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Type: Article
Published: 2019-02-12
Page range: 79–90
Abstract views: 175
PDF downloaded: 3

A new species of the snake genus Hebius Thompson from Northeast India (Squamata: Natricidae)

Help Earth, 16, RNC Path, Lachitnagar, Guwahati 781007, Assam, India
Reptiles & Amphibiens, UMR 7205 OSEB,Département Évolution et Systématique, CP 30, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Reptilia Arunachal Pradesh India Hebius Herpetoreas

Abstract

A new species of the family Natricidae Bonaparte is described from a single specimen obtained in Arunachal State, northeastern India. On the basis of its external morphology and of its dentition on the upper maxilla, i.e. 24 + 3 distinctly enlarged teeth separated by a short diastema, it is referred to the genus Hebius Thompson. Hebius lacrima spec. nov. is distinguished from other species of the genera Hebius, Amphiesma Duméril, Bibron & Duméril and Herpetoreas Günther, by the combination of an elongate body, 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody, a distinctive broad, white band on the supralabials interrupted by a dark blotch below the eye, absence of dorsolateral stripes replaced by series of transversally elliptical or divided dorsolateral spots, a cream venter with lateral dark blotches, and scales of the first dorsal scale row entirely smooth. The interrupted, broad, lateral stripe of the head differentiates Hebius lacrima spec. nov. from all other species of the genera Hebius and Herpetoreas inhabiting the Indo-Himalayan and Indochinese Regions. This new species is compared in detail with other Asian species of Natricidae having 19 dorsal scale rows.

 

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