Published December 31, 2016 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Dendrophis meeki Boulenger 1895

Description

Description of the syntypes of Dendrophis meeki Boulenger, 1895 (BMNH 1946.1.23.30-33 Fig. 5)

Four adult specimens from Fergusson island; sex: female/male/male/female; body slender, very large eye with round pupil; snout vent length 74.0 / 66.0 / 67.0 / 54.0 cm; tail length 41.5 / 38.0 / 38.0 / 29+ (tail tip incomplete) cm; 175 / 173 / 175 / 167 ventral scales; 140 / 146 / 146 / 137+ paired subcaudal scales; anal shield divided; dorsal scales in 15-13-11 rows; vertebral scales slightly enlarged, hexagonal in shape with convex posterior margin; number of supralabials (L,R) 8,8 / 8,9 / 9,9 / 9,8; supralabials bordering the eye (L,R) 4–5,4–5 / 3–5,4–6 / 4–6,4–6 / 4–5,4–5; infralabials (L,R) 9,10 / 9,9 / 10,10 / 8,9; infralabials touching first chinshield 1–5; infralabials touching second chinshield 5–6; 2 postoculars; temporal scales (L,R) 2:2:1,2:2:2 / 2:2,2:2 / 2:1:2,2:2:2 / 2:1:2,2:2:2; 5 scales border the posterior margins of the parietal scales; eye diameter (L,R, in mm) 4.9, 5.0 / 4.5, 4.3 / 4.7, 4.6 / 4.5, 4.3; eye nostril distance 4.4, 4.6 / 3.6, 3.6 / 3.5, 3.6 / 3.4, 3.3; snout width 6.2 / 4.3 / 5.0 / 3.7; width of the vertebral scale at mid-body 3.6 / 3.3 / 3.5 / 2.6; length of the frontal scale 6.2 / 5.6 / 5.9 / -; head dorsally immaculate brown; supralabials and throat yellow; a narrow black temporal stripe consisting of black upper edges of supralabials and lower edges of temporals extends onto the neck; body bronze dorsally; venter yellow anteriorly, brownish posteriorly with slightly darkened lateral edges and some dark mottling

Notes

Published as part of Rooijen, Johan Van & Vogel, Gernot, 2016, On the status of three nominal species in the synonymy of Dendrelaphis calligaster (Günther, 1867) (Serpentes: Colubridae), pp. 293-300 in Zootaxa 4093 (2) on page 298, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4093.2.10, http://zenodo.org/record/264354

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Scientific name authorship
Boulenger
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Family
Colubridae
Genus
Dendrophis
Species
meeki
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Dendrophis meeki Boulenger, 1895 sec. Rooijen & Vogel, 2016