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| Ahaetulla laudankia Deepak, Narayanan, Sarkar, Dutta & Mohapatra, 2019 |
ABSTRACT
A new species of vine snake of the genus Ahaetulla is described from peninsular India. The new taxon is a medium-sized arboreal snake, readily distinguished from all other congeners by morphological and genetic differences. The new species appears to be widely distributed in Eastern Ghats and Central India with the western-most distribution extending into eastern Rajasthan. However, it is relatively rare, with only three specimens being acquired over the past nine years.
KEYWORDS: Ahaetulla nasuta, Eastern Ghats, Rajasthan, snake, taxonomy
Ahaetulla laudankia sp. nov.
Dryophis mycterizans– Sclater (1891) [in part]
Ahaetulla nasuta isabellinus– Dutta et al. (2009)
Etymology. The specific epithet, laudankia, refers to the vernacular name of the species in Odia (language spoken in Odisha state of India), alluding to the snake’s resemblance to dried stems (‘danka’) of bottle gourd (‘lau’).
Proposed standard English name: Laudankia Vine Snake
V. Deepak, Surya Narayanan, Vivek Sarkar, Sushil K. Dutta and Pratyush P. Mohapatra. 2019. A New Species of Ahaetulla Link, 1807 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Ahaetullinae) from India. Journal of Natural History. 53(9-10); 497-516. DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2019.1589591
