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Redescription of external morphology Based on a re-examination of the holotype and on the examination of the recently collected specimens RBINS 20301–20302, shown on Figures 3–6. Raw measurements and scale counts of the three specimens are provided in Table 2. Snout-vent length to 76 mm; total length> 229 mm (holotype). Tail 2.5 times SVL (based on RBINS 20302, the only specimen with a complete, original tail; the tail tip of RBINS 20301 is missing and is not healed). Body moderately depressed. Head distinct from neck, narrow (HL/HW ratio 1.8–2.1), long (HL/SVL ratio 0.25–0.30, proportionally longest in the subadult), depressed (HH/HL ratio 0.41–0.49, least depressed in the subadult). Head covered with symmetric plates. Rostral well visible in dorsal view. Frontonasal rounded anteriorly, slightly wider than long. A line of small tubercles along the posterior borders of the internasals, frontonasal and prefrontals (also along the lateral borders of the prefrontals in the subadult), “en forme de perles” (i.e., pearl-shaped) as described by Monard (1940). Suture between internasals subequal to suture between prefrontals (respectively 0.8 and 0.9 mm in RBINS 16301). Pupil round. Lower eyelid scaly. Canthus rostralis rounded. Lores near-vertical. Nostril opening in contact with 1 st supralabial, the anterior nasal and the two posterior, superposed, nasals. Four supraorbital scales, the anterior- and posteriormost small, separated from the supraciliaries by a continuous row of granular scales. In the holotype the anterior- and posteriormost supraoculars are entire, while in RBINS 20301 the anterior supraoculars are divided into two (left) or three (right) fragments and the posterior ones into three (left) or two (right) fragments. In RBINS 20302 the anterior supraoculars are divided into two fragments on each side, and the posterior supraoculars are unfragmented. Tympanic opening large, rounded, surrounded by smooth scales (i.e., no auricular denticulation), including a crescentic scale bordering the antero-dorsal limit of the tympanum. Seven or eight supralabials; one of them much enlarged and bordering the orbit, separating the five anterior supralabials (sometimes four, as on the left side of the holotype) from the two posterior ones. Frontal hexagonal, surrounded anteriorly by the two prefrontals, laterally by three supraoculars on each side, and posteriorly by the two frontoparietals. Anterior border of frontal pointing forward. Frontal narrow posteriorly. Length of frontal slightly smaller than distance between frontal and snout tip (respectively 4.1 and 5.1 mm in RBINS 16301). Frontoparietals pentagonal. Parietals large, nearly as long as frontal, separated by the interparietal scale and a small occipital. Pineal eye visible through the interparietal scale. Scales on the upper surface of the head smooth, except the pearl-shaped tubercles. Temporal area covered by an elongate, thin temporal plate along the parietal, and by smaller to granular scales. Six (in a single case seven) infralabials. Mental followed by four pairs of sublinguals, the first three in contact on the midline, the fourth pair separated from each other. Sublinguals progressively increasing in size posteriorly. Gular collar present and distinct, ventrally including five distinctly enlarged scales. The right profile and ventral view of the head, which had never been illustrated for the holotype so far, are shown on Figure 3. Mediodorsal scale rows not widened. Dorsal scales granular, in 67–70 longitudinal rows at midbody, those on the lower flanks nearly smooth, those on upper flanks and dorsum with a median, single, longitudinal keel. About 40 dorsal scales between legs. Six longitudinal rows of parallelepipedal or trapezoidal, widened, smooth, ventral scales; the two medioventral rows narrower than the lateral ones. Between the gular collar and the line of porebearing scales, 27 or 28 transversal rows of ventrals. A distinctly enlarged preanal plate, bordered laterally by a row of a few small preanals on each side. Femoral pores in a continuous row of 17–20. The left and right series of pores of RBINS 20301 and RBINS 20302 are separated by respectively three and two poreless scales (two in the holotype according to the Figure 3 in the original description, but actually three according to our observations). Subdigital lamellae of fingers and toes with two keels each. First finger shortest. Second finger longer than 5 th. Third and 4 th fingers longest, of subequal length. RBINS 20301 and RBINS 20302 both show 16/16 subdigital lamellae under the 4 th finger. When the leg is stretched alongside the body it extends anteriorly beyond the gular collar. Length of the feet comparable to head length. Toes without lateral denticulate fringes. First toe shortest. Second and 5 th toe of subequal length, shorter than the 3 rd and much shorter than the 4th. Subdigital lamellae under 4 th toe 23 to 26 (23 in the holotype, 25 or 26 in the two other specimens). Supracaudals much larger than dorsal scales. All supracaudal scales rectangular, presenting a strong median keel, each keel bearing a small tubercle at its posterior extremity. Subcaudals at the base of the tail smooth and rounded posteriorly, quickly becoming rectangular with a medial strong keel, but without a terminal tubercle on the keel. The tail of the holotype is broken. Monard (1940) mentioned 87 subcaudals, but the tail tip shows a uniform color contrasting with the anterior part of the tail, indicating that it is regenerated. The tail of the subadult RBINS 20302 is original, and shows 143 subcaudals. Coloration in life. Based on original description, RBINS 20301–20302 and Figures 3–7. The dorsal surface of the head is uniformly dark brown. The ventral surface of the head, the body and of the base of the tail is uniformly white. The background color of the sides of the head above the mouth line is dark brown, progressively darkening posteriorly to become black as the background color of the flanks and the first half of the dorsum. There is an alignment of white spots on the upper and lower lips and another on the temporal area, in continuity with four similar, irregular alignments of white spots along the whole length of the flanks. Four continuous, parallel white dorsal stripes extend from just behind the parietals till the posterior part of the dorsum where they fade and disappear (Figures 4–5 and 7). In the subadult these white stripes are irregular and discontinuous (Figure 6). From half-length of the trunk, the dorsal background color turns to reddish-brown (similar to the color of laterite), continuing to the tail. The upper surfaces of the proximal parts of the arms are black with white spots, turning to reddish-brown with irregular lighter spots on the distal parts of the arms. The upper surfaces of the legs show a reddish-brown background color with irregular lighter spots and markings. The lower surface of the tail progressively reaches posteriorly the uniform reddish-brown color uniformly covering the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the tail until its tip. The lower surfaces of the arms and legs are grayish-white, the palms are reddish-brown. Cranial osteology. Based on subadult male RBINS 20302. Snout and palatomaxillary bones The premaxilla is a single, dentigerous bone (Figure 8A–D). The alveolar shelf carries probably seven teeth (counting the sockets) and juts out caudad as two triangular processes touching the maxilla. There is a narrow, tapering, dorsocaudally directed nasal process that is almost as long as the nasals themselves and wedges the tapering tip between the nasals. The nasals are paired, almost flat elements that form a straight suture between themselves and an interdigitating suture with the frontal (Figure 8A, D). The anterior tips are pointed and diverge from each other to make room for the intercalating premaxillary nasal process. The nasals are the widest at about the mid-length where they project out laterally into a shark fin-shaped, anteriorly embayed protuberance slightly overlapping the maxillary facial process. The maxilla has a high facial process with a triangular posterodorsal process reaching the frontal and another small posterolateral process below it touching the prefrontal (Figure 8A–B). There is a semilunar embayment between these two processes. The alveolar border bears 15 pleurodont teeth. Right above the