Abstract
A new species of the uropeltid (shieldtail snake) genus Rhinophis is described based on a type series of seven specimens from the Wayanad region of the Western Ghats of peninsular India. The holotype was collected before 1880 but had been misidentified as the phenotypically similar and parapatric (possibly partly sympatric) R. sanguineus. Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. is diagnosed by a combination of 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody, 4-8 pairs of subcaudal scales, colour pattern (uniformly dark above, whitish below with extensive dark mottling), and by its distinct mitochondrial DNA sequences (e.g. 7.6% uncorrected p-distance for nd4). Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data indicates that the new species is most closely related to R. sanguineus among currently recognised species, with this pair most closely related to the partly sympatric R. melanoleucus. The new species description brings the number of currently recognised species in the genus to 24, six of which are endemic to India and 18 endemic to Sri Lanka. A new key to the identification of Indian species of Rhinophis is provided.
Highlights
IntroductionUropeltids, or shieldtails, are typically small (total length < 600 mm) fossorial snakes endemic to Sri Lanka and peninsular India
Uropeltids, or shieldtails, are typically small fossorial snakes endemic to Sri Lanka and peninsular India
The 10 Indian Rhinophis individuals sampled from Wayanad (Kerala) and Karnataka constitute a near-maximally (BI posterior probability 1, Maximum Likelihood (ML) bootstrap 99) supported clade comprising three main clades, two strongly supported lineages, and one strongly supported under Bayesian Inference (BI) but not under ML analysis (Fig. 1)
Summary
Uropeltids, or shieldtails, are typically small (total length < 600 mm) fossorial snakes endemic to Sri Lanka and peninsular India. The approximately 60 currently recognised species are classified into seven or eight genera (Pyron et al 2016; Cyriac & Kodandaramaiah 2017). All uropeltid genera occur in India, with only one genus occurring in Sri Lanka, Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 Eighteen of the 23 currently recognised species of Rhinophis are endemic to Sri Lanka, and no species occur in both Sri Lanka and India (Cyriac et al 2020; Pyron et al 2016; Wickramasinghe et al 2017; 2020; Gower 2020). Following the recent description of R. melanoleucus Cyriac, Narayanan, Sampaio, Umesh & Gower, 2020, there are five currently recognised Indian species of Rhinophis (Cyriac et al 2020). We present new molecular phylogenetic data for Rhinophis, describe a new Indian species, and provide an updated key to the Indian species of the genus
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