim]. Holotype. Male, WHT 1434 A, SVL 45.0 mm, collected at Block 1, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka (6 �� 22 ���N, 81 �� 31 ���E), alt. 5 m, by D. Gabadage, 27 May 1995. Paratypes. Males, WHT 7377, WHT 0206C���D, respective SVL 40.5 mm, 50.0 mm, and 48.8 mm, collected at Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka (6 o 11 ���N, 81 o 16 ���E), alt. 5 m, by A. Silva & K. Maduwage, 19 August 2006; Male, WHT 0 619, SVL 44.7 mm, collected at Weligatta-Bundala, Sri Lanka, by D. Gabadage, 27 May 1995; Male, ZMH R06344, SVL 43.3 mm, collected in S.E. Sri Lanka, gift from Nat. Mus. Basel, collector Sarasin, 13 December 1904; Females, WHT 195 A���B, respective SVL 46.8 mm and 46.9 mm, collected at Mahapelessa, Kirinda, Sri Lanka (6 �� 23 ���N, 81 �� 31 ���E), alt. 5 m, by D. Gabadage, 9 January 1993; Females, WHT 0206A���B, respective SVL 44.1 mm and 43.6 mm, collected at Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka, by D. Gabadage, 27 May 1995; Subadult male, WHT 1434 B, SVL 32.9 mm, collected at Block 1, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka (6 �� 22 ���N, 81 �� 31 ���E), alt. 5 m, by D. Gabadage, 27 May 1995; Subadult female, WHT 1434 C, SVL 34.0 mm, collected at Block 1, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka (6 �� 22 ���N, 81 �� 31 ���E), alt. 5 m, by D. Gabadage, 27 May 1995. Diagnosis for adult males. Sitana bahiri sp. nov. differs from all congeners by having the following characters: S. devakai sp. nov. (see below): shorter throat-fan ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG (vs. long, ADW 29.9���32.5 % of AG), midbody scale number 49���56 (vs. 57���59), ventral scale number 87���89 (vs. 100���108), abdominal scales bluntly pointed (vs. pointed), unequal and irregular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales (vs. equal and regular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales), breeding-males with bleached orange colour patch (vs. bright red colour patch); S. deccanensis: smaller SVL 40.0���50.0 mm (vs. large SVL, above 60.0 mm), longer snout ES 54.7���57.4 % of HW (vs. shorter, ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW), shorter throat-fan ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG (vs. longer, ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG), shorter femur FEL 70.6���75.3 % of TBL (vs. longer, FEL 79.7���82.9 % of TBL), longer foot FOL 158.9���159.8 of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL), supralabial number 7���8 (vs. 12), midbody scale number 49���56 (vs. 66���70), subdigital lamellae number on toe III 14���17 (vs. 13), subdigital lamellae number on toe IV 23���26 (vs. 19���23), enlarged scales above the tympanum present (vs. absent), unequal and irregular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales (vs. equal and regular lateral scales without enlarged scales), breeding-males with bleached orange colour patch (vs. bright red patch extending to vent), a single pale stripe from snout up to the shoulder (vs. 3���4 bright stripes from snout and behind the eye up to the shoulders); S. ponticeriana: snout shorter ES 54.7���57.4 % of HW (vs. longer, ES 61.5���68.1 % of HW), throatfan shorter ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG (vs. longer, ADW 31.1���54.7 % of AG), femur shorter FEL 70.6���75.3 % of TBL (vs. longer, FEL 80.0��� 84.8 % of TBL), number of ventral scales 87���89 (vs. 65���69), breeding-males with bleached orange colour patch (vs. bright red colour patch); Sitana sivalensis complex: throat-fan extending up to the chest (vs. not extending to the level of the axilla), foot longer FOL 158.9���159.8 of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 120.0��� 144.3 % of HL). Description. (based on holotype, WHT 1434 A). An adult male, 45.0 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 28.7 % of SVL), elongate (HW 60.6 % of HL), narrow (HW 17.4 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout short (ES 57.4 % of HW); snout length greater than eye diameter (ED 75.0% of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 14.9 % of HL); eye large (ED 26.1 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter being dorsoventrally, ear-opening with enlarged unkeeled scales anteriorly but not posteriorly, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 35.3 % of ED); no spines above the tympanum but an enlarged keeled scale above, separated from the tympanum by two smaller rows of scales; diameter of eyes greater than eye to ear distance (ED 117.0% of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, smaller in size than those of the occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area strongly keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with the first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasal and three postrostral scales which are unequal in size; two supranasals on each side, two postnasals among all approximately of equal size and one prenasal; nostril rounded and located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; two postnasals border the nasal, the upper one larger; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���, parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental pentagonal, its width and length approximately equal, posteriolaterally in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a smaller scale preventing contact between them; each postmental pair bordered posteriorly by three (left side) and four (right side) smooth scales including the medial scale, but exclusive of infralabial. Throat-fan small, its posterior scales not extending to mid venter (DWL 56.3 % of SVL, ADW 29.1 % of AG), margin of the anterior part of the throat-fan covered with smooth, overlapping, bluntly pointed scales, posterior part (from the middle of the throat to the midventer) with elongate, lanceolate bluntly pointed, keeled scales; throat scales elongate, smooth and overlapping; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials 7 (6 th located in mid orbit position); infralabials 8, decreasing in size towards gape; scales on the throat-fan smooth but adjacent ventral scales keeled and mucronate, overlapping. Body slender (AG 44.8 % of SVL); mid dorsal scales enlarged, equal, keeled, not elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight, forming longitudinal, continuous parallel ridges; scales on dorsum at midbody larger in size than those of venter at the same level; lateral body scales unequal, irregular, keeled, mucronate, smaller than dorsals and with randomly distributed enlarged and mucronate keeled scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed upwards and backwards, dorsoventral ones directed downwards and backwards; 48 scales around midbody; pectoral scales enlarged, elongate and keeled; abdominal scales not enlarged, keeled, and bluntlypointed; ventral keels forming regular and parallel continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals, 87. Upper arm shorter than lower arm (UAL 16.5 % of SVL; LAL 18.8 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 25.2 % of SVL; TBL 35.6 % of SVL; FEL 70.6 % of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs enlarged, elongate, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and bluntly ended; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh slightly keeled, overlapping and bluntly ended; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and tri-mucronate, subdigital lamellae on the toe III, 16 and toe IV, 25; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 5> 2> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail incomplete (broken); tail base swollen, ventral scales on tail base rounded and keeled; dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, keeled, and overlapping. Colour in preserved specimen. Dorsum dark brown with a darker brown patch on the neck but no rhomboid markings on the back. Light coloured blotches on lateral sides of the body, white coloured, incomplete cross bars on the tail beginning just behind the hind limbs, broken tail with seven cross bars. A persian blue stripe starts from mental and continues up to middle of dewlap along mid ventral line. Dark brown blotches on the lateral throat while venter, labials and tympanum are white in colour. Colour in life. Based on the specimen in Fig. 2 (not collected). Dorsal surfaces of head and back cream to light greyish brown with five black-edged rhomboidal spots, the back is bordered on each side with a dark brownish band, along the middle of the back with a light vertebral line separating them. Upper and lower lips light buff cream with dark markings. A buff light cream streak from the nasal across the tympanum to the forelimb; pupil black. Iris black with its outer rim golden. A brownish-black patch on anterior part of interorbital. Anterior part of the throat-fan is persian blue and cream. A bleached orange diffuse patch at the middle of the throat-fan on a cream coloured background. Upper arm with one, lower arm with three, thigh with two and tibia with three indistinct buff cream bands. Vague, light patches on flank and lateral body. Middle of throat dark blue. Tail with 16 light crossbands. Three buff cross-bands on fingers and three or four on toes. Ventral scales buff cream. See the following corresponding figures in Manthey (2010: 154): RA04169- 4 (Pottuvil), RA04170- 4 (Ampara). Variation in male paratypes. Rostral scale in contact posteriorly with postrostral scales in WHT 7377; eight supralabials in male paratypes (WHT 7377, 0206C���D, 0 619, 1434B, and ZMH R06344); seven infralabials in WHT 1434 B; 52 and 56 scales around the midbody in WHT 7377 and WHT 1434 B respectively; subdigital lamellae on the toe III, 17 and 14 respectively, on toe IV, 26 and 23 respectively. Ventrals respectively 89 and 86. Description of female. (Based on paratype WHT 195 A). An adult female, 46.9 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 27.3 % of SVL), elongate (HW 65.2 % of HL), narrow (HW 17.8 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout short (ES 51.8 % of HW); snout length greater than eye diameter (ED 75.9 % of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 16.4 % of HL); eye large (ED 26.4 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter dorsoventrally, ear-opening with enlarged unkeeled scales anteriorly but not posteriorly, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 39.6 % of ED); no spines above the tympanum but an enlarged keeled scale above the tympanum separated from the tympanum by two smaller scale rows; diameter of eye greater than eye to ear distance (ED 111.9 % of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, smaller in size than those of the occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with the first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasals and three postrostral scales unequal in size; two supranasals around nostrils on each side, nostril rounded located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���, parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental pentagonal, approximately equal in length and width, posteriolateraly in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a smaller scale with no contact between them. Throat-fan absent; throat scales elongate, smooth and overlapping; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials 7 (6 th situated in mid orbit position); infralabials 9, decreasing in size towards gape; gular scales keeled. Body slender (AG 45.4 % of SVL); mid dorsal scales equal sized, keeled, not elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight, forming longitudinal, continuous parallel ridges; scales on dorsum at midbody of similar size than those of venter at same level; lateral body scales unequal, irregular, keeled, mucronate, short, similar in size to dorsals and with randomly distributed, enlarged, rounded, keeled scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed upwards and backwards, dorsoventral ones directed downwards and backwards; 57 scales around the midbody; pectoral scales enlarged, keeled, mucronate and weakly overlapping; abdominal scales elongate and pointed; ventral keels forming regular and parallel continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals, 88. Upper arm shorter than lower arm (UAL 13.3 % of SVL; LAL 16.7 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 25.3 % of SVL; TBL 31.0% of SVL; FEL 81.5 % of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs enlarged, elongate, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm not enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and bluntly ended; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh slightly keeled, overlapping and bluntly ended; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and tri-mucronate, 14 subdigital lamellae on the toe III, and 24 on toe IV; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 5> 2> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail incomplete (broken); tail base swollen, ventral scales on tail base rounded and keeled; dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, slightly keeled, overlapping. Etymology. The species epithet is an eponym Latinised in the genitive singular, honouring Mohomed Mujythaba Bahir for his generous friendship, and remarkable contributions to Sri Lankan herpetology, carcinology and biodiversity conservation. Currently he spends his valuable time promoting science, biodiversity and conservation to the general public, especially the younger generation. Suggested English name: Bahir���s Fanthroated Lizard; Sinhala (local) name: Bahirg�� Theli Katussa; French name: Sitane de Bahir. Distribution. See map Fig. 9. Drier coastal areas in south-eastern Sri Lanka, sometimes recorded within the country at a distance of ~ 20 km from the nearest beach (e.g. Tissamaharama). Natural history. We observed live specimens in warm, lowland habitats but the species was most abundant in the drier coastal areas (Fig. 10), under open scrub jungles on dusty or sandy ground in the dry zone or drier parts of the intermediate zone. S. bahiri sp. nov. has never been recorded from the wet zone or its adjacent habitats. Most of its habitats were covered with tree species such as Manilkara hexandra (Sapotaceae), Drypetes sepiaria (Euphorbiaceae), and some shrubs such as Salvadora persica (Salvadoraceae), Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae), Spinifex littoreus (Poaceae), Ziziphus oenopila (Rhamnaceae), Catunaregam spinosa (Rubiaceae), Ipomoea asarifolia (Convolvulaceae), Spermacoce hispida (Rubiaceae), Gisekia pharnaceoides (Molluginaceae), Tephrosia purpurea (Fabaceae), and Portulaca oleracea (Portulacaceae). Sitana bahiri sp. nov. is a diurnal lizard fully adapted to harsh terrestrial habits such as dry sandy coasts. In the morning, around 0700���0800 h it mostly lies on rocks, fallen logs or shrubs, and as it warms up, it becomes active and begins its search for food. In the middle of the day, when it is hottest, it tends to hide inside small shrubs. We observed some individuals digging small sand pits near the root of the shrub in order to escape the heat. There is an annual temperature of between 30 o C and 35 o C (mean 32 o C), while the humidity varies between around 40���50 % (mean 45 %). Sitana bahiri sp. nov. is a highly territorial animal and shows similar territorial behaviour pattern to Otocryptis (see Karunarathna & Amarasinghe 2008). Before combat (attacking stage) and prior to mating, they extend and stretch their throat-fans very quickly (about 4���6 times per second). Simultaneously, they swivel their heads and open their dark blue coloured mouths in a threat pose to their male opponents. During combat (struggling stage), they mostly use their hind limbs to kick at their opponent. Most often the territorial fighting involved a certain amount of harsh savagery (savaging stage), and the animals often end up with wounded body parts, with particular damage to the face, limbs and posterior body parts. They mostly feed on ground dwelling insects, but have also been observed predating on airborne dragonflies, butterflies, and caterpillars. Their diet also includes tiny terrestrial crabs. During the night, they sleep on the sandy floor, lower branches or on the roots of shrubs. Eutropis carinata (grass skink), Calotes versicolor (garden lizard), Lycodon aulicus (wolf snake), Coelognathus helena (trinket snake), Varanus bengalensis (land monitor), Herpestes brachyurus (brown mongoose), Acridotheres tristis (common myna), and several birds of prey are observed as their major predators. Egg laying occurs from August to October and they lay 4��� 6 eggs per clutch in a nest dug in cool habitats under shrubs. Conservation status. The result of the application to the IUCN Red List (2013) criteria B 2 -b (iii) indicates that S. bahiri sp. nov. is Vulnerable (VU). It is restricted to an area of occupancy (AOO) Spinifex littorus (Fig. 10), 44 S. bahiri specimens (12 males and 32 females) were recorded. Among them 13 were juveniles and subadults. The same location was surveyed again in April 2008 using a 5 x 100m belt transect, this time Spinifex littorus cover was reduced to ~ 10 % and only 6 specimens (1 male and 5 females) were recorded. This density has shown a definite decrease due to the Indian Ocean Sumatra���Andaman earthquake and the subsequent tsunami which followed (it flushed away 1���2 km of the land) in December 2004., Published as part of Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Botejue, W. Madhava S. & Campbell, Patrick D., 2015, Two new species of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka, including a taxonomic revision of the Indian Sitana species, pp. 67-98 in Zootaxa 3915 (1) on pages 70-76, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3915.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/287771, {"references":["Kelaart, E. F. (1854) Catalogue of reptiles collected in Ceylon. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 2 (XIII), 137 - 140. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1080 / 03745485709495092","Smith, M. A. (1935) The fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma, Reptilia and Amphibia - Vol II Sauria, London, 440 pp.","Wermuth, H. (1967) Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Agamidae. Das Tierreich, 86. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 127 pp.","Manamendra-Arachchi, K. & Liyanage, S. (1994) Conservation and distributions of the agamid lizards of Sri Lanka with illustrations of the extant species. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 1, 77 - 96.","Erdelen, W. (1998) The genera Otocryptis and Sitana: Geographic distribution, microhabitat use and morphometric relations. In: Biology and Conservation of the Amphibians, Reptiles and their habitats in South Asia. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of the Amphibians and Reptiles of South Asia, Sri Lanka, pp. 232 - 246.","de Silva, A. (2006) Current status of the Reptiles of Sri Lanka. In: Bambaradeniya, C. N. B. (Ed.). Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research and Conservation, IUCN Sri Lanka, Colombo, 134 - 163 pp.","Somaweera, R. & Somaweera, N. (2009) Lizards of Sri Lanka: A colour guide with field keys. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt / Main, Germany, 303 pp.","Manthey, U. (2010) Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 2 & Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira & A. C. S. Glaser, Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 168 pp.","Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1953) A Colored Atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Tetrapod Reptilia. Vol. 2. National Museums of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 101 pp.","Bahir, M. M. & Silva, A. (2005) Otocryptis nigristigma, a new species of Agamid Lizard from Sri Lanka. In: Yeo, C. J., Ng P. K. L. & Pethiyagoda, R. (Ed.), Contributions to biodiversity exploration and research in Sri Lanka. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 12 (Supplement), 393 - 406.","Karunarathna, D. M. S. S. & Amarasinghe, A. A. T. (2008) Notes on the territorial behaviour of Otocryptis wiegmanni Wagler, 1830 (Reptilia: Agamidae: Draconinae). Herpetotropicos, 4, 79 - 83."]}

