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Issue: Vol. 5796 No. 2: 21 Apr. 2026
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2026-04-21
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5796.2.10
Page range: 369-380
Abstract views: 88
PDF downloaded: 13

Designation of a lectotype for Trimeresurus porphyraceus Blyth, 1861 (Reptilia: Viperidae) and its recognition as a junior synonym of Trimeresurus erythrurus (Cantor, 1839)

Zoological Survey of India; FPS Building; Indian Museum Campus; Kolkata; West Bengal; India
The School of Medicine & Pharmacy; Duy Tan University; Da Nang; 550000; Vietnam; Center for Entomology & Parasitology Research; Duy Tan University; Da Nang; 550000; Vietnam
Society for South East Asian Herpetology; Im Sand-3; Heidelberg D-69115; Germany
Institut de Systématique; Évolution et Biodiversité (ISYEB); Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle; Sorbonne Université; École Pratique des Hautes Études; