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Hydrophis neglectus Wall, 1906 synonym of Hydrophis stricticollis Günther, 1864 (Table 1; Fig. 9) Material Examined. ZSI 8598 Holotype from Rangoon (Yangon, Southern Myanmar) Description. Head small, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal slightly elongated, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Seven Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; Infralabial in fragile condition; Chin shield and Scales around neck and midbody in fragile condition; Ventral and Preanal in fragile condition; Number of bands not discernable; Head width 3.9 mm; Head depth 4.1 mm; Head length 11.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 334.0 mm; Tail length 50.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Number of bands not discernable due to faded colouration. Remarks. Specimen is in fragile condition, hence some of the measurements could not be taken. Wall (1906) stated its scale counts to be scale rows 48:54:45 and ventrals> 420, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be a young female, with scale rows 41:55 and ventrals 420. Hydrophis neglectus Wall, 1906 was recognized as valid by Wall (1909), but Smith (1926, 1943) treated it as a synonym of H. stricticollis. Wall (1909) whilst recognizing H. neglectus, remarked that it has characters common with H. caerulescens, H. ocellata and H. fasciatus. Wall also alluded to specimens referred to by Sclater (1891) as H. obscurus, by listing Sclater’s entry as a chresonym of H. neglectus. The nominal taxon H. neglectus was unfortunately missed out from the synonymy of H. stricticollis or of any other species by Uetz et al. (2022). However, many treatises both historical (Smith, 1926, 1943) and recent (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019) have correctly listed H. neglectus as a synonym of H. stricticollis., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 315, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Gunther, A. C. L. G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. Ray Society, London, xxvii + 452 pp., 28 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5012","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Uetz, P., Hallermann, J. & Hosek, J. (2022) The EMBL Reptile Database. Available from: https: // reptile-database. reptarium. cz / (accessed online in March 2022)","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150"]}

Hydrophis dayanus Stoliczka, 1872 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 5) Material Examined. ZSI 8278 Holotype from Karachi (in Sindh, Southern Pakistan). Description. Head robust, short, head shield large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal small, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal shorter than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporals 1+2; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Preocular on each sides of head; Two Postoculars on each sides of head; Eight Supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching the prefrontal; 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th touching the eye; 6 th broken; Eight infralabials on right and nine on left side of head; 3 infralabials touching the chin shield, small cuneate scales present; Chinshield well developed; both the pair not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 33; Scales around Midbody 40; Ventrals 327, very small but distinct from adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal small; Two white dots present on prefrontal, Head width 7.2 mm; Head depth 7.4 mm; Head length 14.9 mm; Snout to Vent length 550.0 mm; Tail length 54.0 mm. Head dark brown dorsally and ventrally with a weak light brown dots present on prefrontal, two lateral light brown C-shaped marks extending from eye to temporals. Entire body light brown, encircled by dark brown bands; interspaces light brown, broad dorsally and on flank, disappearing ventrally. All ventral scales light brown. Tail with dark brown bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands 57 around body till vent; Seven bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated its scale counts to be scale rows 33:39:40 and ventrals as 342, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be a young male, with scale rows 33:43 and ventrals 343. Sclater (1891) listed H. dayanus in the synonymy of H. lapemoides (Gray, 1849) and this was also followed by Boulenger (1896). But Wall (1906) synonymized H. dayanus with H. cyanocinctus where it now rests (see Wall 1909; Smith 1926; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019). Hydrophis lapemoides is a species originally described based on two specimens, a juvenile from Madras and a subadult from Sri Lanka (Stoliczka 1872). Rasmussen (1993) while redescribing this species illustrated and redescribed the type specimens of H. lapemoides. Wallach et al. (2014) designated BMNH 1946.1.7.2 the subadult specimen from Sri Lanka as the lectotype and thus BMNH 1946.1.6.91 the juvenile from Madras became a paralectotype. Because the type of H. dayanus is also a subadult, this probable confusion of H. dayanus being conspecific with H. lapemoides (see Sclater 1891; Boulenger 1896) had risen (see Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019). Hydrophis cyanocinctus young ones and subadults to certain extent, have much thicker and bolder bands, compared to the usual adult pattern in that species (Smith 1926, 1943; SRG pers. obs.). Rasmussen (1993) did not list H. dayanus in the synonymy of H. lapemoides. The unsettled opinions were also stated by Das et al. (1998). However, Das et al. (1998) reported ZSI 8278 as holotype and still remarked that another syntype is in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW), Wienna, Austria. Stoliczka’s (1872) description clearly mentions two specimens (one 23 inches and the larger one 27 inches), and hence ZSI 8278 is a syntype, not holotype as reported by Das et al. (1998). Our perusal suggests that the 604 mm long specimen is the 23 inch long (total length) one dealt with by Stoliczka (1872). Similarly, Das et al. (1998) stated ZSI 8266 as a syntype that goes well with Smith’s (1926) remark of the same specimen as being one of the types of H. trachyceps., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 309, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Stoliczka, F. (1872) Notes on reptiles, collected by Surgeon F. Day in Sind. Proceedings of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1872, 85 - 92.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150","Rasmussen, A. R. (1993) The status of the Persian Gulf sea snake Hydrophis lapemoides (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae). Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History, 59, 97 - 104.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172."]}

Hydrophis crassicollis Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 2) Material Examined. ZSI 8272 Holotype from Hughli, below Calcutta. Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shields in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal as long as the distance from the tip of the rostral; Length of Frontal scale-7.0 mm; distance from the tip of the rostral- 7.0 mm; Parietal longer than wide; Two Anterior Temporals; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Preocular on each side of head; Two Postoculars on each side of head; Eight Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; 5 th broken; Eight Infralabials on right and nine on left side of head, cuneate scales present, 3 infralabials touching the chin shields; Chin shield well developed; both the pairs not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 34; Scales around Midbody 39; Ventrals 327, distinct from the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal enlarged; No keel present on dorsal scales. Head width 15.1 mm; Head depth 13.7 mm; Head length 29.7 mm; Snout to Vent length 1340.0 mm; Tail length 113.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body light brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, broader dorsally, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 62 around the body till vent; Five dark brown bands on tail. Remarks. This specimen and nominal taxon was curiously absent in the works of both Wall (1906) and Smith (1926). It was however mentioned as present in the ZSI collection by Das et al. (1998). Boulenger (1890) did not list H. crassicollis as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus. Sclater (1891) listed H. crassicollis [as crassicollas] under the synonymy of H. cyanocinctus and this arrangement was followed by (Boulenger 1896; Wall 1906, 1907; Smith 1926)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls."]}

Hydrophis fayrerianus Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis curtus (Shaw, 1802) (Table 1; Fig. 3) Material Examined. ZSI 8270 Holotype from Puri, Odisha (Eastern India). Description. Head short, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal broken; Two large anterior temporals; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Eight Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 4 th touching the eye on left side of head, 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye on right side of head, 5 th broken; Ten infralabials on each side of head; 3 infralabials touching the chin shield; Chin shield well developed; both the pairs in contact with each other; Anterior Pair 4.9 mm, Posterior Pair 6.5 mm; Scales around neck 29-31; Scales around Midbody 35; Ventral 195, distinct, twice the size of the adjacent dorsal scales anteriorly, posteriorly divided with a suture; Preanal small; Dorsal scales with a faint single keel; Ventrals with spiked keels; Head width 21.1 mm; Head depth 18.3 mm; Head length 38.7 mm; Snout to Vent length 900.0 mm; Tail length 105.0 mm. Dorsally brownish grey with dark gray bands across the body till lateral / sides, band does not extend till belly and ventrally the entire body creamish yellow. Number of bands 57 around body till vent; One band present at the base of the tail; remaining part black. Remarks. The original description [incorrectly as H. fayreriana] stated the scale rows to be 35, ventral count to be 193 and body bands to be 39 (Anderson 1971). Following Boulenger (1890), Sclater (1891) listed the specimen, as the type of H. fayrerianus under the synonymy of H. hardwickii (Gray, 1834). This was also followed by Boulenger (1896) and Wall (1906, 1909). However, Smith (1926, 1943) did not make any mention (also see Das et al. 1998) of either the specimen ZSI 8270 or of the nominal taxon Hydrophis fayrerianus in his species accounts of both H. curtus (Shaw, 1802) and H. hardwickii (Gray, 1834), which was treated as valid then. As is known, currently, only one species H. curtus is recognized, with H. hardwickii being treated as its subjective junior synonym (see Wallach et al. 2014; Boundy 2020). This specimen was included in the catalogue of available types by Das et al. (1998)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Shaw, G. (1802) General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. III. Part II. Amphibia. G. Kearsley, London, viii + pp. 313 - 615, pls. 87 - 140.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Boundy, J. (2020) Snakes of the World: a supplement. CRC Press, USA, 273 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / 9780429461354"]}

Hydrophis trachyceps Theobald, 1868 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 1) Material Examined. ZSI 8266 Syntype from Mergui (Beik, Southern Myanmar). Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Seven Supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye on the left, 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th touching the eye on the right; 5 th broken; Infralabial 9; 3 infralabials touching chin shield; Chin shield well developed, both the pairs in contact with each other; Anterior Pair 2.5 mm, Posterior Pair 2.5 mm; Scales around neck and midbody, Ventrals and Preanals could not be counted with confidence, as they are in fragile condition due to suboptimal preservation; Head width 9.1 mm; Head depth 11.2 mm; Head length 19.1 mm; Snout to Vent length 860.0 mm; Tail length 78.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 56 around body till vent; Three bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) did not feature this specimen or the nominal taxon either as valid or as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus. Smith (1926) stated it to be a subadult female, with scale rows 31:43 and ventrals “?”. This was so due to the suboptimal preservation of the specimen. Since this was the case even in Smith’s days, we too were unable to score any more characters than those presented. Sclater (1891) listed H. trachyceps under the synonymy of H. cyanocinctus, whereas Boulenger (1890) did not. Also, Sclater (1891) listed two specimens “ZSI 8266-7” as the types of H. trachyceps. Das et al. (1998) clarified that this second syntype ZSI 8267 was not present in the ZSI and that it was not received back from Boden Kloss, probably its collector / their associate in Myanmar or a naturalist who had earlier taken a study loan of that specimen. Boulenger (1896) treated H. trachyceps as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 302, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Theobald, W. (1868) Catalogue of Reptiles in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. 32). Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Bengal, 88 pp.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls."]}

Hydrophis tuberculatus Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 4) Material Examined. ZSI 8271 Holotype from Calcutta (in West Bengal Eastern India). Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal shorter than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporal 2; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Preocular on each sides of the head; Two Postoculars on each sides of the head; Seven Supralabials on each sides of the head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 4 th and 5 th touching the eye, 4 th & 6 th broken; Nine Infralabials on right and eight on left side of the head; 3 infralabials touching chin shield; cuneate scales present; Chin shields well developed, both the pair in contact with each other Anterior Pair— 3.1 mm, Posterior Pair 3.7 mm; Scales around neck 31; Scales around Midbody 40; Ventrals 315, distinct from the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal enlarged; Dorsal scales has a single keel. Head width 13.4 mm; Head depth 9.8 mm; Head length 26.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 1000.0 mm; Tail length 95.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body light brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, broader dorsally, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 60 around the body till vent; Five dark brown bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated the scale counts to be 32:40:39 and ventrals as 332, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be an unsexed young one with scale rows 31:42 and ventrals 310. Anderson (1871) originally named this species as Hydrophis tuberculata, with a feminine ending of specific epithet, whereas it must be masculine, as H. tuberculatus (see Uetz et al. 2022; this work). Sclater (1891) treated it as a valid species that he listed as Distira tuberculata. This was followed by Boulenger (1890, 1896). Wall (1906) synonymized H. tuberculatus under H. cyanocintus and this was subsequently followed (Wall 1909; Smith 1926, 1943)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 309, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Uetz, P., Hallermann, J. & Hosek, J. (2022) The EMBL Reptile Database. Available from: https: // reptile-database. reptarium. cz / (accessed online in March 2022)","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp."]}

Distira andamanica Annandale, 1905 synonym of Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842) (Table 1; Fig. 6) Material Examined. ZSI 15238 Holotype, from Andamans (in the Bay of Bengal) India. Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal squarish, 2 nd Supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One supraocular on each sides of head; One preocular on each sides of head; Three postoculars on each sides of head; Seven supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal, 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye, 4th below the eye; 6 th broken; Nine infralabials on each sides of head; 4 th infralabial touching chin shield; on right 2 nd infralabial is small, do not touch the Anterior Chin shield; Chin shield well developed; Anterior Pair in contact with each other, Posterior Pair separated from each other; Anterior Pair 4.7 mm, Posterior Pair 4.6 mm; Scales around neck 33: Scales around Midbody 38; Ventral 235, distinct, twice the size of the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal Slightly enlarged; Dorsal scales with a single keel. Head width 13.6 mm; Head depth 11.7 mm; Head length 29.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 755.0 mm; Tail length 93.0 mm. Head dark dorsally, supralabials and venter of a lighter shade as of the dorsal colour. Body encircled by black bands, interspace white, broad dorsally and on flanks, disintegrating and eventually disappearing ventrally. All ventral scales white. Tail with black bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands around the body till vent 35; Seven bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated it to have scale rows 33:39:35 and ventrals 245, while Smith (1926) stated it to be an adult male, with scale rows 31:40 and ventrals 236. Wall (1909) synonymised Distira andamanica Wall, 1906 with H. ornatus (Gray, 1842) and this was followed by Smith (1926, 1943) and recent authors (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 310, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Annandale, N. (1905) Additions to the collection of Oriental snakes in the Indian Museum, Part 2. Specimens from the Andamans and Nicobars. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Natural History), Calcutta (Series 2), 1 (7), 173 - 176.","Gray, J. E. (1842) Monographic Synopsis of the Water Snakes, or the Family of Hydridae. Zoological Miscellany, 2, 59 - 68.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150"]}

Hydrophis melanocinctus Wall, 1906 synonym of Hydrophis spiralis (Shaw, 1802) (Table 1; Fig. 8) Material Examined. ZSI 14470 Holotype from Puri, Odisha (Eastern India). Description. Head small, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal elongate, 2 nd Supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Supralabials 7; 3 rd and 4 th touching eye; Seven infralabials on each side of head; Chin shield and Scales around neck in fragile condition; Scales around midbody 40; Ventral, Preanal and Head width, depth and length not measurable as the specimen is in fragile condition; Snout to Vent length 228.0 mm;. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Number of bands not discernable due to faded colouration. Remarks. Specimen is in fragile condition and hence some of the measurements (e.g. tail length) could not be taken. Wall (1906) stated the counts to be scale rows 25:39:39 and ventrals 380, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be an unsexed young one, with scale rows 25:44 and ventrals “366(?)” indicating his uncertainty over the count. Wall (1909) synonymized H. melanocinctus under H. fasciatus, but Smith (1926, 1943) treated it as a synonym of H. spiralis, where it now rests (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019; Boundy 2020). See comments under H. alcocki entry, for mix-up of the registration number with the type of H. melanocinctus., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 315, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Shaw, G. (1802) General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. III. Part II. Amphibia. G. Kearsley, London, viii + pp. 313 - 615, pls. 87 - 140.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150","Boundy, J. (2020) Snakes of the World: a supplement. CRC Press, USA, 273 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / 9780429461354"]}

Platurus affinis Anderson, 1871 synonym of Laticauda laticaudata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Table 1; Fig. 10) Material Examined. ZSI 8289 Holotype from Fallahs Mullah, Calcutta (sic from Tolly’s Nullah, Southern Calcutta, West Bengal, Eastern India fide Das et al. 1998). Description. Head robust, head shield large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal on lateral side separated by a pair of internasal; Prefrontal large, squarish; Frontal larger than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporals 1+2; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Preocular on each sides of head; Two Postoculars on each sides of head, lower postocular much larger than upper postocular; Eight supralabials on each sides of head; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; 1 st very small; Seven Infralabials on each side of head; 4 infralabials touching the chin shield, 1 st and 2 nd infralabials small; Chinshield well developed; both the pair not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 19; Scales around Midbody 19; Ventrals 229, large; Subcaudals 34; Preanal large, divided; Anal large, divided; Head width 14.6 mm; Head depth 15.9 mm; Head length 30.4 mm; Snout to Vent length 1145.0 mm; Tail length 111.0 mm; Gravid female with 7 eggs. Head brown dorsally and ventrally. The entire body light black dorsally, light brown ventrally. Body encircled by dark brown bands, interspaces grey, broad dorsally extending till ventrals. All ventral scales light brown. Tail with dark brown bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands 56 around the body till vent; Five bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) implicitly mentioned this specimen, but not in any detail. Smith (1926) stated it to be an adult female, with scale rows 19, ventrals 238 and subcaudals 35. Sclater (1891) listed ZSI 8289 from Tolly’s Nullah under the species account of “ Platurus laticaudatus ”, i.e. currently Laticauda laticaudata, though he did not explicitly remark on the type status of the specimen mentioned., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 319, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Edito Decima. Tomus I. Laurenti Salvi [Lars Salvius], Holmiae [Stockholm]. [4], 823, [1] pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 542","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp."]}

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. (1893) Catalogue of snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1. Containing the families Typhlopidae, Glauconiidae, Boidae, Ilysiidae, Uropeltidae, Xenopeltidae and Colubridae, British Museum (Natural History), London, xiii + 448 pp, 28 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Annandale, N. (1904) Additions to the collection of oriental snakes in the Indian Museum. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 73, 207 - 211.","Agarwal, I., Mistry, V. & Athreya, R. (2010) Preliminary checklist of reptiles of the Eaglenest wildlife sanctuary, west Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 17, 81 - 93.","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. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / b 16901","Wall, F. (1924) A hand-list of snakes of the Indian empire. Part II. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 29, 59 - 878.","Das, I. (2002) A photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of India. New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd., London, 144 pp.","Chettri, B., Bhupathy, S. & Acharya, B. A. (2009) Morphometrics and aspects of breeding biology of Trachischium guentheri Boulenger, 1890 (Serpentes: Colubridae) in north Sikkim, eastern Himalaya, India. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 16, 177 - 182."]}

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."]}

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