Key to adult males of the species of genus Sitana 1. SVL less than 55 mm, 7–10 supralabials, flanks with enlarged scales............................................. 2 - SVL more than 60 mm, 11 or more supralabials, flanks without enlarged scales, breeding males have bright red patch on the throat-fan extending to the vent............................................................... S. deccanensis 2. Throat-fan extending beyond level of axilla, large foot more than 130 % of HL..................................... 3 - Throat-fan does not meet the axilla, short foot less than 130 % of HL............................ S. sivalensis complex 3. Femur short (FEL 70.6–78.4 % of TBL), ventral scales 87–108.................................................. 4 - Femur long (FEL 80.0– 84.8 % of TBL), ventral scales 65–69, breeding males have bright red patch at the middle of the throatfan...................................................................................... S. ponticeriana 4. Throat-fan short (ADW 28.3–29.2 % of AG), midbody scales 49–56, ventral scales 87–89, lateral scales mucronate, ventral scales mucronate in females................................................................ S. bahiri sp. nov. Throat-fan long (ADW 29.9–32.5 % of AG), midbody scales 57–59, ventral scales 100–108), lateral scales rounded, ventral scales rounded in females................................................................. S. devakai sp. nov.

Sitana ponticeriana Cuvier, 1829 (Figs. 7, 8; Tables 1, 2, 4) Semiophorus pondiceriana��� Wagler, 1830. Semiophorus pondicerianus ��� Wiegmann, 1834. Sitana minor G��nther, 1864. Sitana ponticeriana ponticeriana ��� Deraniyagala (1953) [Partim] Lectotype [designated by Dum��ril & Bibron (1837)]: Male, MNHN 6901, SVL 47.5 mm, collected at Pondich��ry (now Puducherry, Tamil Nadu State, India) by Leschenault between 1816 and 1822. Note. The original type series (in which we include only two syntypes) is available at MNHN. Among them Dum��ril & Bibron (1837) implicitly designated MNHN 6901 as the lectotype (see Brygoo, 1988). Paralectotype. Male, MNHN 6902, SVL 54.0 mm, Genji, Coromandel, coll. Hope. Other Specimens examined. Males, ZMB 44106 ��� 7, SVL respectively 50.0 mm, 47.0 mm, Pondich��ry, India, coll. F. H. Remani, 12 November 1971; Male, BMNH 1946.8. 27.42 (now lectotype of S. minor), SVL 53 mm, Madras (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu State), India, presented by T. C. Jerdon; Male, MNHN 1902.0151, SVL 46 mm, Genji, Coromandel, coll. Maindron. Diagnosis for adult males. Sitana ponticeriana differs from all congeners by having the following characters: S. bahiri sp. nov. : snout longer ES 61.5���68.1 % of HW (vs. shorter, ES 54.7���57.4 % of HW), throat-fan longer ADW 31.1���54.7 % of AG (vs. shorter, ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG), femur longer FEL 80.0��� 84.8 % of TBL (vs. shorter, 70.6���75.3 % of TBL), ventral scales 65���69 (vs. 87���89), breeding-males with bright red colour patch (vs. bleached orange colour patch); S. devakai sp. nov. : femur longer FEL 80.0��� 84.8 % of TBL (vs. shorter, FEL 72.2���78.4 % of TBL), ventral scales 65���69 (vs. 100���108), abdominal scales rounded (vs. pointed); S. deccanensis: smaller SVL 48.0���49.0 mm (vs. larger SVL above 60.0 mm), snout longer ES 61.5���68.1 % of HW (vs. shorter, ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW), throat-fan shorter ADW 31.1���54.7 % of AG (vs. longer, ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG), foot longer FOL 150.9���175.5 % of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL), supralabials 8���10 (vs. 12), midbody scale rows 66���70 (vs. 50���54), ventral scales 65���69 (vs. 82���92), enlarged scales above the tympanum present (vs. absent), unequal and irregular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales (vs. equal and regular lateral scales without enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red colour patch restricted to mid throat-fan (vs. bright red patch extending to vent); Sitana sivalensis complex: throat-fan extending up to the abdomen (vs. not extending to the level of the axilla), foot longer FOL 150.9���175.5 % of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 120.0��� 144.3 % of HL). Description of the lectotype (MNHN 6901). An adult male, 47.5 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 27.4 % of SVL), elongate (HW 63.2 % of HL), narrow (HW 17.3 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout elongate (ES 63.5 % of HW); snout length greater than eye diameter (ED 70.4 % of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 19.3 % of HL); eye large (ED 28.3 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter being dorsoventral, earopening with enlarged unkeeled scales anteriorly but not posteriorly, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 39.0% of ED); no spines above the tympanum but an enlarged keeled scale above the tympanum separated from the tympanum by two smaller scale rows; diameter of eyes larger than eye to ear distance (ED 101.0% of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, smaller than those of occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasal and three equal sized postrostral scales; nostrils rounded located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���; parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental subtriangular, lengthen posteriorly, approximately equal in length and width, two enlarged postmentals laterally situated and separated by a smaller scale preventing contact between them; each postmental pair bordered posteriorly by four (in left side) and five (in right side) smooth scales including the medial scale, but exclusive of infralabial. Throat-fan medium sized, posterior scales reaching mid venter (DWL 58.5 % of SVL, ADW 46.5 % of AG), margin of the anterior part of the throat-fan covered with smooth, overlapping, bluntly pointed scales, posterior part (from the middle of the throat to the midventer) with long and elongate lanceolate bluntly pointed scales; throat scales rounded, smooth and overlapping; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials 9 (6 th in mid orbit position); infralabials 9, decreasing in size towards gape; scales on the throat-fan smooth but adjacent ventral scales strongly keeled and mucronate, overlapping. Body slender (AG 43.2 % of SVL); mid dorsal scales equal, keeled, elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight, forming longitudinal, continuous parallel ridges; scales on dorsum at midbody larger than those of venter at same level; lateral body scales unequal, irregular, keeled, mucronate, smaller than dorsals and with randomly distributed enlarged, mucronate, keeled scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed upwards and backwards, dorsoventral ones directed downwards and backwards; 54 scales around midbody; pectoral scales enlarged, keeled, mucronate, elongate and overlapping; abdominal scales short and rounded; ventral keels forming regular parallel and continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals 67. Upper arm longer than lower arm (UAL 20.5 % of SVL; LAL 15.8 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 27.5 % of SVL; TBL 34.4 % of SVL; FEL 80.0% of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs not enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm not enlarged, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh keeled, overlapping and mucronate; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and mucronate, 15 subdigital lamellae on the toe III, and 24 on toe IV; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 2> 5> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail incomplete (broken); tail base swollen, ventral scales on tail base keeled (distal part of its tail which is still coloured clearly shows stronger keels than proximal part on ventral tail scales), dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; entire tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, keeled, not mucronate, overlapping. Colour in preserved specimen. Upper head and back cream to light brownish with five pairs of dark edged rhomboidal spots, the back is bordered on each side with a brownish ventrolateral band spotted with whitish dots. In the middle of the back are five rhomboidal spots which are more or less clearly separated medially by a lighter band formed by one or two vertebral scale rows. The first dark blotch is located in front of anterior members, the second behind anterior members, the third in the middle of the back, the fourth in front of posterior members, and the fifth between posterior members; a light streak runs from the nasal below the eye, over the tympanum to the forelimb; lower parts, including the throat-fan whitish or light greyish to cream. A dark brown, wing shaped band is clearly visible on the head between the eyes; claws being dorsally dark brown and ventrally yellowish. Colour in life. No live population observed. See following corresponding figures in Manthey (2010: 152): RA04141- 2. Variation in other specimens from the type locality. Eight infralabials in both sides; 50 and 53 scales around midbody; respectively 69 and 65 ventral scales in ZMB 44106 and ZMB 44107; subdigital lamellae on the toe III, 11 in ZMB 44106 and toe IV, 20���21 in both ZMB specimens; ventral scales on tail base keeled. Suggested common names. English name: Pondich��ry Fan-throated Lizard, French name: Sitane de Pondich��ry. Distribution. See map Fig. 9. South-eastern India, recorded from Pondich��ry, Madras (=Chennai) and Genji, Coromandel Coast., Published as part of Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Botejue, W. Madhava S. & Campbell, Patrick D., 2015, Two new species of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka, including a taxonomic revision of the Indian Sitana species, pp. 67-98 in Zootaxa 3915 (1) on pages 84-87, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3915.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/287771, {"references":["Cuvier, G. (1829) Le Regne animal distribue d'apres son organisation, pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparee. Nouvelle edition (2 nd Edition), revue et augmentee, Tome II. Deterville & Crochard, Paris, xvi + 406 pp.","Wagler, J. (1830) Naturliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Saugethiere und Vogel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Munchen, Stuttgart and Tubingen, 354 pp. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 58730","Wiegmann, A. F. A. (1834) Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum novae hispaniae, quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede im Museum Zoologicum Berolinense Pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species. Berlin, Luderitz, 54 pp.","Gunther, A. C. L. G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. The Ray Society, London, 452 pp.","Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1953) A Colored Atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Tetrapod Reptilia. Vol. 2. National Museums of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 101 pp.","Dumeril, A. M. C. & Bibron, G. (1837) Erpetologie generale ou histoire naturelle complete des reptiles. Tome quatrieme. Librairie encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, 571 pp.","Brygoo, E. R. (1988) Les types d'Agamides (Reptiles, Sauriens) du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle. Catalogue critique. Bulletin du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Series 4 e, Section A, 10 (3), supplement, 1 - 56.","Manthey, U. (2010) Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 2 & Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira & A. C. S. Glaser, Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 168 pp."]}

Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Botejue, W. Madhava S., Campbell, Patrick D. (2015): Two new species of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka, including a taxonomic revision of the Indian Sitana species. Zootaxa 3915 (1): 67-98, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3915.1.3

Sitana devakai sp. nov. Amarasinghe, Ineich & Karunarathna (Figs. 3, 4; Tables 1���3) Litana Ponticereana [sic]��� Kelaart (1854) [partim]. Sitana ponticeriana ��� Smith (1935) [partim]; Taylor (1957) [partim]; Wermuth (1967) [partim]; Manamendra-Arachchi & Liyanage (1994) [partim]; Erdelen (1998) [partim]; Das & de Silva (2005) [partim]; de Silva (2006) [partim]; Somaweera & Somaweera (2009) [partim]; Manthey (2010) [partim]. Sitana ponticeriana ponticeriana ��� Deraniyagala (1953) [partim]. Sitana ponticertiana [sic]��� Bahir & Surasinghe (2005) [partim]. Holotype. Male, WHT 0111E, SVL 45.6 mm, collected at Nagagamuwa-Puttalam, Sri Lanka (8 �� 10 ���N, 79 �� 50 ���E), alt. 2 m, by K. Manamendra-Arachchi & D. Gabadage, 9 October 1993. Paratypes. Males, WHT 0174A���B, respective SVL 41.1 mm and 40.0 mm, collected at Palavi-Puttalam, Sri Lanka; Male, WHT 1417, SVL 43.9 mm, collected at Angamuwewa-Rajanganaya, Sri Lanka; Male, WHT 1424 A, SVL 39.9 mm, collected at Mundel-Puttalam, Sri Lanka; Female, WHT 0174C, SVL 42.7 mm, collected at Palavi- Puttalam, Sri Lanka; Females, WHT 0111B���C, respective SVL 42.0 mm and 44.9 mm, collected at Nagagamuwa- Puttalam, Sri Lanka; Sub adult male, WHT 1424 B, SVL 38.6 mm, collected at Mundel-Puttalam, Sri Lanka; Sub adult females, WHT 0111A,D, respective SVL 37.6 mm and 38.1 mm, collected at Nagagamuwa-Puttalam, Sri Lanka. All those specimens were collected by D. Gabadage. Diagnosis for adult males. Sitana devakai sp. nov. differs from each congener by having the following characters: S. bahiri sp. nov. : longer throat-fan ADW 29.9���32.5 % of AG (vs. shorter, ADW 28.3���29.2 % of AG), midbody scale rows 57���59 (vs. 49���56), ventral scale number 100���108 (vs. 87���89), abdominal scales pointed (vs. bluntly pointed), equal and regular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales (vs. unequal and irregular lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red colour patch (vs. bleached orange colour patch); S. deccanensis: smaller SVL 40.0��� 45.6 mm (vs. larger SVL above 60.0 mm), snout longer ES 57.2���63.2 % of HW (vs. shorter, ES 53.1���53.4 % of HW), throat-fan shorter ADW 29.9���32.5 % of AG (vs. longer, ADW 50.3���60.2 % of AG), femur shorter FEL 72.2���78.4 % of TBL (vs. longer, FEL 79.7���82.9 % of TBL), foot longer FOL 154.7���180.2 of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 131.9���144.6 % of HL), supralabials 8���9 (vs. 12), midbody scale rows 57���59 (vs. 66���70), ventral scale number 100���108 (vs. 82���92), subdigital lamellae on toe III 15���16 (vs. 13), enlarged scales above the tympanum present (vs. absent), lateral scales with intermediate enlarged scales (vs. without enlarged scales), breeding-males with bright red colour patch restricted to mid throat-fan (vs. bright red patch extending to vent), single pale stripe running from the snout up to the shoulder (vs. 3���4 bright stripes from snout and behind the eye up to the shoulders); S. ponticeriana: femur shorter FEL 72.2���78.4 % of TBL (vs. longer, FEL 80.0��� 84.8 % of TBL), ventral scale number 100���108 (vs. 65���69), abdominal scales pointed (vs. rounded); Sitana sivalensis complex: throat-fan extending up to the chest (vs. not extending to the level of axilla), foot longer with FOL 154.7���180.2 of HL (vs. shorter, FOL 120.0��� 144.3 % of HL). Description. (Based on holotype, WHT 0111E). An adult male, 45.6 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 27.9 % of SVL), elongate (HW 60.0% of HL), narrow (HW 16.7 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout short (ES 58.9 % of HW); snout length somewhat greater than eye diameter (ED 98.0% of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 11.7 % of HL); eye large (ED 34.7 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter located dorsoventrally, ear-opening with enlarged, unkeeled scales, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 60.6 % of ED); no spines above the tympanum but an enlarged keeled scale above the tympanum separated from the tympanum by two smaller scale rows; diameter of eyes greater than eye to ear distance (ED 168.7 % of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, smaller in size than those of the occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventro-posteriorly in contact with the first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasal and three postrostral scales unequal in size; two supranasals, on each side of the nostrils, three postnasals approximately equal in size and one prenasal; nostril rounded and located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; three postnasals bordering the nasal, the middle one largest; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���, parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental pentagonal, width and length of which approximately equal, posteriolaterally in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a smaller scale preventing contact between them; each postmental pair bordered posteriorly by three (left side) and four (right side) smooth scales including the medial scale, but exclusive of infralabials. Throat-fan small, posterior scales do not extend to mid venter (DWL 60.3 % of SVL, ADW 32.1 % of AG), margin of the anterior part of the throat-fan covered with keeled, overlapping, bluntly pointed scales, posterior part (from the middle of the throat to the midventer) with long, elongate lanceolate bluntly pointed scales; throat scales elongate, keeled and overlapping; three scale rows separating orbit from supralabials; supralabials 8 (6 th in mid orbit position); infralabials 9, decreasing in size towards gape; scales on the throat-fan and adjacent ventral scales keeled and mucronate, overlapping. Body slender (AG 50.0% of SVL); mid dorsal scales equal, keeled, not elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight, forming longitudinal continuous parallel ridges; scales on dorsum at midbody larger in size than those of venter at the same level; lateral body scales unequal, keeled, rounded, smaller than dorsals and with randomly distributed enlarged, rounded, keeled scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed upwards and backwards, dorsoventral ones directed downwards and backwards; 59 scale rows around midbody; pectoral scales enlarged, elongate and keeled; abdominal scales not enlarged, short, mucronate and keeled; ventral keels forming regular and parallel continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals 105. Upper arm somewhat longer than lower arm (UAL 18.9 % of SVL; LAL 18.1 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 26.5 % of SVL; TBL 36.7 % of SVL; FEL 72.2 % of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs enlarged, elongate, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm enlarged, slightly keeled, overlapping, and blunt ended; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh and shank enlarged, keeled, overlapping and blunt ended; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and tri-mucronate, 16 subdigital lamellae on toe III and 23 on toe IV; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 5> 2> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail complete (125.8 mm) and base swollen, ventral scales on tail base rounded and keeled; dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, slightly keeled, overlapping. Colour in preserved specimen. Dorsum light brown, darker brown patch on the neck, five rhomboid markings on the back. Light coloured blotches on lateral sides of the body, white coloured incomplete cross bars on the tail beginning just behind the hind limbs, a persian blue stripe runs from mental and continues up to mid dewlap point along mid ventral line. Colour in life. Based on the specimen in Fig. 4. Upper head and back dorsally cream to yellowish brown with five black-edged rhomboidal spots, the back is bordered on each side with a dark brownish band, a light vertebral line along the middle of the back separating them. Upper and lower lip a light buff cream with dark markings. A buff light cream streak from the nasal across the tympanum to the forelimb; pupil black. Iris black with a golden outer rim; reddish-brown patch on anterior part of interorbital. Anterior part of the throat-fan is persian blue, black and cream. A bright red coloured patch at the middle of the throat-fan on the cream coloured background during the breeding season. Upper arm, lower arm, thigh and tibia all with three indistinct buff cream bands. Vague, light patches on flank and lateral body. Tail with 20 light cross-bands. Three buff cross-bands on fingers and three or four on toes. Ventral scales buff cream. See the following corresponding figures in Manthey (2010: 154): RA04168- 4 (Wiplattu NP). Variation in male paratypes. Nine supralabials in paratypes WHT 0174A���B and WHT 1424 A; respectively 57, 58, and 58 scales around midbody in WHT 1417, WHT 0174B, and WHT 1424 A; subdigital lamellae on the toe III, 15 in all other male paratypes, on toe IV, 21 (WHT 1417) and 22 (WHT 0174A and WHT 1424 A). Ventrals respectively 100, 101, 102, and 108 (WHT 1424, WHT 0174B, WHT 1417, and WHT 0174A). Description of female. (Based on paratype WHT 0111C). An adult female, 44.9 mm SVL; head moderately large (HL 28.3 % of SVL), elongate (HW 61.9 % of HL), narrow (HW 17.5 % of SVL), distinct from neck; snout short (ES 59.5 % of HW); snout length approximately equal to the eye diameter (ED 99.6 % of ES); interorbital distance broad (IO 12.1 % of HL); eye large (ED 36.7 % of HL); pupil rounded; ear-opening shallow, its greatest diameter being dorsoventral, ear-opening with enlarged keeled scales, tympanum smaller than orbit (TYD 31.2 % of ED); no spines above the tympanum but an enlarged keeled scale above the tympanum separated from the tympanum by three smaller scale rows; diameter of eyes greater than eye to ear distance (ED 166.2 % of TYE); forehead concave; scales on snout keeled, more or less similar in size than those of the occipital region; scales on interorbital and supercilium area keeled; no nuchal or dorsal crest; rostral scale width greater than height, ventroposteriorly in contact with first supralabial, in contact posteriorly with the prenasal and three postrostral scales unequal in size; two supranasals around nostrils on each side, three postnasals with the middle one larger; nostril rounded located in the middle of an undivided nasal plate; canthus rostralis and superciliary edges sharp; parietal plate lozenge shaped (anterior sides shorter than posterior sides) including a grey-blue coloured ���pineal eye���, parietal plate larger than adjacent plates. Mental pentagonal, approximately equal in length and width, posteriolaterally in contact with two enlarged postmentals separated by a smaller scale preventing contact between them. Throat-fan absent; throat scales elongate, keeled and overlapping; three scale rows separate orbit from supralabials; supralabials 8 (6 th in mid orbit position); infralabials 10, decreasing in size towards gape; gular scales keeled. Body slender (AG 45.7 % of SVL); mid dorsal scales equal, keeled, not elongate with pointed dorsal scales at midbody, keels straight forming longitudinal, continuous, parallel ridges; lateral body scales unequal, irregular, keeled, mucronate, smaller than dorsals and with randomly distributed enlarged, rounded, keeled scales; upper dorsolateral scales directed upwards and backwards, dorsoventral ones directed downwards and backwards; 57 scales around midbody; pectoral scales not enlarged, keeled, rounded and overlapping; abdominal scales short and rounded; ventral keels forming regular and parallel continuous ridges; no preanal or femoral pores. Ventrals 74. Upper arm longer than lower arm (UAL 19.5 % of SVL; LAL 17.1 % of SVL); femur shorter than tibia (FEL 25.9 % of SVL; TBL 32.6 % of SVL; FEL 79.4 % of TBL). Dorsal scales on fore and hind limbs enlarged, elongate, keeled, overlapping, and mucronate; ventral scales on upper and lower arm enlarged, slightly keeled, overlapping, and bluntly ended; scales on dorsal and ventral surface of thigh slightly keeled, overlapping and bluntly ended; keels on dorsal and ventral arm and foot forming a series of continuous parallel ridges. Digits elongate, slender, all bearing slightly recurved claws; claws are sharp and elongate; subdigital lamellae entire and tri-mucronate, 15 subdigital lamellae on the toe III, and 25 on toe IV; inter-digital webbing absent; relative length of fingers 3> 4> 5> 2> 1, and toes 4> 3> 2> 1. Tail complete and base swollen, ventral scales on tail base rounded and keeled; dorsal scales on tail keeled, elongate, overlapping, directed backwards, keels forming continuous parallel ridges; tail with subcaudals on median row not enlarged, slightly keeled, overlapping. Etymology. The species epithet is an eponym Latinised in the genitive singular, honouring Prof. Devaka Keerthi Weerakoon, for his remarkable contributions to biodiversity conservation in Sri Lanka. He worked as the Technical Advisor of the 2007 and 2012 Red Lists of Threatened Fauna and Flora in Sri Lanka and was responsible for their publication. As a consultant to the Department of Wildlife Conservation, he has provided technical support for the preparation and implementation of protected areas, produced management plans, managed alien invasive species programs in protected areas, mapped habitats, carried out protected area gap analyses programs and conducted bird surveys. His contributions to the ecology of Asian elephants and reduction of human-elephant conflicts are remarkable. Suggested English name: Devaka���s Fan-throated Lizard; Sinhala (local) name: Devakag�� Theli Katussa; French name: Sitane de Devaka. Distribution. See map Fig. 9. Drier coastal areas in the north and north-western parts of Sri Lanka, sometimes recorded at a distance of ~ 10���60 km from the nearest beach (e.g. Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Kilinochchi). Natural history. Most of the occupied habitats have similar environmental conditions to those of S. bahiri sp. nov., comprising the following species of trees: Ziziphus rugosa (Rhamnaceae), Manilkara hexandra (Sapotaceae), and most of shrubs and herbs like Abelmoschus angulosus (Malvaceae), Benkara malabarica (Rubiaceae), Carissa spinarum (Apocynaceae), Hydrophylax maritima (Rubiaceae), Capparis zeylanica (Capparaceae), Spinifex littoreus (Poaceae), Canthium coromandelicum (Rubiaceae), Salvadora persica (Salvadoraceae), Calotropis gigantea (Apocynaceae), Sesuvium portulacastrum (Aizoaceae), Indigofera linnaei (Fabaceae), and Opuntia monacantha (Cactaceae). Sitana devakai sp. nov. is a diurnal lizard completely suited to harsh terrestrial habitats such as dry sandy coasts (Fig. 10). Copulation is limited to a 5���10 second activity. Egg laying activities were observed from September to November. They lay 3��� 6 eggs per clutch with a mean size of 9.2 �� 4.7 mm (n = 18). The incubation period is between 40���50 days. Hatchlings always live hidden inside shrubs during the first month after hatching. Turdoides affinis (common babbler), Centropus sinensis (greater coucal), Halcyon smyrnensis (white-throated kingfisher), Bubulcus ibis (cattle egret), Herpestes edwardsii (grey mongoose), Viverricula indica (ring-tailed civet), Varanus bengalensis (land monitor) and Dendrelaphis tristis (common bronzeback snake) are their major predators. Territorial behaviours are similar to those of S. bahiri sp. nov. and Otocryptis wiegmanni (see Karunarathna & Amarasinghe, 2008). They also open their mouths to threaten invaders, but the mouth cavity is purple in colour (vs. S. bahiri sp. nov. blue in color). At midday when it is warm, they keep their tails erected while walking, possibly to avoid contact with the hot sandy ground. We observed strategic feeding habits such as following ants to find their nests and using ���sit and wait��� strategies for predation. Conservation status. The result of the application of the IUCN Red List (2013) criteria B 1 -b (i) shows that S. devakai sp. nov. is Vulnerable (VU). It is restricted to an area of occupancy (AOO), Published as part of Thasun Amarasinghe, A. A., Ineich, Ivan, Suranjan Karunarathna, D. M. S., Botejue, W. Madhava S. & Campbell, Patrick D., 2015, Two new species of the genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829 (Reptilia: Agamidae) from Sri Lanka, including a taxonomic revision of the Indian Sitana species, pp. 67-98 in Zootaxa 3915 (1) on pages 77-81, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3915.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/287771, {"references":["Kelaart, E. F. (1854) Catalogue of reptiles collected in Ceylon. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 2 (XIII), 137 - 140. http: // dx. doi. org / 10.1080 / 03745485709495092","Smith, M. A. (1935) The fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma, Reptilia and Amphibia - Vol II Sauria, London, 440 pp.","Wermuth, H. (1967) Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Agamidae. Das Tierreich, 86. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 127 pp.","Manamendra-Arachchi, K. & Liyanage, S. (1994) Conservation and distributions of the agamid lizards of Sri Lanka with illustrations of the extant species. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 1, 77 - 96.","Erdelen, W. (1998) The genera Otocryptis and Sitana: Geographic distribution, microhabitat use and morphometric relations. In: Biology and Conservation of the Amphibians, Reptiles and their habitats in South Asia. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of the Amphibians and Reptiles of South Asia, Sri Lanka, pp. 232 - 246.","de Silva, A. (2006) Current status of the Reptiles of Sri Lanka. In: Bambaradeniya, C. N. B. (Ed.). Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research and Conservation, IUCN Sri Lanka, Colombo, 134 - 163 pp.","Somaweera, R. & Somaweera, N. (2009) Lizards of Sri Lanka: A colour guide with field keys. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt / Main, Germany, 303 pp.","Manthey, U. (2010) Agamid Lizards of Southern Asia, Draconinae 2 & Leiolepidinae. Edition Chimaira & A. C. S. Glaser, Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 168 pp.","Deraniyagala, P. E. P. (1953) A Colored Atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Tetrapod Reptilia. Vol. 2. National Museums of Sri Lanka, Colombo, 101 pp.","Bahir, M. M. & Silva, A. (2005) Otocryptis nigristigma, a new species of Agamid Lizard from Sri Lanka. In: Yeo, C. J., Ng P. K. L. & Pethiyagoda, R. (Ed.), Contributions to biodiversity exploration and research in Sri Lanka. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 12 (Supplement), 393 - 406.","Karunarathna, D. M. S. S. & Amarasinghe, A. A. T. (2008) Notes on the territorial behaviour of Otocryptis wiegmanni Wagler, 1830 (Reptilia: Agamidae: Draconinae). Herpetotropicos, 4, 79 - 83."]}

