Table 1. Summary of morphological characters associated with species of Ophiophagus Günther, 1864 recognised in this study. See ‘Terminology for character analysis’ for details. Note: pale dorsal bands are sometimes absent in adult O. bungarus (Schlegel, 1837) comb. nov. (in images of live specimens examined), and consistently absent in adult O. salvatana Gowri Shankar, Das & Wüster sp. nov. Further, juveniles of the latter show pale bands (in images of three live specimens examined; no voucher specimens of juvenile O. salvatana were available for study).
| Characters |
Statistics |
O. hannah s. str. |
O. bungarus comb. nov. |
O. kaalinga sp. nov. |
O. salvatana sp. nov. |
| Anterior dorsal scale rows (DSR1) |
Mean |
18.0 |
18.9 |
19.5 |
18.6 |
| Range |
17–19 |
17–21 |
19–21 |
17–19 |
| (n) |
15 |
46 |
4 |
5 |
| Median dorsal scale rows (DSR2) |
Mean |
15.0 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
| Range |
15–15 |
15–15 |
15–15 |
15–15 |
| (n) |
15 |
12 |
4 |
4 |
| Posterior dorsal scale rows (DSR3) |
Mean |
13.8 |
14.0 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
| Range |
11–15 |
13–15 |
15–15 |
15–15 |
| (n) |
13 |
12 |
4 |
4 |
| Ventrals |
Mean |
244.0 |
250.12 |
247.8 |
251.0 |
| Range |
226–267 |
253–268 |
241–251 |
247–256 |
| (n) |
49 |
58 |
4 |
4 |
| Subcaudals |
Mean |
89.0 |
106.8 |
88.0 |
93 |
| Range |
80–112 |
71–125 |
86–90 |
74–112 |
| (n) |
49 |
57 |
4 |
4 |
| Precloacal |
Mean |
1.0 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
| Range |
1–1 |
1–1 |
1–1 |
1–1 |
| (n) |
49 |
63 |
4 |
4 |
| Supralabials |
Mean |
6.9 |
7.0 |
7.4 |
7.0 |
| Range |
6–7 |
7–7 |
7–8 |
7–7 |
| (n) |
15 |
68 |
5 |
5 |
| Infralabials |
Mean |
8.0 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
| Range |
7–9 |
8–8 |
8–8 |
8–8 |
| (n) |
15 |
68 |
5 |
5 |
| Pale body bands |
Mean |
39.6 |
72.0 |
35.0 |
0 |
| Range |
27–48 |
57–87 |
28–48 |
0 |
| (n) |
41 |
51 |
3 |
5 |
| Pterygoid teeth |
Mean |
19.3 |
11 |
12 |
11 |
| Range |
18–21 |
11–11 |
12–12 |
11–11 |
| (n) |
12 |
9 |
4 |
6 |