teeth, a palatal shelf medially expands (Figure 8C). The premaxillary process is short and slightly upturned and bifurcated into an anterolateral and an anteromedial process, as is common in many lacertids (Villa & Delfino 2019). The palatine is an edentulous, ventrally concave bone that overlaps the palatal shelf of maxilla laterally with a maxillary process (Figure 8C). This process also establishes contact with the prefrontal dorsolaterally. The squarish vomerine process overlaps the palatine process of the vomer. Between these two processes, namely the maxillary and the palatine, there is an anterior embayment and a ventral concavity corresponding to choana. Posteriorly the palatine ends in three little triangular protuberances of which the medial two overlap the pterygoid, and the lateral one laterally articulates to that bone. The palatines do not contact each other medially. The pterygoid is an edentulous, triradiate bone (Figure 8C). The anteromedial process of the pterygoid, which articulates with the palatine, is longer than the anterolateral process of the same that articulates with the ectopterygoid. The quadrate process of the pterygoid is slender, lateromedially compressed and is directed posterolateral. The dorsolateral surface of the quadrate process bears a small facet for the epipterygoid. The medial surface of this process bears a longitudinal groove for the attachment of the pterygomandibularis muscle (Daza et al. 2011; Das & Pramanick 2019). The ectopterygoid articulates medially to the ectopterygoid articular facet on the pterygoid anterolateral process (Figure 8C). Anteriorly it overlaps the palatal shelf of the maxilla and just contacts the palatine. The vomer forms the casing of the vomeronasal organ together with the septomaxilla (Figure 8C). Vomers contact each other medially except from their posterior medial margins. Anteriorly, they contact the maxilla. Posteriorly vomers touch the palatine. Anterolaterally vomers are narrow to create an opening for the vomeronasal fenestra. Behind this, vomers expand laterally, only to taper laterally again to for choana. The septomaxillae form the dorsal encasing of the vomeronasal organ (Figure 8A, D). The septomaxillae are concave ventrally. Their medial edges are turned dorsad. Anteroventrally the septomaxilla ends with two small, pointed processes. Except a small protuberance, there is no clear posteromedial process as in some Palaearctic lacertids (Villa & Delfino 2019). Chondrocranial braincase bones The braincase bones show some degree of fusion, although sutures are detectable, at least partially, between the otic capsule elements and the ventral braincase elements, namely the parabasisphenoid and the basioccipital. Prootic is a prominent element housing cochlea, anterior and horizontal (partly) semicircular canals and their ampullae (Figure 8B–C). The anterior semicircular canal forms a prominent bulge on the anterolateral surface, just behind the crista alaris. In this species, the crista alaris is a narrow semilunar projection immediately rostrad and somewhat medial to the anterior semicircular canal bulge (Figure 8B). Immediately below this bulge, begins a rather weakly developed crista prootica that runs caudad from this point. Ventrad to the crista prootica, the anterior margin of the prootic is embayed by the incisura prootica (Figure 8B). Ventrad to the incisura prootica notch, prootic projects rostrad into an obtusely triangular anterior inferior process. The bulge along the horizontal semicircular canal continues posteriorly as a prootic process to reach the anterior surface of the paroccipital process. On the medial surface of the prootic, there are two auditory nerve foramina. The prootic articulates (in this specimen, fused) with the otoccipital along the former’s posterior lateral margin. The paired otoccipital forms the occipital condyle with the basioccipital (Figure 8A, E). The otoccipitals are composite (of opisthotic and exoccipital), hollow, bulbous bones that encase the internal ear. Dorsally the otoccipitals project out into a prominent, posterolaterally directed, axe head-shaped (in posterior view) paroccipital process that is approximately one-third the length of the quadrate. The supratemporal attaches to the anterior surface of the lateral end of this process. Ventrad to the supratemporal facet, there is a facet for the quadrate. Dorsad to the basal tubera, the otoccipital has a very prominent, deep embayment of the recessus scalae tympani which is bordered anterodorsally by the crista interfenestralis. Posterodorsal to the lateral opening of the recessus scalae tympani, there is a vagus foramen. The position of the hypoglossal foramina could not be detected clearly in the scan. One of the two single elements of the ventral braincase is the parabasisphenoid (Figure 8C). The bone has an elongated, narrow parasphenoid rostrum. Behind this parasphenoid element, the basisphenoid begins to expand. On both sides of the base of the parasphenoid rostrum, a truncated looking trabecula cranii is present. Between the trabeculae, on the dorsal surface is situated the sella turcica.Two very small internal carotid foramina open within the sella turcica. Caudad to the sella turcica, the crista sellaris is present transversely. Two short, anteroventrally directed basipterygoid processes project out from the ventrolateral base of the basisphenoid (Figure 8C). These processes expand at their end. Dorsally and medially, the anterior vidian foramen pierces the basipterygoid process. The basioccipital is the ventral element of the braincase participating in the formation of the occipital condyle (Figure 8A, C, E). The bone is hexagonal, dorsally concave and in this specimen, partly fused with the otoccipital, the prootic and the parabasisphenoid. Ventrad to the lateral opening of the recessus scalae tympani, the basioccipital has a small protuberance, the basal tubera. The basioccipital forms the floor of the recessus scalae tympani. The supraoccipital consists of a dorsomedian roof for the foramen magnum and two expanded and hollowed lateroventral wings partly encasing the inner ear (Figure 8A). In this species the processus ascendens is a very small, anteriorly truncated protuberance which does not reach the parietal (Figure 8E). This bone articulates with the prootic and the otoccipital. Dermal skull roofing bones The frontal bone is a single (fused in this specimen, condition in hatchlings is not known), elongated, skull roof element, being almost twice as long as the parietal in this species (Figure 8A, D). The frontal is wide at the rostral end and very wide at the caudal end and relatively narrower in the middle. A few digitiform processes from the frontals form interdigitating sutures with the nasals and the maxillae. The frontal articulates with the prefrontal along the anterior one-third of the former’s lateral margin. On the ventral surface of the frontal, along its outer margin, there is a crest, the crista cranii. The caudal end of the frontal expands markedly into two posterolateral processes with a squarish end and articulates with the parietal and the postfrontal. This particular specimen does not show any rugosity on the dorsal surface of the frontal. The parietal is a squarish, short, wide skull roof bone (Figure 8A–B). There are no anterolateral processes. However, there is a narrow, tapering posterolateral process on each side that articulates with the supratemporal and is just separated from the squamosal. These processes do not reach the paroccipital process of the otoccipital. There is a pineal foramen (Ledesma & Scarpetta 2018) piercing the parietal. There is a fossa parietalis (Oelrich 1956) at the midpoint of the embayed posterior margin of the parietal, though the processus ascendens from the supraoccipital is very weakly developed in this species and does not reach the fossa. Circumorbital bones The prefrontals are cavernous (in anteromedial view) bones that meet the frontals laterally, the maxillary facial process anteriorly and anterodorsally, the palatines ventrally and the lacrimals ventrolaterally (Figure 8A–B). The ventrolateral border of the orbitonasal flange of the parietal has a deep lacrimal notch. The orbitonasal flange projects ventrally into a posteroventral process medial to the lacrimal notch. Dorsally, the flange projects into a caudally directed process along the crista cranii. There is rather weak palpebral crest. The jugals are paired bones consisting of an anterior and a posterodorsal process, the former being more robust, especially close to the junction between the two, than the latter (Figure 8A–C). The anterior process tapers anteriorly and meets the lacrimal.This process articulates with the frontal anteroventrally and the ectopterygoid ventromedially. There is a faintly developed, caudally directed protuberance, the quadratojugal process, at the junction between the anterior and the posterodorsal processes. The slender posterodorsal process touches the postorbital. The lacrimal is a small sliver of a bone overlying the junction of the prefrontal, jugal and the maxilla (the prefrontal is just separated from the jugal), immediately caudad to the prefrontal lacrimal notch (Figure 8B). The postfrontal is a triradiate bone with a very slender anterolateral process articulating to the posterior lateral margin of the frontal, a weakly developed, triangular protuberance articulating to the anterodorsal margin of the postorbital and a robust, dagger-like posterior process wedged between the frontal and the parietal medially and the postorbital laterally (Figure 8A–B). The postorbital is situated below the postfrontal (Figure 8A–B). It consists of a short, triangular anteroventral process that contacts the posterodorsal process of the jugal and a longer posterior process touching the postfrontal and the squamosal, but the resolution of the scan did not permit determination of the exact end point of this process. In this specimen, the postfrontal and the postorbital do not extend more than one-third the length of the squamosal and thus, leave a prominent upper temporal fenestra open. There are prominent supraorbital ossifications above and scleral ring within the orbit (Figure 8A–B). Suspensorial and palatoquadrate derived bones The squamosals are a pair of J-shaped suspensorial bones (Figure 8A–B). Rostrally the squamosal is tapered and articulates medially to the postorbital. Posteriorly the bone curves ventrad and contacts the supratemporal dorsomedially and the quadrate ventrally. The ventrally curved caudal end of this bone is squarish. The supratemporals are small, curved bones with a tapered rostral and widened caudoventral end (Figure 8A–B). The caudoventral end bears an articulatory facet for the quadrate. Anterolaterally and anteromedially the supratemporal articulates with the squamosal and the posterolateral process of the parietal, respectively. The epipterygoid is a rather nondescript rod-like bone that articulates to the pterygoid right behind t, Published as part of Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Das, Sunandan, Camara, Lewei Boyo, Chirio, Laurent, Doumbia, Joseph, D'Acoz, Cédric D'Udekem, Dufour, Sylvain, Margraf, Nicolas & Sonet, Gontran, 2023, Rediscovery, range extension, phylogenetic relationships and updated diagnosis of the Ornate Long-tailed Lizard Latastia ornata Monard, 1940 (Squamata: Lacertidae), pp. 501-524 in Zootaxa 5296 (4) on pages 507-517, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5296.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7984314, {"references":["Monard, A. (1940) Resultats de la mission scientifique du Dr. Monard en Guinee portugaise, 1937 - 1938. VIII. Reptiles. Arquivos do Museu Bocage, 11, 147 - 182, pl.","Villa, A. & Delfino, M. (2019) A comparative atlas of the skull osteology of European lizards (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 187 (3), 829 - 928. https: // doi. org / 10.1093 / zoolinnean / zlz 035","Daza, J. D., Diogo, R., Johnston, P. & Abdala, V. (2011) Jaw adductor muscles across lepidosaurs: a reappraisal. The Anatomical Record, 294 (10), 1765 - 1782. https: // doi. org / 10.1002 / ar. 21467","Das, S. & Pramanick, K. (2019) Comparative anatomy and homology of jaw adductor muscles of some South Asian colubroid snakes (Serpentes: Colubroidea). Vertebrate Zoology, 69 (1), 93 - 102. https: // doi. org / 10.26049 / VZ 69 - 1 - 2019 - 04","Ledesma, D. T. & Scarpetta, S. G. (2018) The skull of the gerrhonotine lizard Elgaria panamintina (Squamata: Anguidae). PloS ONE, 13 (6), e 0199584. https: // doi. org / 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0199584","Oelrich, T. M. (1956) The anatomy of the head of Ctenosaura pectinata (Iguanidae). University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Miscellaneous Publications, 94, 1 - 122.","Good, D. A. (1987) A phylogenetic analysis of cranial osteology in the gerrhonotine lizards. Journal of Herpetology, 21, 285 - 297. https: // doi. org / 10.2307 / 1563970"]}

Micrelapidae new family. Type genus: Micrelaps Boettger, 1880. Type species: Micrelaps muelleri Boettger, 1880. Etymology: Boettger (Bottger ¨) did not give the etymology for the generic nomen but was almost certainly from the Latin adjective micro-, derived from the Greek mikros (small), and elaps, the Latinised form of the Greek noun´ellops or´elaps (literally sea-fish or serpent, but here in reference to the snake genus Elaps, now a synonym of Homoroselaps). Micrelapidae fam. nov. is derived from Micrelaps by the taking the stem elap- of the root word of the nomen. Content: Micrelaps muelleri Boettger, 1880, Micrelaps bicoloratus Sternfeld, 1908, Micrelaps vaillanti Mocquard, 1888, Brachyophis revoili Mocquard, 1888. Diagnosis and definition: In the crania of Micrelaps and Brachyophis we examined the ectopterygoid was laterally and medially expanded at the point of contact with the pterygoid, with this expansion not being contiguous with the ectopterygoid anterolateral and anteromedial lobes (Fig. 4, Supplementary material fig. 53, 54). The lateral expansion is a posterolaterally and somewhat ventrally directed, very prominent protuberance continuous with a ridge on the ventral surface of the pterygoid. This character state was not present in any other cranium we examined and is very likely a synapomorphy of the family. Other common cranial characters include a premaxilla adapted for a fossorial lifestyle, premaxillary transverse processes closely approaching the maxilla, a short maxilla with ascending processes abutting the prefrontal, well-developed, grooved fangs below the orbit, preceded by a diastema and 2 – 3 teeth, an ectopterygoid deeply forked into anterolateral and anteromedial lobes that articulate with maxillary ectopterygoid processes leaving a foramen in the middle, prefrontal and parietal supraorbital processes laterally bordering the frontal and almost meeting each other, a tendency towards fusion of cranial bones (especially because the supratemporal is absent, very likely fused to the quadrate in Brachyophis and to posterior chondrocranial elements in Micrelaps), and a short quadrate. Brachyophis, however, differs from the type genus in possessing a postorbital (versus postorbital absent in Micrelaps), dorsolateral adductor ridges on the parietal (versus a single sagittal ridge in Micrelaps), only a faint pseudocoronoid ridge on the dentary (versus a prominent process in Micrelaps). Scalation characters that are common in both genera include 1 nasal, 7 supralabials, 15 smooth dorsal scale rows, absence of a loreal, 2 anal shields. Ventrals range from 170 to 280 and subcaudals (paired) 16 – 32 in Micrelaps (Boulenger, 1896; De Witte and Laurent, 1947; Rasmussen, 2002; Werner et al., 2006; Spawls et al., 2018). In Brachyophis, ventrals range from 103 to 123 and subcaudals (single) 8 – 14 (De Witte and Laurent, 1947; Lanza, 1966). Brachyophis has a large, azygous occipital shield (Boulenger, 1896). Micrelaps and Brachyophis possess a rectal caecum and a short genital sinus in the female, two soft tissue traits used to cluster these two genera by Underwood and Kochva (1993). Distribution: Micrelaps spp. is distributed in eastern and northeastern Africa and western Asia. Brachyophis is limited to Somalia in north-eastern Africa. Distribution: Micrelaps spp. is distributed in eastern and northeastern Africa and western Asia. Brachyophis is limited to Somalia in north-eastern Africa. Remarks: Geniez (2018) commented that Micrelaps “could constitute a separate family within its own right, that of Micrelapsidae”. Bar et al. (2021) likewise wrote that “. The actual placement of the genus [Micrelaps] is often poorly supported within studies and inconsistent across them. We suspect it will soon be placed in its own family — as is the norm in taxonomy these days. We predict this family, containing a single genus (Micrelaps), will be called Micrelapidae.”. However, these authors did not explicitly express that they are erecting a new family for these snakes. Rather, it was a suggestion about what should/could be done. It therefore is not in accordance with Article 16.1 and Recommendation 16A of The Code (ICZN, 1999). They also did not also provide characters for the express purpose of differentiating or diagnosing “Micrelapsidae” or “ Micrelapidae ”, nor did they cite a work containing the same (again, very likely because a nomenclatural act presumably was not the intention of Geniez [2018] and it was not the intention of SM, who wrote this in Bar et al. [2021] either) and this contravenes Articles 13.1.1, 13.1.2 and Recommendation 13A of The Code. Hence, we regard the nomen “Micrelapsidae” as unavailable. The ZooBank LSID for this taxonomic action is urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D8475246-AD8E-4886-AB55- 12F6F242E9C4., Published as part of Das, Sunandan, Greenbaum, Eli, Meiri, Shai, Bauer, Aaron M., Burbrink, Frank T., Raxworthy, Christopher J., Weinell, Jeffrey L., Brown, Rafe M., Brecko, Jonathan, Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Rabibisoa, Nirhy, Raselimanana, Achille P. & Merila, Juha, 2023, Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family, pp. 1-11 in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 180 on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700, http://zenodo.org/record/7746501, {"references":["Sternfeld, R., 1908. Zur Schlangenfauna Ostafrikas. I. Schlangen aus Sud-Abessinien. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 4, 239 - 247.","Mocquard, F., 1888. Sur une collection de Reptiles et de Batraciens rapport´es des Pays Comalis et de Zanzibar par M. G. R´evoil. M´emoires Publies par la Soci´ete´ Philomathique a l' occasion du Centenaire de sa fondation 1788 - 1888, 109 - 134.","Boulenger, G. A., 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III, containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae, and Viperidae. Trustees of the British Museum, London.","de Witte, G. - F., Laurent, R., 1947. R´evision d' un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus et formes affines. M´em. Mus. R. His. Nat. Belg. 29, 1 - 134.","Rasmussen, J. B., 2002. A review of the African members of the genus Micrelaps Boettger 1880 (Serpentes Atractaspididae). Tropical Zoology 15, 71 - 87.","Werner, Y. L., Babocsay, G., Carmely, H., Thuna, M., 2006. Micrelaps in the southern Levant: variation, sexual dimorphism, and a new species (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). Zool. Middle East 38, 29 - 48.","Spawls, S., Howell, K., Hinkel, H., Menegon, M., 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles, second edition. Bloomsbury Wildlife, London.","Lanza, B., 1966. Il genere Brachyophis e descrizione di una nuova forma (Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae). Monit. Zool. Ital. 74, 30 - 48.","Underwood, G., Kochva, E., 1993. On the affinities of the burrowing asps Atractaspis (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 107, 3 - 64.","Geniez, P., 2018. Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford.","Bar, A., Haimovitch, G., Meiri, S., 2021. Field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of, Israel. Edition. Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main.","ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature), 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, fourth edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London."]}

Systematic status of Salea jerdonii Gray (1846) described Salea jerdonii based on two specimens sent in by T. C. Jerdon. Both specimens were males and therefore had the characteristic nuchal and dorsal crests which led Gray to think that these two specimens may represent two distinct species. Later, G��nther (1864) realized that syntypes of S. jerdonii are actually males of S. horsfieldii and subsequently synonymized S. jerdonii. Other workers since (e.g. Boulenger 1885; Smith 1935) also considered S. jerdonii to be a synonym of S. horsfieldii following G��nther. However, the original description was very short. Here we have presented the mensural and meristic data of the two syntypes���NHM 1946.8.14.13���14��� in Table 2. These two specimens (Figure 4) do not differ from S. horsfieldii in body proportions and scalation data nor do they demonstrate any difference in qualitative characters. Although Gray (1946) stated ���Madras��� as the type locality, Jerdon (1853) himself stated that these lizards are found only in Nilgiri hills and Smith (1935) also restricted the type locality of S. jerdonii to the Nilgiri hills. Hence it can be seen that these two specimens actually originated from the geographic range of S. horsfieldii. Taking all of this into account we also regard S. jerdonii to be a subjective synonym of S. jerdonii, thus reconfirming the decision made by G��nther (1864)., Published as part of Das, Sunandan, Campbell, Patrick D., Deuti, Kaushik, Bag, Probhat & Raha, Sujoy, 2019, A contribution to the systematics of Salea anamallayana (Beddome, 1878) and S. horsfieldii Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae: Draconinae), pp. 563-583 in Zootaxa 4563 (3) on page 570, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4563.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/2601480, {"references":["Gray, J. E. (1846) Descriptions of some new species of Indian Lizards. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 18 (121) (Series 1), 429 - 430. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 037454809494450","Gunther, A. (1864) The reptiles of British India. Ray Society, London, xxvii + 452 pp., Pl. 1 - 26.","Boulenger, G. A. (1885) Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Fol. I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xii + 436 pp., XXXII pls.","Smith, M. A. (1935) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Fol. II. Sauria. T aylor and Francis, London, xiii + 440 pp., 2 folding maps, 1 pl.","Blyth, E. In Jerdon, T. C. (1853) Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the Peninsula of India. The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 22, 462 - 479."]}

Redescription of Salea anamallayana (Beddome) Beddome (1878) described Lophosalea anamallayana based on one specimen which was collected from ���Anamallay Mountains, 6000 feet���. This species was later assigned to Salea by Boulenger (1885). We redescribe the holotype of S. anamallayana, NHM 1946.8.14.84, in detail below. It is in a good state of preservation. Redescription of the holotype (based on NHM 1946.8.14.84): (Table 2, Figure 5) Adult male; SVL 109 mm; tail moderately long (TL/ SVL 1.44); TrL 37.4 mm; body strongly compressed (BW/BH 0.32); head moderately large (HL/SVL 0.30), elongated (HW/HL 0.60) and higher than wide (HW/HH 0.76); eye moderately large (ED/ HL 0.37); diameter of tympanum nearly half that of orbit; EErD lower than ED; END is slightly lower than ED while ESD is greater than ED. Snout obtusely pointed; rostral nearly thrice wider than high and separated from nasal by one small scale; scales which are just behind the rostral on snout are quite smooth while rest of the scales above snout bear weak keels; scales on snout are not larger than those on occiput; prefrontal region somewhat concave; there are 3 azygous, keeled scales at the centre of the prefrontal region which are a little larger than the adjacent scales; supraocular scales small and keeled; scales on frontal and parietal region subequal and bears keel; no post-orbital spines; canthus rostralis and supracilliary edge sharp; CN (R/L) 4/4; nasal single and hexagonal with an oval nostril; nasal touches 1 st SL only, being prevented from touching 2 nd SL by the 1 st SUB; SUB (R/L) 10/9; 1 small ���wedge��� scale on left side of head, intercalated between 5 th and 6 th SL and 6 th and 7 th SUB; SL (R/L) 6/7, SL squarish except the 1 st and the last ones which are wedge-shaped; tympanum exposed; 3 large scales with convex centre from behind orbit to above tympanum; no supra-tympanic spines; mental subpentagonal, two postmentals behind; IL (R/L) 7/7; gular scales smooth and not mucronate; prominent gular sac extends up to anterior part of chest; scales situated towards the posterior end of gular sac are faintly keeled and slightly mucronate; no transverse fold across gular region. Very prominent nuchal and dorsal crests are continuous and formed of 18 lanceolate spines from nuchal region to sacrum; the crest extends for about half length of tail; spines of nuchal, dorsal and tail crests are formed of a single, flat, spinous scale with 2 or 3 keeled upward directed scales at the basal region (on both sides) of each spine; longest nuchal and dorsal spines around one and half times the diameter of the orbit; spines on the basal one third of tail are almost as long as dorsal spines. Ante-humeral fold covered with very small scales present; dorsal scales unequal���those on paravertebral region directed upward and keeled whereas flank scales are more variable in terms of size, carination and direction, being a mixture of different sized, smooth or keeled, upward or backward or downward directed scales; dorsal scales are strongly imbricate; scales become more uniform in size towards ventrolateral sides of trunk; keeled, imbricate and mucronate scales cover the ventrolateral sides and venter; SM 36; VEN 57. Forearm and upper arm subsequent (FAL/UAL 0.96); femur a little longer than crus (FL/CL 1.24); scales covering fore- and hindlimbs rhomboid, keeled and imbricate; five slender, clawed digits on manus and pes, covered below with bicarinate lamellae; FnLam (R/L) 20/20, TLam (R/L) 25/22. Strongly compressed tail covered with rhomboid, keeled, imbricate scales; crest on the dorsal surface of tail has been described. After almost 140 years of preservation, the colour patterns are still evident; scales on top of head brown, some with yellow centre; lips and cheek below tympanum white; sutures of SL black; gular region white; ante-humeral fold black; 3 dark brown chevrons with black margins and narrow white interspaces on dorsum, these chevrons terminate at flank; ventrolateral sides of flank and venter white; limbs possess brown bands with black borders which are separated with narrow white interspaces; tail is alternatively banded with brown and brownish cream; spines of nuchal, dorsal and tail crest brown. Variations: Ranges of morphometric and meristic data of all Salea anamallayana specimens studied by us are summarized in Table 2. S. anamallayana shows sexual dimorphism. Males possess dorsal crest which continues over tail. However, females possess a low nuchal crest composed of 3���6 spines. Unlike adult females of S. horsfieldii which possess a serrated ridge along dorsal midline, S. anamallayana females do not usually possess such a ridge, scales along dorsal midline being similar to other dorsal scales. Gular sac is also small in females. In Salea anamallayana, colour and pattern is highly variable. The commonest pattern resembles the colour pattern of the holotype. A different colour pattern was observed in two female specimens (NHM 1891.7.2.2 and ZSI 19706). In these specimens, dorsum is light greyish white (in preservative) with 3 chevrons formed by black reticulations, reticulations being prominent towards the anterior edge of each chevron. Several scales on flank are edged with black or bear black spots (Figure 6). The overall effect of this colour pattern is a black-and-white mosaic pattern. The ���wedge��� scales are more common in this species. Although 7 out of 12 studied specimens have these scales, in most of the cases these are merely the result of the fragmentation of the suboculars. The extent of carination of gular scales shows a little variation; while most of the gular scales (except those on gular sac) are quite smooth in some specimens, most are weakly keeled in others. In this species the gular scales are not usually mucronate. Distribution: Salea anamallayana is found in Western Ghats south of the Palghat gap (Figure 6). It has so far been recorded from Anaimalai, Palni, Meghamalai and Travancore hill ranges of western Tamil Nadu and Kerala (India) (Das 2002; Srinivas et al. 2008). Srinivas et al. (2008) suggested that this species may be found in Agyasthamalai hills south of Shencottah gap. Natural history: Salea anamallayana is a denizen of montane ���shola��� forests and tea gardens of southern Western Ghats (Deepak & Vasudevan 2008). It is found between 1700 meters 2500 meters altitude (Bhupathy & Kannan 1997; Srinivasulu et al. 2014). This is an insectivorous arboreal lizard which remains active during the daytime (Das 2002). The egg laying season is April when the female produce up to 3 clutches with each clutch consisting of 3��� 5 eggs (Bhupathy & Kannan 1997; Das 2002)., Published as part of Das, Sunandan, Campbell, Patrick D., Deuti, Kaushik, Bag, Probhat & Raha, Sujoy, 2019, A contribution to the systematics of Salea anamallayana (Beddome, 1878) and S. horsfieldii Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae: Draconinae), pp. 563-583 in Zootaxa 4563 (3) on pages 573-575, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4563.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/2601480, {"references":["Beddome, R. H. (1878) Description of a new Genus of Tree-Lizards from the higher ranges of the Anamallayas. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 46, 153 - 154. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1469 - 7998.1878. tb 07945. x","Boulenger, G. A. (1885) Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Fol. I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xii + 436 pp., XXXII pls.","Das, I. (2002) A photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of India. New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd., London, 144 pp.","Srinivas, G., Bhupathy, S. & Madhivanan, A. (2008) Occurrence of Salea anamallayana Beddome, 1878 in High Wavy Mountains, Western Ghats, India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 105, 341 - 342.","Deepak, V. & Vasudevan, K. (2008) Density and microhabitat association of Salea anamallayana in Eravikulam National Park, Western Ghats, India. The Herpetological Journal, 18, 165 - 170.","Bhupathy, S. & Kannan, P. (1997) Status of Agamid Lizards in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. S ACON Technical Report No. 5. Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, 45 pp.","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 Liaison Development Society, Coimbatore, vii + 148 pp."]}

Systematic status of Salea anamallayana triangularis Roux (1928) described this subspecies which was relegated to the synonymy of Salea anamallayana by Smith (1935). It is, however, evident from Smith���s own writing that he made that decision after reading Roux���s description without actually examining the type. The type (NMB 9687), which is a female, has three triangular markings on the back instead of chevrons and a few smooth scales on flank (Roux 1928) (Figure 8). The sporadic presence of smooth scales on flank is a common character seen in S. anamallayana and the colour pattern of this species is so variable that emphasis on this feature cannot be seriously considered. We could not detect any qualitative character from the photographs which would help us to distinguish this specimen from S. anamallayana. Moreover, the type locality Marianshola in the Palni hills falls within the usual range of S. anamallayana. Hence, we can conclude that there is little justification in regarding NMB 9687 as a separate subspecies., Published as part of Das, Sunandan, Campbell, Patrick D., Deuti, Kaushik, Bag, Probhat & Raha, Sujoy, 2019, A contribution to the systematics of Salea anamallayana (Beddome, 1878) and S. horsfieldii Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae: Draconinae), pp. 563-583 in Zootaxa 4563 (3) on page 576, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4563.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/2601480, {"references":["Roux, J. (1928) Reptiles et Amphibiens de l'Indemeridionale. Revue suisse de zoologie, 35, 439 - 472. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 117624","Smith, M. A. (1935) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Fol. II. Sauria. T aylor and Francis, London, xiii + 440 pp., 2 folding maps, 1 pl."]}

Redescription of Ptyas doriae (Boulenger, 1888) The original description of Ptyas doriae (as Cyclophiops doriae) by Boulenger (1888) was brief and based on two specimens only. Also, a lack of knowledge of intrapopulational variation at the time probably led to the recognition of NHML 1946.1.5.32 as belonging to adifferent species by Boulenger (1900). Subsequent treatments (e.g. Pope 1935; Smith 1943) of this species were also very brief. Hence, a thorough redescription including an account of intrapopulational variation in lepidosis and colour description of this species is necessary. Here we provide a redescription based on our material (Appendix 1)., Published as part of Meetei, Asem Bipin, Das, Sunandan, Campbell, Patrick D., Raha, Sujoy & Bag, Probhat, 2018, A study on Ptyas doriae (Boulenger, 1888) with comments on the status of Ptyas hamptoni (Boulenger, 1900) (Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae), pp. 537-548 in Zootaxa 4457 (4) on page 539, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4457.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1458015, {"references":["Boulenger, G. A. (1888) An Account of Reptilia obtained in Burma, North of Tenasserim, by M. L. Fea, of the Genoa Civic Museum. Annali del Museo civico di Storia naturale di Genova, Series 2, 6, 503 - 604.","Boulenger, G. A. (1900) Description of a new snake of the genus Ablabes from Burma. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7, 6 (34), 409. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222930008678397","Pope, C. H. (1935) The reptiles of China: Turtles, Crocodilians, Snakes, Lizards. Natural History of South Asia. Fol. 10. The American Museum of Natural History, New York, 604 pp.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, including the whole of the Indochinese sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia, Folume 3, Serpentes. Taylor & Francis, London, xii + 583 pp."]}

Ablabes hamptoni Boulenger, 1900 Redescription: (Table 1, Figure 1, 2, 3) A small to medium sized snake with a maximum SVL of 843 mm (in the holotype of P. hamptoni); body slender; tail long (TAL/total length 0.21���0.24), head more or less distinct from neck; HW greater than HH; snout moderately elongated (ESD/HLB 0.37���0.39), obtusely pointed; from the prefrontal region the forehead slopes down steeply towards snout tip; eye moderately large (ED/HLB 0.23���0.28), with round pupil; rostral wider than high and contacts 6 scales, namely 1st SL, internasals and anterior nasals; suture between internasals smaller than that between prefrontals; lateral extensions of prefrontals descend onto upper parts of loreal region; loreal present or absent���for example, in ZSI 20503, 20504 and Regd. No. 40107 loreal is absent whereas a small loreal is present between posterior nasal, 2nd SL, pre-ocular and the prefrontal in NHML 1946.1.5.32, MCZ R 44714, VR/ERS/ZSI 501(A) and 501(J); amongst the specimens without a loreal, preocular contacts posterior nasal in two (ZSI 20503 and 20504) specimens whereas in Regd. No. 40107 the lateral extension of the prefrontal contacts the 2nd SL (however, an incomplete suture is present on the downward lateral extension of the prefrontal)���the pattern indicates that in the former loreal had fused with the pre-ocular while in the latter a fusion occurred between loreal and prefrontal; frontal pentagonal, longer than its distance from rostral, and contacts prefrontals, supraoculars and parietals; both the parietals and the suture between them are longer than the frontal; nasal divided and posterior nasal larger than its anterior counterpart; 1preocular; a very small presubocular either present or absent; postoculars 2 or 3 (Regd. No. 40107); TEMP (R/L) 1+2/1+2, lower posterior TEMP sometimes prevented from touching anterior TEMP by 7th SL (ZSI 11939, 20503, VR/ERS/ZSI 501(A), MCZ R 44714); SL (R/L) 6/6 (MCZ R 44714) or 7/7 (other specimens), 1 st and 2nd SL touch nasals; in most of the specimens 4th and 5th SL contact eye while in ZSI 20503 and MCZ R 44714, 3rd also in contact with eye; 7th SL large, followed by a moderately large scale (regarded by some authors as the 8th SL located behind the corner of the mouth, so not considered here to be a supralabial); mental triangular; IL (R/L) 6/6 or 7/7, 1st to 4th IL contacts anterior genial while posterior genial is usually contacted by 4th and 5th IL except in ZSI 20503 where 5th IL is just separated from posterior genial; anterior genial 1.6���2.2 times longer than the posterior genial; dorsal scales smooth, DSCH:M: V 15:15:15; VEN 173���194, in ZSI 20503 178th VEN is divided; Anal 1; SC 74���80 pairs. Dentition was studied in ZSI 11939; this specimen possesses 26 or 27 recurved teeth on an elongated narrow maxilla; the number of maxillary teeth reported in the literature is 25���33 (Boulenger 1900; Wall 1924b; Smith 1943). Hemipenis was studied in ZSI 11939. The following description of hemipenis is from an in situ preparation as an everted preparation was not available and the description follows the terminology of Dowling & Savage (1960); the hemipenis extends upto 14th SC in situ; apart from the base of the organ which is devoid of ornamentation, the basal 2/3 part is covered with large spines; at about 2/3 length of the hemipenis, an abrupt transition from spinous to a calyculate area occurs; calyces away from distal end are large and formed of thick ridges, therefore appearing somewhat like flounces; the ridges of calyces are papillate; calyces become very small and closely set towards the end of distal part. In life, the head and dorsum are uniformly verdant green which extends to the outer edges of VEN while the venter is white to whitish cream. In preservative, the dorsum becomes turquoise. One specimen, Regd. No. 40107, has a hitherto unreported colour pattern (Figure 3). The specimen has 4 black lateral stripes on a green (bluish-grey in preservative) dorsum. These stripes start at the midbody and while the lower one terminates at vent, the upper stripe runs for about half the length of tail. The lower stripes occupy 2nd and 3rd dorsal scale rows while the upper stripes run along 5th and 6th scales rows. This particular specimen, collected from Manipur by the first author, agrees with other specimens in every other aspect including lepidosis. Distribution: Following the designation of a lectotype by Capocaccia (1961), the type locality of Ptyas doriae is ���Monti ad Est di Bham��: Kakhien Hills���; i.e. ���Mountains situated east of Bhamo: Kachin hills���; the original locality given by Boulenger (1888) was merely ���Kakhien Hills���. So far this species has been recorded from Kachin State and Mandalay Region of Myanmar, Manipur State of India and southern Yunnan Province of China (Boulenger 1888, 1900; Wall 1924a, 1924b; Pope 1935; Smith 1943). In the present study, we also predicted the range using Maxent modeling. The AUC value obtained from the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.94, indicating a very good model performance. The reclassified output (Figure 4) predicts a large area in Southeast Asia, including northeastern India, northern Myanmar and parts of China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, as being climatically suitable for the species. The suitable habitat includes both plains and montane region. This species has so far been recorded from an altitudinal range of ��600���1780 meters above sea level. Wall (1924b) claimed that this species occurs above 4000 feet (about 1212 meters) elevation but this was refuted by Pope (1935) who recorded it from a lower altitude as well. The occurrence data and the prediction of climatic suitability both support Pope (1935). Moreover, Pope (1935) questioned the validity of the record of this snake from the lower valley of Chang Jiang River (formerly Yangtze River) of China reported by Wall (1924a) as the specimen forming the basis of this record (Wall 1903) was probably misidentified. The SDM analysis does not predict regions north of the extreme southern tip of Yunnan to be climatically suitable, thus once again supporting Pope���s opinion. The variable having the highest influence in determining distribution, as identified by jackknife analysis, is BIO 18 (���precipitation of the warmest quarter���) with percent and permutation contributions of 43.5 and 47.1 respectively. This species seems to be a denizen of forest and precipitation during the summer months may be important for maintaining forest cover, therefore acting as crucial scenopoetic determinant of this species��� distribution. From the location of known collection localities and predicted distribution, it seems that further exploration may reveal its presence in the Sagaing region of Myanmar andthe northeast Indian states adjacent to Manipur. It is noteworthy that Vietnam and Laos are inhabited by P. major and P. multicinctus (formerly placed in Cyclophiops) (Ziegler et al. 2007; Das 2010; Wallach et al. 2014) which may replace P. doriae there and strong prediction in those areas may actually indicate a conservatism of Grinnellian niche (also see Discussion). Natural history: Very little is known about the natural history of these snakes. Two specimens were observed in September at Maryland village (Manipur, India). Another one was found dead on the road at NH-2 near Molnoi village on the way to Moreh (Manipur, India) in the same month. These snakes live in bushes and shrubs (mainly Lantana, sometimes also occurring in bamboo groves) up to a maximum of 6 feet above ground (Figure 5). These snakes are said to be diurnal (Das 2010). According to the local people, these snakes are not uncommon in forested hillocks of Manipur from March to October and local people further report that they generally encounter these snakes during ���slash and burn��� cultivation works and also near villages. The vernacular name of these snakes in the Tangkhul language is ���Shineiphara��� and ���Naril��� in the Manipuri language. Nothing is known about their diet and reproductive habits., Published as part of Meetei, Asem Bipin, Das, Sunandan, Campbell, Patrick D., Raha, Sujoy & Bag, Probhat, 2018, A study on Ptyas doriae (Boulenger, 1888) with comments on the status of Ptyas hamptoni (Boulenger, 1900) (Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae), pp. 537-548 in Zootaxa 4457 (4) on pages 540-543, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4457.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1458015, {"references":["Boulenger, G. A. (1900) Description of a new snake of the genus Ablabes from Burma. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7, 6 (34), 409. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222930008678397","Wall, F. (1924 b) Notes on snakes collected in Burma in 1924. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 30, 805 - 821.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, including the whole of the Indochinese sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia, Folume 3, Serpentes. Taylor & Francis, London, xii + 583 pp.","Dowling, H. G. & Savage, J. M. (1960) A Guide to the Snake Hempenis: a Survey of Basic Structure and Systematic Characteristics. Zoologica, 45, 17 - 28.","Capocaccia, L. (1961) Catalogo dei tipi di rettili del Museo Civico di Naturale di Genova. Annali del Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria, 72, 86 - 111.","Boulenger, G. A. (1888) An Account of Reptilia obtained in Burma, North of Tenasserim, by M. L. Fea, of the Genoa Civic Museum. Annali del Museo civico di Storia naturale di Genova, Series 2, 6, 503 - 604.","Wall, F. (1924 a) A hand-list of the snakes of the Indian empire. Part III. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 29, 864 - 878.","Pope, C. H. (1935) The reptiles of China: Turtles, Crocodilians, Snakes, Lizards. Natural History of South Asia. Fol. 10. The American Museum of Natural History, New York, 604 pp.","Wall, F. (1903) A prodromus of the snakes hiterto recorded from China, Japan, and the Loo Choo Islands: with some notes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1, 84 - 102","Ziegler, T., Hendrix, R., Thanh, V. N., Vogt, M., Forster, B. & Kien, D. N. (2007) The diversity of a snake community in a karst forest ecosystem in the central Truong Son, Vietnam, with an identification key. Zootaxa, 1493, 1 - 40.","Das, I. (2010) Reptiles of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd, London, 376 pp, Pl. 1 - 74.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the world: a catalogue of living and extinct species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, xxvi + 1209 pp."]}

Trachischium sushantai sp. nov. (Figures 1, 2) Holotype. ZSI25651 A, National Zoological Collection, ZSI, Kolkata; adult female; from ‘ Jammu’ (Jammu & Kashmir state, India); collected on 4th August, 1993, during Jammu survey; name of collector is given in register as ‘ Rajtilok’. Diagnosis. Trachischium sushantai sp. nov. can be diagnosed by a combination of the following characters: a single nasal and PF, SL (R/L) 6/6, post-ocular 1, DSCH:M: V 13:13:13; VEN 152; SC 23 pairs of which those on anterior half of tail are as long as wide and regular hexagon/ rhomboid shaped, TAL/TL ratio of 0.11, head and dorsum uniform dark brown, venter brown with cream or yellow border on the trailing edges of VEN and SC. Etymology. The new species is named after Sushanta Kumar Das, father of the second author of present paper. He is an enthusiastic nature observer who have spent a significant amount of time of his life in forested areas of West Bengal (India) and nurtured the same interest in the second author. The specific epithet, a patronym, is a noun in genitive case. Description of holotype. Adult female; incised on underside; SVL and TAL of 276 mm and 35 mm respectively; tail small, TAL /TL ratio being only 0.11; head small (HL 7.8 mm, 2.8 % of SVL); head width (HW 4.7 mm) greater than head height (HH 4.2 mm); head indistinct from neck; eye small (ED 1 mm, 12.8 % of HL); ESN 2.9 mm; rostral slightly wider than high (1.1 mm and 0.8 mm, respectively); internasals paired, much shorter than the single PF; frontal pentagonal, 2.8 mm long, longer than its distance from the posterior edge of rostral (1.9 mm), around two and half times wider than supraocular; parietals, being 4.4 mm long, are longer than frontal; 1 pre- and 1 post-ocular; loreal nearly twice wider than high and is in contact with nasal, internasal, frontal, preocular and 1 st and 2nd SL; very small nostril in single forward directed nasal; SL (R/L) 6/6, 1 st smallest and 6th largest, 3rd and 4th touching eye; IL (R/L) 6/6, 1st, 2nd and 3rd IL touch the anterior genial while the 4th one contacts both the anterior and posterior genials; anterior genials longer than posterior genials; TEMP (R/L) 1+2/1+2; maxillary teeth in life were probably around 16 or 17 (counting for missing teeth which were evident by longer than usual gaps between extant teeth at some places), subequal; dorsal scales smooth, including those around the region of the tail base, DSCH:M: V 13:13:13; VEN 152; anal divided; SC 23 pairs, anterior subcaudals (those on anterior half of tail) are as wide as long (4SCW/L 1.05 and 5SCW/L 1.01), regular hexagonal or rhomboid shaped, SC become slightly wider than long on posterior part of tail; tail tip in a spike like scale. Coloration in preservative: head and dorsum uniform dark brown; edges of scales on lower jaw lighter colored; venter brown with outeredges of VEN cream or dirty yellow; underside of tail light brown with the posterior edges of SC bordered with lighter yellowish cream. Comparisons. T. sushantai sp. nov. differs from T. monticola in possessing 13 rows of dorsal scales (vs. 15 rows in the latter), undivided PF (vs. divided PF in T. monticola), 1 post-ocular (vs. usually 2 in the latter) and 152 VEN (vs. less than 125 VEN in T. monticola [Smith 1943])(Table 2). T. sushantai sp. nov. differs from T. leave in having 6 SL, 1 PF, 23 SC and a brown venter (vs. 5 SL, 2 PF, 29– 39 SC and a yellow venter in T. leave). T. sushantai sp. nov. can be diagnosed from T. tenuiceps by having a shorter tail (TAL /TL 0.11), 1 PF, 1 postocular, 23 SC of which the anterior ones are regular hexagonal or rhomboid and a brown venter (vs. TAL /TL 0.15– 0.18, 2 PF and 2 post-oculars, 28–42 SC of which anterior ones are transversely elongated and yellowish or orange ventral coloration in T. tenuiceps). T. sushantai sp. nov. differs from T. guentheri by having a brown venter and 23 pairs of SC (vs. a coral red venter in T. guentheri and SC more than 30 in T. guentheri [Smith 1943]). The new species most closely resembles T. fuscum from which it can be distinguished by its shorter tail (TAL / TL 0.11) compared to T. fuscum (vs. TAL /TL 0.13–0.18 [± 0.14 in 27 specimens] in T. fuscum), 23 pairs of SC of which anterior ones are regular hexagonal/rhomboid with 4SCW/L 1.05 and 5SCW/L 1.01 (vs. 30–44 SC in T. fuscum [31–41 in females examined by us], SC wider than long and are not regular hexagonal/rhomboid with 4SCW/L 1.33–3 [± 1.6 in 22 specimens] and 5SCW/L 1.27–2.7 [± 1.6 in 21 specimens] in physically examined specimens [specimens of T. fuscum examined from photographs too had SC number within the range given here and were distinctly wider than long]). Distribution. Trachischium sushantai sp. nov. is currently known only from its type locality in Jammu (Jammu & Kahmir, India) (Figure 3). Natural history. Unknown.

Redescription of Trachischium fuscum Blyth, 1854 (Fig. 4A) Talukdar et al. (1980) designated ZSI7044 as the lectotype of Trachischium fuscum. They provided a redescription but it was brief and contained some ambiguous (such as number of VEN) and erroneous (namely SVL and TAL) information. Moreover, it lacked morphometric details and description of the novel characters used in this paper (such as 4SCW/L and 5SCW/L) used to separate T. sushantai sp. nov from T.fuscum. The aforesaid reasons necessitate the inclusion of a redescription of the lectotype of T. fuscum along with an analysis of variation in paralectotypes and non-type materials of T. fuscum. Redescription was based on the lectotype of Trachischium fuscum (ZSI7044): Adult male; SVL 325 mm and TAL 52 mm (not 305 mm and 49 mm respectively as reported by Talukdar et al. [1980]); TAL/TL ratio is 0.14; head small (HL 9.8 mm, 3.2 % of SVL), wider than its height (HW and HH 6.6 mm and 5.1 respectively); head indistinct from neck; eye small (ED 1.3 mm, 13.3 % of HL); ESN 3.7 mm; rostral slightly broader than high (width and height of rostral 1.2 mm and 1.1 mm respectively); internasals paired, much shorter than the undivided PF; length of the pentagonal frontal shield (3.6 mm) greater than its distance from the end of rostral (1.9 mm), wider than supraoculars; parietals (length 5.6 mm) longer than frontal; 1 pre- and 1 post-ocular; loreal twice wider than high; nasals divided and very small; SL (R/L) 6/6, 1 st smallest, 6th largest, 3rd and 4th touching the eye; IL (R/L) 6/6 of 4 are in contact with the genials; anterior genials longer than posterior genials; TEMP (R/L) 1+2/1+2; dorsal scales smooth except those on the basal region of tail which are keeled, DSCH:M: V 13:13:13; VEN 156; anal divided; SC 35 pairs, those one anterior half on tail around twice wider than long with 4SCW/L 2.46 and 5SCW/L 1.88. Blyth (1854) described the colour as follows ���Of an iridescent dull black colour throughout, the ventrals slightly margined paler.��� Now the specimen has become uniformly brown, with paler margins at the trailing edge of VEN still being evident. Variations. Range of morphometric and meristic data of paralectotypes and other non-type specimens of T. fuscum are presented in Table 1. Head and dorsal scalation in this species shows almost no variation except that in ZSI18693 there is only one 1 posterior TEMP on right side. Smith (1943) reported the range of VEN as 150���165 (the lowest VEN count reported by Sharma [2007] is 132 which is most probably erroneous). The highest VEN count made by us was 169 in ZSI19120. Range of SC reported by Smith (1943) was 28���42. In ZSI18679, there are 44 pairs of SC. ZSI7059 (collected from Darjeeling) exhibits several anomalous ventral scales (Figure 4B). In this specimen, split VEN, incomplete VEN and fused VEN are present sporadically among normal VEN. This anomaly results from abnormalities on vertebrae and ribs (e.g. Shine et al. 2005; Mebert 2011). This specimen also has divided PF. Wall (1909b) found one specimen from Darjeeling which got 9 of its anterior SCs undivided. We found undivided SC in three specimens, including one paralectotype (ZSI7051). The dorsum coloration (in preservative) varies from dark brown to almost jet black. Juveniles, as reported by Wall (1909b) and Smith (1943), have longitudinal stripes and an incomplete collar over nape. Here we would like to mention that there is another specimen from Jammu deposited in ZSI general collection (ZSI25651 B) with divided nasal, VEN 150, SC 35 (first 4 undivided, rest distinctly wider than long, not regular hexagon/rhomboid shaped), SVL 227 mm and TAL 45 mm (TAL 19.8 % of SVL) and black dorsum. It can be seen that this specimen can be easily distinguished from the holotype of T. sushantai sp. nov. and we currently refer it to T. fuscum as we could not find any differences in characters from other T. fuscum of eastern Himalaya that we have studied. Distribution. T. fuscum was found from the states of Jammu & Kashmir, northern West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam and eastern Arunachal Pradesh in India, east and central Nepal and Bhutan border area (G��nther 1860; Boulenger 1893; Annandale 1904; Wall 1909b; Smith 1943; Agarwal et al. 2010; Wallach et al. 2014; also see the references contained in Wallach et al. 2014). We currently regard one specimen from Jammu as T. fuscum. Also see comments on Ablabes gilgiticus. Wall (1924) regarded the locality Khasi hills (Meghalaya state) to be questionable. Natural history. T. fuscum is a montane snake and it is found between 920 and 2590 meters above sea level (Wallach et al. 2014). This snake species is semi-fossorial and live under stones and leaf litter in montane deciduous forests (Wall 1909b; Das, 2002; Agarwal et al. 2010). Though Das (2002) stated that these snakes become active after sunset, Wall (1909b) frequently found it during daytime in Darjeeling. They feed on earthworms and are of very gentle disposition (Wall 1909b). T. fuscum has a sex ratio that is skewed toward females. The specimens studied by us contained 14 males and 19 females (ratio 1:1.36). Wall (1909b) reported 37 males and 51 females among 88 specimens of which he determined the sex. A similar type of skewed sex ratio was reported for T. guentheri by Wall (1909b) and Chettri et al. (2009). The clutch size of T. fuscum was reported to be 3���6 (Wall 1909b). We found 9 eggs in ZSI19120 (from Gopaldhara, Darjeeling, West Bengal) (Figure 4C). This is the highest number of eggs reported for any Trachischium spp. to date. Hatchlings of this species were seen by Wall (1909b) in Darjeeling in July., Published as part of Raha, Sujoy, Das, Sunandan, Bag, Probhat, Debnath, Sudipta & Pramanick, Kousik, 2018, Description of a new species of genus Trachischium with a redescription of Trachischium fuscum (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae), pp. 549-561 in Zootaxa 4370 (5) on pages 553-555, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.5.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1147357, {"references":["Blyth, E. (1854) Notes and descriptions of various reptiles, new or little known. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 23, 287 - 302.","Talukdar, S. K., Sanyal, D. P. & Duttagupta, B. (1980) Redescription of and lectotype designation for Calamaris fusca Blyth, 1854 [Serpentes: Colubridae]. Bulletin of Zoological Survey of India, 3, 93 - 95.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, including the whole of the Indochinese sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. 3. Serpentes. Taylor & Francis, London, xii + 583 pp.","Sharma, R. C. (2007) The fauna of India and the adjacent countries. Reptilia. Vol. III. Serpentes. Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, 410 pp.","Shine, R., Lankilde, Wall, M. & Mason, R. T. (2005) The fitness correlates of scalation asymmetry in garter snakes Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis. Functional Ecology, 19, 306 - 314. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 2435.2005.00963. x","Mebert, K. (2011) Introduced and Indigenous Populations of the Dice Snake (Natrix tessellata) in the Central Alps - Microgeographic Variation and Effect of Inbreeding. Mertensiella, 18, 71 - 79.","Wall. F. (1909 b) Notes on snakes from the neighbourhood of Darjeeling. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 19, 337 - 357.","Gunther, A. (1860) Contribution to a knowledge of the reptiles of the Himalaya mountains. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 28, 148 - 175.","Boulenger, G. A. 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