The description of Oligodon sublineatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 was based on two syntypes located at Paris Natural History Museum (MNHN). The larger specimen (SVL 254 mm) was described in detail, but erroneously labelled as originating from the Philippines, the second specimen (SVL 150 mm) was labelled as originating from 'Ceylan' (=Sri Lanka). The smaller specimen, up to this point, has always been considered as the holotype by monotypy. Since recognising the larger specimen in the collection of MNHN as a syntype, we hereby designate it as the lectotype of Oligodon sublineatus and redescribe comprehensively both syntypes. Oligodon sublineatus (SVL 152–310 mm) has 130–161 ventral scales, 23–42 divided subcaudals, a divided anal plate, a loreal, seven supralabials, and 1+2 temporals. Furthermore, we provide a detailed account of the distribution and natural history of this widely distributed Sri Lankan endemic snake.

Flecks, Morris, Schmitz, Andreas, Böhme, Wolfgang, Henkel, Friedrich Wilhelm, Ineich, Ivan (2012): A new species of Gehyra Gray, 1834 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu, and phylogenetic relationships in the genus Gehyra in Melanesia. Zoosystema 34 (2): 203-221, DOI: 10.5252/z2012n2a1, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/z2012n2a1

Gehyra georgpotthasti n. sp. (Figs 3-9) Gehyra vorax – Boulenger 1883: 119. — Boulenger 1885: 153 (partim). — Strauch 1887: 29 (partim). — Roux 1913: 104. — De Rooij 1915: 45 (partim). — Baker 1928: 297.— Beckon 1992:450 (partim). — Sadlier & Bauer 1997: 80. — Bauer & Sadlier 2000: 118. — Ineich 2011: 198. TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype: Loyalty Islands, Dudun Island, off the coast of Maré, 21°21’36”S, 167°43’48”E (Fig. 3), adult ♂, with hemipenes everted and tongue stuck out, F. W. Henkel (ZFMK 91004). Paratypes (2 ♀♀, 4 ♂♂): same data as holotype, 2 adult ♀♀ (ZFMK 73578, 91018), adult ♂, with hemipenes everted (ZFMK 73902). — Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, Butmas, 15°22’26.64”S, 166°58’27.42”E, 566 m asl, 2 adult ♂♂, with tails separated, 3.XII.2007, I. Ineich (MNHN 2007.0055, 0056). — Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, Tasmate, 15°12’43.56”S, 166°39’38.05”E, subadult ♂, 9.XI.2006, I. Ineich (MNHN 2009.0321). OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Vanuatu. Malakula, 3 specimens (MNHN 1894.0208-0210). — Pentecost, 4 specimens (MNHN 1894.0211, 0212, 0214, MNHN 1934.0054). — Epi, 3 specimens (MNHN 1974.1423, 1424, 1426). — Espiritu Santo, 1 specimen (MNHN 2010.0246). — Indeterminated, 3 specimens (ZFMK 76990, 76991, 84310). New Caledonia. Loyalty Islands, Maré, 7 specimens (NHMB 7029, 7031-7033, 7035, 7037, 7038). — Loyalty Islands, Lifou, 1 specimen (ZFMK 70455). French Polynesia. Tuamotu, Fakarava, 2 specimens (ZFMK 91002, 91003). DISTRIBUTION. — The species is currently known from many of the larger islands of Vanuatu where it does not extend further north than Espiritu Santo (Ineich 2011) and from Lifou and Maré (including the satellite islet Dudun) in the Loyalty Islands (Fig. 3). It has been introduced to Fakarava in the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia and probably also to Norfolk Island (Fig. 1, see discussion). ETYMOLOGY. — This species is dedicated to Mr. Georg Potthast, in recognition of financial support for biodiversity research and nature conservation through the BIOPAT programme (www.biopat.de). DIAGNOSIS. — A large (up to 142 mm from snout to vent), stoutly build gecko (Fig. 4) belonging to the genus Gehyra. Subdigital lamellae under the dilated portion of the toes are not longitudinally divided. Toes of G. georgpotthasti n. sp. are webbed up to about half of their length. Extensive dermal folds are present anterior of the forelimb and posterior of the hindlimb, spanning from shoulder to base of toe and from cloaca to base of toe, respectively. Gehyra oceanica has only slightly developed folds on limbs, which span directly between knee and elbow, and toes are only rudimentarily webbed. Furthermore, G. oceanica has fewer subdigital lamellae (max. 20, but usually less than 18 under 4th toe, compared to at least 18 in G. georgpotthasti n. sp.; see Table 2). Maximum snout-vent length of G. oceanica is smaller; in a series of 241 adult specimens from French Polynesia the largest was 93 mm (Ineich 1987), the by far largest specimen in the ZFMK collection is a male from western Samoa of 96 mm, and Beckon (1992) mentions 102 mm as maximum snout-vent length, whereas G. georgpotthasti n. sp. can grows up to 142 mm (see Table 2). Gehyra oceanica has at least 9-10 dark bands on tail (versus 5 to 6 such bands in G. georgpotthasti n. sp.). Subcaudal scalation of G. georgpotthasti n. sp. consists of enlarged, plate-like scales arranged in a median row, whereas G. oceanica and G. marginata have subequal scales or multiple (two or three) median rows of slightly enlarged, nearly subequal scales. Gehyra marginata also differs in having a flattened rather than rounded tail in section and has distinct dermal folds posterior of the forelimb and anterior of the hindlimb, both are merged with a broad fold along trunk. Gehyra membranacruralis lacks dermal folds on forelimb. G. vorax differs in shape of postmentals (short vs elongated in G. georgpotthasti n. sp.) and postrostral scale numbers (up to two vs. two or more in G. georgpotthasti n. sp.). Morphological characters of G. georgpotthasti n. sp. and similar species are summarised in Table 2. DESCRIPTION Holotype Snout-vent length 115 mm. Forehead has a median groove extending from between nostrils to below eyes. Dorsocranial scalation uniform, consisting of small granular scales. Supralabials are 14 and 13, left and right respectively; infralabials are 14 on each side. Rostral shield possesses a median suture and two further sutures originating from corner of posterior indention of the rostral. Two scales are embedded into this indention. These are posteriorly bordered by a single, large internasal (Fig. 5). Nostril bordered by rostral shield, 1st supralabial, nasorostral (as large as 1st supralabial), and three postnasals (two to four times larger than surrounding granules). Mental shield pentagonal, slightly smaller than 1st infralabials. Postmentals about three times longer than wide, twice as long as the mental, and reaching into gular granules (Fig. 5). Infralabials bordered by a series of scales larger than other gular scales, but diminishing in size posteriorly from postmentals. 63 precloacal-femoral pores arranged in a Wshaped line (Fig. 6). Three clustered precloacal tubercles on each side of tail base. Original tail 91 mm long and subcircular in section.Tail dorsally whorled, with longitudinally ten scales per whorl, which are about twice as large as granules on back. Subcaudal scales arranged in one median row of enlarged plates, these sometimes with a median suture (Fig. 7). Fingers and toes broad, with webbing that extends to about half the toe length between 3rd and 4th toe. Subdigital lamellae undivided, counting 23 on left 3rd finger, 22 on right 3rd finger, 21 on left 4th toe, and 22 on right 4th toe. First finger without claw, but a rudimentary sheath is present. First toe bears a small terminal claw. Remaining fingers and toes with large claws on free phalanges. Dermal folds present, well-developed anterior of the forelimb, spanning from shoulder to base of 1st finger, and posterior of the hindlimb, spanning from cloaca to base of 5th toe (Fig. 6). Colouration in ethanol is brownish-grey on the dorsal side, with faint darker patches. Ventral side off-white with very fine freckles, flanks more or less mottled with brown. Colouration in life was brown with five dark brown saddle patches between forelimbs and base of tail. Head, tail and flanks also with dark patches (Fig. 4). Ventral side light brown with a yellow hue, which becomes more intense in precloacal region. Iris brown. Variation Detailed data on morphometric and meristic characters of this species are presented in Table 3. Noteworthy variation was observed in the number of subdigital lamellae, of which can be to 30 under the 4th toe as in one paratype (ZFMK 73902) and the number of male precloacal-femoral pores, which range from 27 to 68 (43 to 68 in paratypes). Number and shape of postrostral scales is very variable, often asymmetrical, but generally consisting of two or more scales located between the rostral and the two nasorostrals and more-or-less larger than cranial granules. Postmental scalation is uniform with little variation compared to the holotype. Colouration is variable, mostly consisting of brown and grey, but yellow, reddish or olive elements are not uncommon. The tail has five to six dark bands, which are especially distinct in juveniles and less distinct or even absent in adults. On Santo, there is a “red” (Fig. 8) and an “ornated” morph (Fig. 9). The first shows a similar colouration to that described for the holotype, but has reddish elements on the dorsum. The ornated morph has the dorsal saddle patches dissolved and shows light and dark ocellalike patches on greyish-brown ground. Besides the precloacal-femoral pores, which are only present in males, there are no differences between sexes concerning scalation. According to our data, males grow larger than females: the largest male specimen (MNHN 2007.0056) has a snout-vent length of 142 mm, mean value of all examined males with visible pores is 115 mm; the largest female (NHMB 7038) measures 125 mm, mean value of all adult females is 105 mm. REMARKS Predominantly nocturnal and arboreal, occupying habitats in rainforest and along beaches. At Dudun, the species, however, dwells on coconut trees and screwpines (Pandanus). Inactive specimens were observed during daytime hiding in between dead leaves of Pandanus. Specimens from Maré were collected on coconut trees (Roux 1913). Eggs obtained from a captive specimen originating from Dudun (ZFMK 91018) are hard-shelled, spherical, and measure 16.0-16.5 × 17.4-18.8 mm (n = 3). Eggs from Santo range from 16.59-18.11 x 18.59-19.75 mm (n = 3; Ineich 2011). Beckon (1992) mentions egg lengths of 17.2 mm (Maré) and 15.8 mm (Espiritu Santo). For comparison, eggs of G. vorax from Viti Levu are 18.6-19.4 × 19.4- 20.4 mm (n = 3). Gibbons & Zug (1987) report egg sizes of 18 × 20 mm from the same island. A hatchling out of an egg from Santo measured 41 mm in snout-vent length and 39 mm in tail length. It is worth mentioning that two specimens, MNHN 2007.0055 from Santo and ZFMK 91002 from Fakarava, had part of their skin damaged when captured, revealing conspicuously green coloured muscle tissue on shoulder and neck (Fig. 8). We did not observe this feature in other specimens, but this is mostly owing to the fact that the colouration does not persist in alcohol. A specimen of G. vorax photographed at Viti Levu has damaged its skin at the same body part, but no greenish colouration is visible. So far, we have no explanation for the biological function of green muscle tissue., Published as part of Flecks, Morris, Schmitz, Andreas, Böhme, Wolfgang, Henkel, Friedrich Wilhelm & Ineich, Ivan, 2012, A new species of Gehyra Gray, 1834 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu, and phylogenetic relationships in the genus Gehyra in Melanesia, pp. 203-221 in Zoosystema 34 (2) on pages 210-215, DOI: 10.5252/z2012n2a1, http://zenodo.org/record/4547272, {"references":["BOULENGER G. A. 1883. - On the geckos of New Caledonia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1883: 116 - 131.","BOULENGER G. A. 1885. - Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. Taylor and Francis, London, 436 p.","STRAUCH A. A. 1887. - Bemerkungen uber die Geckoniden-Sammlung im zoologischen Museum der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu St. Petersburg. Memoires de l'Academie imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg [7] 35 (2): 1 - 72.","ROUX J. 1913. - Les reptiles de la Nouvelle-Caledonie et des iles Loyalty. Nova Caledonia, Zoologie 1 (2): 79 - 160.","DE ROOIJ N. 1915. - The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Brill, Leiden, 384 p.","BAKER J. R. 1928. - Non-marine vertebrate fauna of the New Hebrides. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 10, 2: 294 - 302.","BECKON W. N. 1992. - The giant Pacific geckos of the genus Gehyra: morphological variation, distribution and biogeography. Copeia 1992: 443 - 460.","SADLIER R. A. & BAUER A. M. 1997. - The terrestrial herpetofauna of the Loyalty Islands. Pacific Science 51: 76 - 90.","BAUER A. M. & SADLIER R. A. 2000. - The Herpetofauna of New Caledonia. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York, 310 p.","INEICH I. 2011. - Amphibians and reptiles, in BOUCHET P., LE GUYADER H. & Pascal O. (eds), The Natural History of Santo. Patrimoines Naturels 70. Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris; IRD, Marseille; Pro-Natura International, Paris: 187 - 236.","GIRARD C. 1857. - Descriptions of some new Reptiles, collected by the United States Exploring expedition, under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. Fourth Part. Including the species of Saurians, exotic to North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 9: 195 - 199.","GIBBONS J. R. H. & ZUG G. R. 1987. - Gehyra, Hemidactylus, and Nactus (Pacific geckos). Eggs and hatchlings. Herpetological Review 18 (2): 35 - 36.","BOULENGER G. A. 1887. - Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. Taylor and Francis, London, 575 p."]}

Laticauda Laurenti Laticauda colubrina (Schneider): (McCarthy, 1986; Heatwole et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006). Diagnostic characters: Head shields large, nasals separated by internasals, upper lips yellow. Scale rows around neck 21���23; scale rows around body 21���25; ventrals 213���245. Colouration: Body bluish-grey above, yellow or whitish below, with black bands of more or less uniform width throughout. Head black except snout, upper lips and a stripe extending back above the eye to the temporal region, which are all yellow. Size: 142 cm. General distribution: Indo-Malayan Archipelago, South China Sea, Philippines, Indonesia, Australian region east to Fiji and Vanuatu (David & Ineich, 1999; Heatwole et al., 2005; Cogger & Heatwole, 2006). Laticauda laticaudata (Linnaeus): not yet found in Vietnamese waters. Diagnostic characters Head shields large, nasals separated by internasals, upper lips dark. Scale rows around neck 19; scale rows around body 19; ventrals 225���243. Colouration: Body bluish-grey above, yellow or whitish below, with black bands. Head with a pale horseshoe-shaped mark above, which may or may not curve down behind eye. Size: 110 cm. General distribution: Andaman Sea, Indo-Malayan Archipelago, Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Philippines, Indonesia and Australian region (Smith, 1926; McCarthy, 1986; Zhao & Adler, 1993; David & Ineich, 1999; Heatwole et al., 2005). Laticauda semifasciata (Reinwardt in Schlegel): not yet found in Vietnamese waters (Kharin, 2009). Diagnostic characters Head shields large, nasals separated by internasals, upper lips dark. Scale rows around neck 21���23; scale rows around body 21���23; ventrals 195���210. Colouration: Body bluish-grey green above, yellowish below, with black bands. Head dark brown with a yellow curved mark above, connecting posteriorly with yellow band at back of head. With age, become brownish and markings less apparent (Smith, 1926). Size: 135 cm. General distribution: Philippines, China, Taiwan, Japan and Russia (Smith, 1926; Zhao & Adler, 1993; David & Ineich, 1999; Kharin, 2009)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["McCarthy, C. J. (1986) Relationships of the laticaudine sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Laticaudinae). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zoology), 50, 127 - 161.","Heatwole, H., Busack, S. & Cogger, H. G. (2005) Geographic variation in sea kraits of the Laticauda colubrina complex (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae: Laticaudini). Herpetological Monographs, 19, 1 - 136.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499.","Cogger, H. G. & Heatwole, H. (2006) Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905) and Laticauda saintgironsi n. sp. from Vanuatu and New Caledonia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Laticaudinae) - A new lineage of sea kraits? Records of the Australian Museum, 58, 245 - 256.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","Zhao, E. & Adler, K. (1993) Herpetology of China. Society for the study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Oxford, Ohio, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2009) Redescription of a Russian finding of the Erabu Sea Krait Pseudolaticauda semifasciata (Reinwardt in Schlegel, 1837), with remarks about species composition of sea snakes (Serpentes: Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae) in Russian and adjacent waters. Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 35, 8 - 14."]}

Lapemis Gray Lapemis curtus (Shaw): (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Pickwell, 1972; Tu, 1974; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Scales in the lowermost three or four lateral rows are larger than the others. Scale rows around neck 23���35; scale rows around body 25���43. Ventrals small, 114���230, usually distinct anteriorly, very small or absent posteriorly. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 3���6. Colouration: Body greenish or yellowish above, whitish below, with dark greenish to black bands, which sometimes fuse longitudinally dorsally, narrowing laterally. However, in some specimens bands meet below, encircling the body. Size: 110 cm. General distribution: From Arabian Gulf to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, and Australian region (David & Ineich, 1999; Rasmussen & Ineich, 2000). Remarks: One of the most frequently caught sea snakes by trawling boats in Asia. Lapemis hardwickii is a synonym of L. curtus (Gritis & Voris, 1990), Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Shuntov, V. P. (1962) Sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) of the Gulf of Tonkin (Northern Viet-Nam). Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 41, 1203 - 1209.","Pickwell, G. V. (1972) Sea snakes of Viet Nam and Southeast Asia. Handbook of dangerous animals for field personnel. Undersea surveillance and ocean sciences department, Naval undersea center, San Diego, 5 - 25 pp.","Tu, A. T. (1974) Sea snake investigation in the Gulf of Thailand. Journal of Herpetology, 8, 201 - 210.","Harding, K. A. & Welch, K. R. G. (1980) Venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1 - 188 pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Golay, P., Smith, H. M., Broadley, D. G., Dixon, J. R., McCarthy, C., Rage, J. C., Schatti, B. & Toriba, M. (1993) Endoglyphs and other major venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Herpetological Data Centre, Azemiops, Switzerland, pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1995) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, 1 - 204 pp.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Dotsenko, I. B. (1999) Snakes from Vietnam at the National Museum of Natural History of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences stock collection. Communication 1. The sea snakes - Hydrophiidae. Vestnik zoologii, 33, 39 - 51.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Rasmussen, A. R., Gravlund, P., van Nguyen, C. & Chanhome, L. (2007) A resurrection of Hydrophis pachycercos Fischer 1855 (Serpentes: Elapidae) with a new neotype from Vietnamese waters. Hamadryad, 31, 288 - 298.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499.","Rasmussen, A. R. & Ineich, I. (2000) Sea snakes of New Caledonia and surrounding waters (Serpentes: Elapidae): first report on the occurrence of Lapemis curtus and description of a new species from the genus Hydrophis. Hamadryad, 25, 91 - 99.","Gritis, P. A. & Voris, H. K. (1990) Variability and significance of parietal and ventral scales in the marine snakes of the genus Lapemis (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae), with comments on the occurrence of spiny scales in the genus. Fieldiana Zoology, 56, 1 - 13."]}

Acalyptophis Boulenger Acalyptophis peronii (Dum��ril): (Kharin, 1984 b; Zhao & Adler, 1993, 2006). Diagnostic characters: The only sea snake with spines on the head: parietal and frontal scales broken up, supra- and postoculars and adjacent scales with spines posteriorly. Scale rows around neck 18���24, rarely up to 27; scale rows around body 23���31, rarely 21 or 32; ventrals 142���222. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5���8. Colouration: Body cream, grey or pale brown above, paler below, with brown/black bands, which are brighter ventrally. Sometimes has dark small bars or spots between the bands, tapering to a point on the sides. Size: 128 cm. General distribution: Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Australian region (Smith, 1926; David & Ineich, 1999)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 3, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Zhao, E. & Adler, K. (1993) Herpetology of China. Society for the study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Oxford, Ohio, pp.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Thalassophis Schmidt Thalassophis anomalus Schmidt : (Kharin, 1984 b, 2006). Diagnostic characters: A pair of elongated shields separate the nasals, rostral divided into four or five scales. Head shields with thickened edges. Scale rows around neck 27���30; scale rows around body 31���35; ventrals 210��� 256. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5. Colouration: Greyish above. Whitish below with dark bands, which taper to a point laterally or continue as narrow bands ventrally to encircle the body. Size: 81 cm. General distribution: Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, East Sumatra, Borneo and Moluccas (David & Ineich, 1999)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 10, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Emydocephalus Krefft Emydocephalus annulatus Krefft: (Dotsenko, 1999; Rasmussen & Ineich, 2010). Diagnostic characters: Three supralabials, the second very long. Large ventrals, each three or more times as broad as the adjacent body scales. Scale rows around neck 15; scale rows around body 17, rarely 15; ventrals 125��� 146. Only rudimentary maxillary teeth behind fangs. Colouration: Highly variable, body ranging from uniform black or brown to yellow, with or without bands. Size: 103 cm. General distribution: Vietnam, Philippines and the Australian region (David & Ineich, 1999; Dotsenko, 1999; Alcala et al., 2000; Rasmussen & Ineich, 2010). Remarks: Feeds only on fish eggs (McCarthy, 1987)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Dotsenko, I. B. (1999) Snakes from Vietnam at the National Museum of Natural History of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences stock collection. Communication 1. The sea snakes - Hydrophiidae. Vestnik zoologii, 33, 39 - 51.","Rasmussen, A. R. & Ineich, I. (2010) Species diversity in the genus Emydocephalus Krefft, 1869 (Serpentes, Elapidae, Hydrophiinae): Insight from morphology and anatomy Herpetological Review, 41, 285 - 290.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499.","Alcala, A. C., Maypa, J. P. & Russ, G. R. (2000) Distribution of the Turtle-headed sea snakes Emydocephalus n. sp. on coral reefs of the central Philippines. UPV Journal for Natural Sciences, 5, 27 - 32.","McCarthy, C. J. (1987) Adaptations of sea snakes that eat fish eggs; with a note on the throat musculature of Aipysurus eydouxii (Gray, 1849). Journal of Natural History, 21, 1119 - 1128."]}

Aipysurus Lacep��de Aipysurus eydouxii (Gray): (Bourret, 1934, 1936; Minton, 1975; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Welch, 1988; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Maxillary bone extending forward beyond palatine. Large ventrals, each being at least three times as broad as the adjacent body scales. Scale rows around neck 15���17; scale rows around body 17; 124��� 155 ventrals, slightly notched on posterior border. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 7���12 and very small. Colouration: Body brownish or olive green above, paler below, with yellow or pale brown irregular bands, which may expand laterally and break up ventrally. Scales within bands usually with dark margins. Size: 110 cm. General distribution: West Malaysia, Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australian region (David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: The only species in the genus Aipysurus found outside the Australian region., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Minton, S. A. (1975) Geographic distribution of sea snakes. In: Dunson, W. A. (Ed.) The Biology of Sea Snakes. London & tokyo Baltimore, pp. 21 - 31.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Welch, K. R. G. (1988) Snakes of the Orient: a checklist. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, Pages i-vii + 1 - 183.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Dotsenko, I. B. (1999) Snakes from Vietnam at the National Museum of Natural History of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences stock collection. Communication 1. The sea snakes - Hydrophiidae. Vestnik zoologii, 33, 39 - 51.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Astrotia Fischer Astrotia stokesii (Gray): (Kharin, 1984 b; Zhao & Adler, 1993, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Ventrals divided into pairs of foliform scales, except on throat. Body stout, covered with strongly imbricate scales. Scale rows around neck 37���47; scale rows around body 46���63; ventrals 226���286. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 6���7. Colouration: Highly variable; body ranging from brown to more creamy-white above, pale brown or whitish below. Sometimes has 24���36 dark or black bands above, each tapering to a point laterally. Some specimens have spots in between the bands, laterally as well as ventrally. Size: 179 cm. General distribution: Indo-Malayan Archipelago, South China Sea, Philippines, Indonesia and tropical waters of Australia (David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: The most massive sea snake, along with Aipysurus laevis from the Australian region., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Zhao, E. & Adler, K. (1993) Herpetology of China. Society for the study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Oxford, Ohio, pp.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Kolpophis Smith Kolpophis annandalei (Laidlaw): (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Minton, 1975; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Welch, 1988; Das, 1993; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Head shields irregularly divided. Head large, body stout, covered with small irregular scales. Has very high scale row counts around neck (62���82) and body (74���93). Ventrals 320���368. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 6���7. Colouration: Body yellowish with pale grey bands above, much broader than their interspaces, narrowing on sides. With age the colour becomes pale grey above, whitish below and the bands disappear. Size: 91 cm. General distribution: Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Borneo and Java (Das, 1993; David & Ineich, 1999)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Minton, S. A. (1975) Geographic distribution of sea snakes. In: Dunson, W. A. (Ed.) The Biology of Sea Snakes. London & tokyo Baltimore, pp. 21 - 31.","Harding, K. A. & Welch, K. R. G. (1980) Venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1 - 188 pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Welch, K. R. G. (1988) Snakes of the Orient: a checklist. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, Pages i-vii + 1 - 183.","Das, I. (1993) Annandales seasnakes, Kolpophis annandalei (Laidlaw, 1901) - A new record for Borneo (Reptilia, Serpentes, Hydrophiidae) Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 41, 359 - 361.","Golay, P., Smith, H. M., Broadley, D. G., Dixon, J. R., McCarthy, C., Rage, J. C., Schatti, B. & Toriba, M. (1993) Endoglyphs and other major venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Herpetological Data Centre, Azemiops, Switzerland, pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1995) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, 1 - 204 pp.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Dotsenko, I. B. (1999) Snakes from Vietnam at the National Museum of Natural History of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences stock collection. Communication 1. The sea snakes - Hydrophiidae. Vestnik zoologii, 33, 39 - 51.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Rasmussen, A. R., Gravlund, P., van Nguyen, C. & Chanhome, L. (2007) A resurrection of Hydrophis pachycercos Fischer 1855 (Serpentes: Elapidae) with a new neotype from Vietnamese waters. Hamadryad, 31, 288 - 298.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Kerilia Gray Kerilia jerdonii Gray : (Bourret, 1934, 1936; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Easily recognized by the yellowish colour and the low scale row counts around neck and body. Maxillary bone extending forward beyond the palatine and fangs followed without any interspace by 7��� 9 teeth. Scale rows around neck 15���17; scale rows around body 19���23; ventrals 200���278. Colouration: Body yellow above, yellowish or white below, with black bands wider above and fading laterally. In some specimens the dark bands encircle the body. Size: 105 cm. General distribution: India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Sea, Strait of Malacca, Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Taiwan and Borneo (David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: Two subspecies are recognised (Smith, 1926): K. jerdoni jerdoni is found in India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Sea, and from Strait of Malacca to Singapore; K. j. siamensis is found from East Malaysia, Gulf of Thailand to China and Taiwan. (Smith, 1926; Rasmussen & Andersen, 1990)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Harding, K. A. & Welch, K. R. G. (1980) Venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1 - 188 pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1995) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, 1 - 204 pp.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","Rasmussen, A. R. & Andersen, M. (1990) The sea snake Kerilia jerdoni Gray (1849): First records from Andaman Sea, Phuket Island, Thailand, with remarks on the two subspecies. Snake, 22, 131 - 133."]}

Enhydrina Gray Enhydrina schistosa (Daudin): (Smith, 1920; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Pickwell, 1972; Minton, 1975; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Gasperetti, 1988; Welch, 1988; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Mental narrow, elongated and hidden in a groove. Scale rows around neck 40���55; scale rows around body 49���66; ventrals small but distinct, sometimes missing in the most anterior part of body, 239���322. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 3���4. Colouration: Body grey or bluish-grey above, whitish-grey below, with dark or black bands, which usually disappear with age. Size: 140 cm. General distribution: Arabian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Indo-Malayan Archipelago, South China Sea, Indonesia and the Australian region (David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: Aggressive and highly venomous., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on page 4, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Smith, M. A. (1920) On sea snakes from the coasts of the Malay Peninsula, Siam and Cochin-China. Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums. Kuala Lumpur, 10, 1 - 63.","Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Shuntov, V. P. (1962) Sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) of the Gulf of Tonkin (Northern Viet-Nam). Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 41, 1203 - 1209.","Pickwell, G. V. (1972) Sea snakes of Viet Nam and Southeast Asia. Handbook of dangerous animals for field personnel. Undersea surveillance and ocean sciences department, Naval undersea center, San Diego, 5 - 25 pp.","Minton, S. A. (1975) Geographic distribution of sea snakes. In: Dunson, W. A. (Ed.) The Biology of Sea Snakes. London & tokyo Baltimore, pp. 21 - 31.","Harding, K. A. & Welch, K. R. G. (1980) Venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1 - 188 pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Gasperetti, J. (1988) Sea snakes. In: Buttiker, W. & Krupp, F. (Eds.) Fauna of Saudi Arabia. NCWCD Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, pp. 169 - 450.","Welch, K. R. G. (1988) Snakes of the Orient: a checklist. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, Pages i-vii + 1 - 183.","Golay, P., Smith, H. M., Broadley, D. G., Dixon, J. R., McCarthy, C., Rage, J. C., Schatti, B. & Toriba, M. (1993) Endoglyphs and other major venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Herpetological Data Centre, Azemiops, Switzerland, pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1995) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, 1 - 204 pp.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499."]}

Hydrophis Latreille Remarks: The genus Hydrophis is diverse and includes 36 species (Rasmussen & Ineich, 2000; Rasmussen et al., 2001; Rasmussen et al., 2007), 13 of which have been found in Vietnamese waters. Hydrophis atriceps G��nther: (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Pickwell, 1972; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Head small. Body slender anteriorly and long. More than 31 scale rows around midtail. Scale rows around neck 25���30; scale rows around body 39���49; ventrals 320���455. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5���6. Colouration: Anterior part of body dark or black with pale yellowish oval spots on the sides or spots merging into bands. Posterior part of the body greyish white above, whitish below, with dark bands that may extend down the sides to form complete bands. Head dark or black. Size: 120 cm. General distribution: Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, South China Sea, Philippines, Indonesia and Arafura Sea (Smith, 1926; David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: H. atriceps has been regarded as a subspecies of H. fasciatus; now most authors recognise H. atriceps as a valid species (Cogger et al., 1983), thus excluding the allopatric H. fasciatus. Hydrophis belcheri (Gray): (Rasmussen et al., 2007). Diagnostic characters: Normally only one supralabial (the fourth) bordering the eye, but rarely two (third and fourth or fourth and fifth). Scale rows around neck 24���27; scale rows around body 32���37; ventrals 278���313. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 7���8, rarely 6 or 9. Colouration: Body yellow or greyish above, yellow-whitish below, with 52���70 dark or black bands. Head dark with flecks of olive or yellowish markings on prefrontal and around eye. Size: 94 cm. General distribution: Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and New Guinea (McCarthy & Warrell, 1991; David & Ineich, 1999; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Hydrophis brookii G��nther : (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Minton, 1975; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Welch, 1988; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Head small, body long and slender anteriorly. Scale rows around neck 25���31; scale rows around body 37���45; ventrals 328���414. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 4���5. Colouration: Body bluish white with 60 to 80 dark or black bands. Anteriorly these completely encircle the body, but posteriorly they narrow on the sides and may be incomplete below. Head blackish, with a yellow horseshoe mark on the upper side. Size: 104 cm. General distribution: Indo-Malayan Archipelago, South China Sea and North Coast of Borneo and Java (David & Ineich, 1999). Hydrophis caerulescens (Shaw) : (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Kharin, 1984 b; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Kharin, 2004 a; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: The only sea snake with more than 13 maxillary teeth (i.e. 14���18) behind the poison fangs. Scale rows around neck 31���43; scale rows around body 38���54; ventrals 253���334. Colouration: Body bluish-grey above, greyish below, with 40���60 dark or black bands, which are broader than the interspaces between them. With age the bands become indistinct and the body almost uniformly greyish blue. Size: 82 cm. General distribution: Pakistan, India, Andaman Sea, Indo-Malayan Archipelago, South China Sea, Indonesia, Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria (Australia) (David & Ineich, 1999). Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin : (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Pickwell, 1972; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 27���35, rarely 25; scale rows around body 37���47; ventrals 279���390. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5���8. Colouration: Very variable, especially the bands. Body pale yellow green or greyish above, whitish below. Dark bluish or black bands, which may be: a) encircling the body and broadest above, b) encircling the body and of rather uniform width, or c) broadest above and narrowing out to disappear laterally. On the posterior part of the body the bands are dorsally always broader than the interspaces between them. With age the banding pattern fades. Size: 275 cm. General distribution: From the Arabian Gulf in the west to Japan in the east (David & Ineich, 1999) Remarks: One of the largest species of sea snake, approaching 3 m. Hydrophis gracilis (Shaw): (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Ventrals entire anteriorly, more or less completely divided by a longitudinal furrow posteriorly. Head small. Body slender anteriorly. Scale rows around neck 17���23; scale rows around body 30���43; ventrals 215���350. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5���6. Colouration: Anterior part of body black, with whitish lateral patches (formed by dark bands merging dorsally) or complete pale transverse bands. Posterior part of the body with more unbroken alternating black and whitish bands. With age the bands disappear and the body becomes uniformly greyish. Size: 122 cm. General distribution: From Arabian Gulf to South China Sea and Indonesia, Arafura Sea to Gulf of Papua (New Guinea) (David & Ineich, 1999). Smith (1926) defined two subspecies with H. g. microcephalus occurring in the middle of the range of the typical form (Natuna and Java Seas). Hydrophis klossi Boulenger : (Kharin, 2004 b, 2006). Diagnostic characters: Head small. Body slender anteriorly. Scale rows around neck 22���25, rarely 27; scale rows around body 30���37, rarely 39; ventrals 360���415. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5���6. Colouration: Body greyish yellow with 50���75 dark or black bands, which are broader than their interspaces dorsally. Head greyish black, sometimes with an indistinct pale horseshoe-shaped mark above. Size: 142 cm. General distribution: Straits of Malacca, the Gulf of Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam (David & Ineich, 1999; Kharin, 2004 b). Hydrophis lamberti Smith : (Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 37���45; scale rows around body 45���56; ventrals 258���306. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 9���12. Colouration: Body whitish or pale grey above, paler below. Large rounded dorsal bands anteriorly, posteriorly gradually becoming narrower and separated by broader interspaces. Bands broader above, narrow and faintly coloured laterally. Size: 122 cm. General distribution: Singapore, Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines (Rasmussen, 1989; David & Ineich, 1999). Remarks: Has been included in H. ornatus by some authors (e. g. Smith, 1926), but is very distinct in its colour pattern. Hydrophis melanocephalus Gray : (Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Head small, body slender anteriorly. Scale rows around neck 23���27; scale rows around body 33���41; ventrals 289���358. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 6���8. Colouration: Body greyish yellow above, yellowish or white below, with 40���55 black bands, about as broad as their interspaces, usually broadest above and below. Head blackish, sometimes with yellow spots. Size: 123 cm. General distribution: Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Philippines (David & Ineich, 1999; Kharin, 2006). Remarks: Has been confused with H. coggeri in the Australian region (Kharin, 1984 a). Hydrophis ornatus (Gray): (Smith, 1926; Bourret, 1934, 1936; Shuntov, 1962; Pickwell, 1972; Harding & Welch, 1980; Tran & Nguy��n, 1980; Kharin, 1984 b; Gasperetti, 1988; Golay et al., 1993; Tran & Nguy��n, 1995; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Dotsenko, 1999; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 34���41; scale rows around body 42���54; ventrals 235���294. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 9���13. Colouration: Body pale grey above, whitish below. Broad dark greyish bands, interspaces narrow and almost equidistant anteriorly. Head olive-green or greyish above. Size: 115 cm. General distribution: From the Arabian Gulf in the west to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and New Caledonia (Rasmussen, 1989; Ineich & Rasmussen, 1997; David & Ineich, 1999), and the Australian region (H. ornatus ocellatus) (Smith, 1926). Hydrophis pachycercos Fischer : (Rasmussen et al., 2007). Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 26���31; scale rows around body 39���45; ventrals 247���297. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 7���8. Colouration: Body pale yellow above, white below, with pale brown transverse bands fading on the upper part of the flanks. Head white below, black/dark above with pale supralabials and a pale ring around the eyes. Size: 111 cm. General distribution: South China Sea (one specimen at the Natural History Museum, London, collected in ���E. Ind. Archipelago���)(Rasmussen et al., 2007). Remarks: Recently resurrected from H. belcheri (Rasmussen et al., 2007). Hydrophis parviceps Smith : (Smith, 1935; Taylor, 1963; Kharin, 1984 b; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Kharin, 2006; Rasmussen et al., 2007; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Diagnostic characters: Head small, body slender anteriorly. Scale rows around neck 19���21; scale rows around body 31���34; ventrals 329���348. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 6���7. Colouration: Body olivaceous above, greyish below, with 65���70 blackish bands. Head black with no or only a few faint paler marks. Size: 125 cm. General distribution: Southern Vietnam (Smith, 1935; Taylor, 1963) Remarks: Only two specimens known previously; one caught in 1929 and one in 1960, both from the coast of southern Vietnam (Smith, 1935; Taylor, 1963). Four additional specimens were collected during the fishing vessel survey in 2001 SW of Ham Tan. The species is endemic to Vietnam. Hydrophis spiralis (Shaw) : (Dotsenko, 1999). Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 25���31; scale rows around body 33���38; ventrals 295���362. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 6���7. Colouration: Body yellow above, pale yellow below, with black bands. Interspaces broader than bands, at least posteriorly. Head yellow/dark above, paler below. Size: 275 cm. General distribution: From the Arabian Gulf in the west to Vietnam in the east, Indonesia and New Caledonia (Ineich & Rasmussen, 1997; David & Ineich, 1999; Dotsenko, 1999). Hydrophis torquatus diadema G��nther : (Bourret, 1934; Warrell, 1994; Ineich, 1996; Nguy��n & H��, 1996; Nguy��n et al., 2005; Nguy��n et al., 2009). Despite mentioned by many authors the species is not yet confirmed from Vietnamese waters. Diagnostic characters: Scale rows around neck 29���37; scale rows around body 35���49; ventrals 230���340. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 8���10. Colouration: Body grey or whitish above, yellow or whitish below, with black bands, which are often incomplete below. Bands fade and disappear with age, leaving the back more or less uniform grey. Head black with a yellowish band across the snout and along sides. Size: 104 cm. General distribution: Straits of Malacca, Borneo, Gulf of Thailand, Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, and possibly China (Smith, 1926; Ineich, 1996; David & Ineich, 1999) Remarks: Three subspecies are defined, each with a very limited range (Smith, 1926). The one found closest to Vietnamese waters is H. torquatus diadema (Smith, 1926; Ineich, 1996)., Published as part of Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Elmberg, Johan, Gravlund, Peter & Ineich, Ivan, 2011, Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 2894 on pages 5-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.277666, {"references":["Rasmussen, A. R. & Ineich, I. (2000) Sea snakes of New Caledonia and surrounding waters (Serpentes: Elapidae): first report on the occurrence of Lapemis curtus and description of a new species from the genus Hydrophis. Hamadryad, 25, 91 - 99.","Rasmussen, A. R., Auliya, M. & Bohme, W. (2001) A New Species of the Sea Snake Genus Hydrophis (Serpentes: Elapidae) from a River in West Kalimantan (Indonesia, Borneo). Herpetologica, 57, 23 - 32.","Rasmussen, A. R., Gravlund, P., van Nguyen, C. & Chanhome, L. (2007) A resurrection of Hydrophis pachycercos Fischer 1855 (Serpentes: Elapidae) with a new neotype from Vietnamese waters. Hamadryad, 31, 288 - 298.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph of the sea-snakes (Hydrophiidae). Printed by order of the Trustees of the British museum (Natural History) London, Pages i-xvii + 1 - 130 + 2 plates.","Bourret, R. (1934) Les serpents marine de l'Indochine Francaise. Institut Oceanographique de l'Indochine, Hanoi, Note 25, 1 - 69.","Bourret, R. (1936) Les serpents de l'Indochine. Catalogue systematique descriptif, ll, 338 - 381.","Shuntov, V. P. (1962) Sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) of the Gulf of Tonkin (Northern Viet-Nam). Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 41, 1203 - 1209.","Pickwell, G. V. (1972) Sea snakes of Viet Nam and Southeast Asia. Handbook of dangerous animals for field personnel. Undersea surveillance and ocean sciences department, Naval undersea center, San Diego, 5 - 25 pp.","Harding, K. A. & Welch, K. R. G. (1980) Venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1 - 188 pp.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1980) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam. Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, pp.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 b) Three species of sea snakes first discovered in Vietnamese waters with a comment on a rare form Praescutata viperina. Biologiya Morya. Vladivostok, 2, 26 - 30.","Tran, K. & Nguyen, Q. T. (1995) Cac loai ran doc Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, 1 - 204 pp.","Nguyen, V. S. & Ho, T. C. (1996) Danh luc bo sat va ech Nhai Viet Nam Science & Technology Publ. House, Hanoi, - Pp. 1 - 264","Kharin, V. E. (2006) An annotated checklist of sea snakes of Vietnam, with notes on a new record of the yellow-lipped sea krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 32, 223 - 228.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2009) Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 768 pp.","David, P. & Ineich, I. (1999) Les Serpents venimeux du monde: systematique et repartition. Dumerilia (Paris), 3, 3 - 499.","Cogger, H. G., Cameron, E. E. & Cogger, H. M. (1983) Hydrophiidae. In: Zoological catalogue of Australia. Amphibia and Reptilia. Government Publishing Service, Canberra: Australia, pp. 241 - 256.","McCarthy, C. J. & Warrell, D. (1991) A collection of sea snakes from Thailand with new records of Hydrophis belcheri (Gray). Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (zoology), London, 57, 161 - 166.","Minton, S. A. (1975) Geographic distribution of sea snakes. In: Dunson, W. A. (Ed.) The Biology of Sea Snakes. London & tokyo Baltimore, pp. 21 - 31.","Welch, K. R. G. (1988) Snakes of the Orient: a checklist. Robert E. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, Pages i-vii + 1 - 183.","Golay, P., Smith, H. M., Broadley, D. G., Dixon, J. R., McCarthy, C., Rage, J. C., Schatti, B. & Toriba, M. (1993) Endoglyphs and other major venomous snakes of the world. A checklist. Herpetological Data Centre, Azemiops, Switzerland, pp.","Dotsenko, I. B. (1999) Snakes from Vietnam at the National Museum of Natural History of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences stock collection. Communication 1. The sea snakes - Hydrophiidae. Vestnik zoologii, 33, 39 - 51.","Nguyen, V. S., Ho, T. C. & Nguyen, Q. T. (2005) A checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Nong Nghiep, Hanoi, 1 - 180 pp.","Kharin, V. E. (2004 a) On the Taxonomic Position of the Sea Snake Hydrophis caerulescens (Shaw, 1802) (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 30, 196 - 198.","Kharin, V. E. (2004 b) Review of sea snakes of the genus Hydrophis sensu stricto (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 30, 387 - 394.","Rasmussen, A. R. (1989) An analysis of Hydrophis ornatus (Gray), H. lamberti Smith, and H. inornatus (Gray) (Hydrophiidae, Serpentes) based on samples from various localities, with remarks on feeding and breeding biology of H. ornatus. Amphibia-Reptilia, 10, 397 - 417.","Kharin, V. E. (1984 a) A review of sea snakes of the group Hydrophis sensu lato (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae). 3. the genus Leioselasma. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 63, 1535 - 1546.","Gasperetti, J. (1988) Sea snakes. In: Buttiker, W. & Krupp, F. (Eds.) Fauna of Saudi Arabia. NCWCD Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, pp. 169 - 450.","Ineich, I. & Rasmussen, A. R. (1997) Sea snakes from New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands (Elapidae, Laticaudinae and Hydrophiinae). Zoosystema, 19, 185 - 192.","Smith, M. A. (1935) The sea snakes (Hydrophiidae). Dana-Report, 8, 1 - 6.","Taylor, E. H. (1963) New and Rare Oriental Serpents. Copeia, 1963, 429 - 433.","Warrell, D. A. (1994) Sea snake bites in the Asia-Pacific region. In: Gopalakrishnakone, P. (Ed.) Sea snake toxinology. Singapore University Press, Singapore, pp. 1 - 36.","Ineich, I. (1996) Geographic distribution. Hydrophis torquatus diadema. Herpetological Review, 27, 154."]}

Lepidodactylus buleli, new species Figures 1���5 Holotype. MNHN 2008.0004, an adult male from the forest about two walking hours east of Penaoru Village(14.95894 �� S, 166.63290 �� E), collected as an egg on 14 November 2006 by Ivan Ineich. It was euthanized with sodium pentobarbitol injection in March 2008 after numerous photographs were taken. A sample of tissue was preserved from the ventral side of its right thigh. Paratypes.- None. Etymology. The specific epithet buleli is given by the author as a reference to a personal and private story and has no particular signification related to the species, its characteristics, geographical origin or biology. It is a noun in apposition and not formed from the masculine personal name ���Bulel��� in the genitive singular case. Diagnosis. An intermediated-sized Lepidodactylus, body slightly depressed dorso-ventrally, limbs overlapping when adpressed. Two or three deep notched or divided subterminal scansors of second through fifth digits of the fore- and hindfeet (thus belonging to Group II of Brown and Parker 1977). It differs from other Group II members by the following combination of characters: moderately dilated digital pads of pes and manus, lamellae covering most of elongate toe length, presence of one enlarged cloacal spur followed by 2���3 smaller spurs on each side (fig. 5), a short and wide snout (fig. 1), an elevated number of midbody scale rows, uniform lemon-yellow upper- and lower labials and a yellowish head area mixed with purplish dark brown particularly between eye and in the tympanic region (fig. 4), whitish chin and throat (fig. 3), and a distinctive anchor-like yellowish to cream dorsal pattern at the base of tail (fig. 5). Description of holotype (measurements in mm, after preservation). Snout-vent length 37.5; head length 9.06; head width 6.28; head height 4.68; jaws length from posterior border to snout end left/right 6.44 / 6.75; snout-eye length 4.33; naris-eye length 3.07; naris circular about 0.48 �� 0.40; orbit diameter 2.26; eye-ear length 3.43; snout width (internasal distance) 1.82; ear opening length �� width 1.22 �� 0.80; interorbital width 3.80; snout-forelimb length 14.44; trunk length 17.37; length of hind limb 16 (62.8 % of axilla-groin distance); length of fore limb 11; crus length 4.69; tail length 40 (entire); tail width 3.59; tail depth 2.93. Snout rounded (fig. 4), rather short and wide; snout scales (scales touching rostral between left and right nares) 5; supranasals separated by three scales in contact with rostral; rostral entering nares, broader than high, 2.03 �� 0.92 (width about 2.2 times height); no rostral cleft; nares bordered by five scales: one postnasal, and two supranasals (in total three nasals), one rostral, and first supralabial; five scales touching rostral between left and right nares; 39���40 interorbital scales (several counts); 11 left and 10 right supralabials, 8 th below centre of eye; 10 left and 10 right infralabials; mental scale distinct, triangular, its anterior width nearly equals to midline length (0.91 �� 1.08); 17 chin scales and 10 postmentals. Mental followed posteriorly by a pair of enlarged plates also in contact with infralabial I on each side, themselves followed laterally on each side by another enlarged plate, slightly shorter, in contact with infralabial I or its suture with infralabial II, and with infralabial II. Body slightly depressed; 147 rows of scales (3 counts: 144, 146, 152) around midbody, grading into granular scales on lower lateral surfaces; dorsal and lateral scales granular, without enlarged tubercles, and in juxtaposition; ventral scales almost flat, cycloid, 2���3 times larger than dorsal scales; limbs well developed (figs. 1���3); digital lamellae ventrally covering nearly all of forefoot digits and digits I���II of hindfoot, about �� of digits III���V of hindfoot; all digits of fore- and hindfoot clawed except the first; ultimate claw-bearing and penultimate phalanges of fore and hind digits raised above pad and extending over distal edge of pad; fore- and hindfoot webbing slight (less than basal 20 % of 2 nd digit���s length); breadth of fourth toe about 28���31 % of its length; breadth of fourth finger 31���32 % of its length; left/right scansors covering underside of toes to base, 8 / 8 under first toe, 10 / 10 under second toe, 13 / 12 under third toe, 14 / 13 under fourth toe, 10 / 10 under fifth toe; left/right scansors covering underside of fingers to base, 8 / 8 under first finger, 10 / 11 under second finger, 10 / 11 under third finger, 14 / 14 under fourth finger, 6 / 5 under fifth finger; fourth toe lamellae: one entire, two divided, ten entire and 1���2 enlarged but not touching the toe border laterally; percentage of digit and toe covered by entire lamellae (right side only) respectively 80���90 % and 75���80 %; precloacal and femoral pore rows absent, as are enlarged adjacent scales. Tail entire, subcylindrical throughout length, gradually tapering to a blunt tip; lateral margins without spines or skin flanges; scales on tail annulate, squarish or rectangular, larger ventrally than dorsally, subcaudal scales about 1.5 times belly scales; base of tail distinctly swollen by hemipenes; one large and about two smaller blunt cloacal spurs on each side. Color in life (based on laboratory observation and numerous color photographs of holotype taken at different times). Coloration is very variable depending on the physiological and psychological situation of the animal or its following response to light intensity. Dorsal ground color is variable from dark, purple brownish to pinkish, with distinct more or less circular vivid black spots in seven medio-dorsal paired rows from neck to tail base (fig. 1). The first two pairs of middorsal black spots are more widely separated between them than the five following pairs. The first pair, anteriorly, medium in relative size, is located just in front of anterior members. The second anterior pair is the largest, nearly circular, and located just behind anterior members. The third pair, like the four following pairs, is more centred against the mid-back, thus narrower. Pairs 4 and 5 are identical to pair 3. Pair 6 is located at the level of posterior limbs. The last (7 th) pair is located just behind posterior members and has also a similar size than former pair, but is followed anteriorly by oblique darker lines giving the whole an open V-shape. That black pair is followed by a darker brownish square patch. Those seven pairs of dark black spots have also sometimes irregular lateral black smaller spots. If interpreted as the W-chevron considered by Ineich (1988) for the Lepidodactylus lugubris unisexual-bisexual species complex���s dorsal pattern, black spots pairs 1 and 2 are on lateral tops of the W, whereas pairs 3 to 7 are located on both basal points of the W. The oblique dark lines following black spots of pair 7 correspond to the W lateral lines running from bottom to top. Anterior and posterior of pair 7 is a lighter shape representing a shape like an anchor (fig. 5). That shape was almost yellowish or cream white in live holotype, depending on the gecko���s state. The anchor began posterior to black spots pair 6, at the level of the first light annuli on tail base and the round hook part of the anchor is located at the second light tail dorsal ring. That shape is clearly visible and may constitute a good diagnostic character for the species, in combination with other characters. Dorsum with 5 lighter more or less square-shaped purplish zones medially between pairs 2 and 7 of black spots. Flanks are always darker than dorsum, covered with darker marks and some whiter spots like ocelli. Each ocellus covers about 20 granules. In total, on the right side five to six ocelli are visible. Each dorsal black spots pair from 2 to 5 is laterally followed on flanks by a brownish rectangular dark brown mark. Venter is cream white with small light brown spots more developed on sides. Supra- and infralabials are brightly lemon-yellow and without any darker mark. Eye is not clearly encircled by a lighter coloration, but the whole peri-ocular area including labials is lemon-yellowish, as is the tympanum area, but that yellowish coloration is mostly developed in the posterior head part (fig. 4). Eye is surrounded by 5 dark reddish brown radiating bands (fig. 4). Eyes are brownish orange with reticulations. Upper head ground colour is sometimes dark brown, purplish like the back (when animal is not too darkened), or even more or less yellowish. A first median V shaped dark mark, pointing posterior, can be seen medially on the snout in front of eyes. Tail is annulated with cream and dark rings. Note however that annuli can be more or less evident according to the gecko owing to physiological and psychological state. There are 11 dark dorsal tail annulations and 12 lighter cream annulations posterior to tail base. Light rings are about 2 / 3 to 3 / 4 as wide as dark ones. Ventrally tail is lightly orange coloured. Throat is whitish to yellowish. Mouth interior colour was not checked. Colour of holotype in preservative. Colour of the preserved holotype is very reduced and retains only a small fraction of coloration in life (fig. 2). On upper head the snout anterior opened V mark is still discernable. The interocular dark band also is reduced but still visible. Between eyes there is just a small black spot conserved and another one in the neck area. The dark band in front of the eyes is visible. Middorsal black spot pairs are variably visible. Pair 1 is weak, pair 2 very evident and still heavy black, pair 3 is visible with lateral dark expansions, the same for pair 4 with even larger lateral expansions, another large lateral dark expansion is visible between dorsal black pairs 4 and 5 and a last one dorso-ventrally at pair 5 level. Between black spot pairs 3 to 5 one supplementary black mark can be seen. Pair 6 has reduced lateral dark expansions and pair 7 has clearly line prolongations forming together an opened V shaped black mark pointing posteriorly at tail base. Dorsal coloration is whitish with some brownish patches. Tail is dorsally brownish and upper thighs white. Ventrally, tail is darker than venter but still not dark except its end (fig. 3). Anchor-shape mark is still discernable but no more as evident. Venter is white with fine speckles mostly on sides and more evident in the area between anterior and posterior members (fig. 3); each speckle covering 1 to 2 ventral scales. Throat is weakly speckled. MNHN 2006.0544 (female) also present typical disseminated minute speckles on venter and throat. Distribution. The species is known presently only by two specimens from its type locality, primary forest at about 630 m elevation, east of the Village of Penaoru, on the west dry coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Natural history. The egg giving birth to holotype was taken in a myrmecophilous plant (Hydnophytum sp., Rubiaceae) located at about 22 meters high on a gymnosperm tree trunk (Decussocarpus sp.) in primary dry forest at 630 m elevation. The epiphytic plant had an ellipsoidal shape and a size of about 30 �� 25 cm and had numerous holes inside. It was collected by Bruno Corbara and his team using a professional climber. The egg was later hatched in captivity in Paris and grown until adult size by the gecko breeder Francis Girard. A gravid female ready to lay its eggs was also collected on the same epiphytic plant. The eggs of Gehyra vorax Girard (non adhesive) were found in the same plant, just beneath L. buleli adhesive eggs (fig. 6). Interactions between ants living in myrmecophilous plants and L. buleli are unknown. In any case, large areas of such plants are not occupied by ants, thus leaving enough space for geckos. Co-existence of geckos inside myrmecophilous plants on Santo will be reviewed in another paper (Corbara & Ineich in prep.). Lepidodactylus buleli is clearly an arboreal species, according to its collection site, above 20 m high on a tree, but also to its resting position with curled tail and its habits, to easily jump from hand or from support to the soil when handled. The holotype often vocalized when kept captive and disturbed. Reproduction. The female was gravid on 14 November 2006, and its both eggs were ready to be laid according to their size and shell state. We measured 16 eggs referable to L. buleli collected inside an epiphytic myrmecophilous plant from Penaoru. Comparison with 15 eggs of L. vanuatuensis shows them to be significant larger (Table 1). Comparison. Lepidodactylus buleli belongs to Group II as defined by Brown and Parker (1977). It can be easily distinguished from the sympatric L. vanuatuensis by its narrower toes and fingers, lamellae extending more to the bases of fingers and toes, a more elongate and ovoid tympanum (more circular by L. vanuatuensis), less elongate and more massive head, presence of two enlarged median postmentals in contact with mental plate, grey brownish speckled venter, smaller head granules, and particular colouration (see above). When regarding number of scale rows at midbody, L. buleli, with the highest number of such scales (147), can be easily distinguished from most Group II species: L. gardineri Boulenger, 1897 (103���118), L. guppyi Boulenger, 1884 (110���138), L. intermedius (121), L. lombocensis (110���112), L. novaeguineae Brown and Parker, 1977 (108���125), L. shebae (91), and L. tepukapili (105���118) (see Table 2). By its scalation, L. buleli is most similar to L. pulcher Boulenger, 1885, from Wild Island off the northwest coast of Manua Island (type locality), and Plot and Lengendrowa Islands on the southeast coast, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea. Records from the Huon Peninsula need confirmation (Bauer & Henle 1994: 162). With that species it shares an elevated number of midbody scale rows and IOS (Table 2). It can however be distinguished from L. pulcher by its lower count of fourth-toe lamellae, its slight toe webbing, the lack of typical heavy spotted head pattern (Boulenger 1885) and presence of dark medio-dorsal black spots even present in preserved specimens (see Plate XIII, fig. 5 of Boulenger 1887 a illustrating L. pulcher), shorter and narrower head and its colouration; also by the presence of several cloacal spurs vs. only one in L. pulcher (see Ota et al. 1995). It also differs from L. guppyi by several scalation characters (tabl. 2) and its more flattened and less elongated body shape, colour pattern and interorbital dark band (see pl. 19���20 in McCoy 2006)., Published as part of Ineich, Ivan, 2008, A new arboreal Lepidodactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu: from egg to holotype, pp. 26-38 in Zootaxa 1918 on pages 29-35, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.274565, {"references":["Brown, W. C. & F. Parker (1977) Lizards of the genus Lepidodactylus (Gekkonidae) from the Indo-Australian Archipelago and the islands of the Pacific, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series, 41 (8), 253 - 265.","Ineich, I. (1988) Mise en evidence d'un complexe unisexue-bisexue chez le gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris (Sauria, Lacertilia) en Polynesie francaise. Compte-Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences Paris, 307 (serie III), 271 - 277.","Boulenger G. A. (1897) On the reptiles of Rotuma Island, Polynesia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 6, 20, 306 - 307.","Boulenger, G. A. (1884) Diagnoses of new reptiles and batrachians from the Solomon Islands, collected and presented to the British Museum by H. B. Guppy, Esq. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1884, 210 - 213.","Boulenger, G. A. (1885) Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second edition. Volume I, Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London (reprinted 1965), Wheldon & Wesley, Ltd. and Verlag J. Cramer, i - xii + 436 pp.","Bauer, A. M. & K. Henle (1994) Familia Gekkonidae (Reptilia, Sauria). Part I Australia and Oceania. Das Tierreich, The Animal Kingdom, Teilband 109. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, I - XIII + 306 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1887 a) Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second edition. Volume III, Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London (reprinted 1965), Wheldon & Wesley, Ltd. And Verlag J. Cramer, i - xii + 575 pp. + 40 pls.","Ota, H., Fisher, R. N., Ineich, I. & T. J. Case (1995) Geckos of the genus Lepidodactylus (Squamata: Reptilia) in Micronesia: description of a new species and reevaluation of the status of Gecko moestus Peters, 1867. Copeia, 1995 (1), 183 - 195.","McCoy, M. (2006) Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Pensoft Publ., Sofia (Bulgaria), Moscow, 147 pp. + 64 unumb. pl."]}

Cophoscincopus greeri Böhme, Schmitz & Ziegler, 2000 Lygosoma (Cophoscincus) durum ¢ Angel et al. 1954a: 376-377 [part.]. Cophoscincopus durus ¢ Grandison 1956: 240 [part.]. Cophoscincopus greeri Böhme, Schmitz & Ziegler, 2000: 782 [part.]. MATÉRIEL EXAMINÉ. — [28 exemplaires]: Guinée: Kéoulenta (marigot, alt. 600 m), MNHN 1994.1191-1192 [autrefois respectivement 1943.56A, 1943.57A]; Nimba (alt. 700-900 m), 1 exemplaire mentionné par Grandison (1956: 240), MNHN 1994.1195 [autrefois MNHN 1951.148A]; Nimba (alt. 1580 m), MNHN 1963.412-416 (paratypes); Nimba (alt. 1600 m environ), MNHN 1985.169; Nimba (alt. 1620 m), MNHN 1996.288; Nion (crête, alt. 1500 m), MNHN 1951.118 (paratype) (n o 118 selon Angel et al. 1954a: 376); source du Gouan (rocher au bord du torrent, alt. 1220 m), MNHN 1995.9502-9503; Yalanzou, MNHN 1943.53-54 (paratypes) (Angel et al. 1954a: 376), 1994.1187-1188 [autrefois respectivement MNHN 1943.53A et 1943.54A]; Ziéla (marigot), MNHN 1951.124-126 (paratypes) (Angel et al. 1954a: 376), MNHN 1951.142 (paratype) (Angel et al. 1954a: 376); Zougué (galerie forestière, alt. 1050 m), MNHN 1951.134-137 (paratypes) (n o 134 à 137 selon Angel et al. 1954a: 376). Liberia: mont Nimba (chemin qui conduit à la vallée), MNHN 1996.6390; Nimba (alt. 1580 m), MNHN 1996.287. REMARQUE. — Dans leur description de cette nouvelle espèce, Böhme et al. (2000) désignent plusieurs des spécimens ci-dessus comme paratypes, y compris par erreur MNHN 1943.56-57 qui appartiennent sans aucun doute à C. durus. Parmi les paratypes de C. greeri des collections MNHN ne provenant pas du mont Nimba, ils désignent également le spécimen MNHN 1920.132 qui appartient à C. simulans, en précisant toutefois que ce numéro rassemble deux exemplaires. Or c’est MNHN 1920.133 qui concerne deux exemplaires, tous appartenant à C. greeri, ayant respectivement pour numéro à l’heure actuelle MNHN 1920.133 et MNHN 1991.2849; il est probable que ce soient ces deux exemplaires que ces auteurs ont voulu désigner comme paratypes. Notre matériel permet de signaler cette espèce pour la première fois du Liberia (voir Böhme et al. 2000). La répartition altitudinale de notre matériel semble montrer que cette espèce affectionne particulièrement les régions les plus élevées., Published as part of Ineich, Ivan, 2003, Contribution à la connaissance de la biodiversité des régions afro-montagnardes: les Reptiles du mont Nimba, pp. 597-638 in Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 190 on page 603, {"references":["BOHME W., SCHMITZ A. & ZIEGLER T. 2000. - A review of the West African skink genus Cophoscincopus Mertens (Reptilia: Scincidae: Lygosominae): resurrection of C. simulans (Vaillant, 1884) and description of a new species. Revue suisse de Zoologie 107: 777 - 791.","ANGEL F., GUIBE J. & LAMOTTE M. 1954 a. - Lezards, in La reserve naturelle integrale du mont Nimba, II Memoires de l'Institut FranCais d'Afrique Noire 40: 371 - 379.","GRANDISON A. G. C. 1956. - On a collection of lizards from West Africa. Bulletin de l'Institut franCais d'Afrique noire 18 (A): 224 - 245."]}

Polemon acanthias (Reinhardt, 1860) Miodon acanthias ¢ Villiers 1954: 1243. — Angel et al. 1954b: 397. MATÉRIEL EXAMINÉ. — [12 exemplaires]: Côte d’Ivoire: Yanlé, MNHN 1943.126 (absent). Guinée: Bakoré (savane, alt. 500 m), coll. IFAN 53.8.50 (Villiers 1954: 1243) et coll. IFAN 53.8.101 (Villiers 1954: 1243; Angel et al. 1954b: 397); Nimba, MNHN 951.162 (absent), coll. IFAN 53.8.61 (Villiers 1954: 1243); Nion, coll. IFAN 53.8.52 (Villiers 1954: 1243), (forêt) MNHN 1943.111 (Angel et al. 1954b: 397); Camp du Dyé-yé [ou Yâ], MNHN 1962.384; Yalanzou (champ de riz), MNHN 1943.110, 1943.112 (absent); Ziéla, coll. IFAN 53.8.89 et 53.8.105 (Villiers 1954: 1243; Angel et al. 1954b: 397). REMARQUE. — Je prends en compte ici le spécimen MNHN 1943.111 mentionné dans le catalogue et les fiches comme provenant de ‘‘Samoé région de Nzo’’, une localité de collecte située en dehors de la région considérée dans ce travail. Pourtant, Angel et al. (1954b: 397) précisent ‘‘Nion, en forêt’’ pour ce même spécimen., Published as part of Ineich, Ivan, 2003, Contribution à la connaissance de la biodiversité des régions afro-montagnardes: les Reptiles du mont Nimba, pp. 597-638 in Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 190 on page 619, {"references":["VILLIERS A. 1954. - La collection de Serpents de l'I. F. A. N (Acquisitions 1953). Bulletin de l'Institut franCais d'Afrique noire (A) 16: 1234 - 1247.","ANGEL F., GUIBE J., LAMOTTE M. & ROY R. 1954 b. - Serpents, in La reserve naturelle integrale du mont Nimba, II. Memoires de l'Institut FranCais d'Afrique Noire 40: 381 - 402."]}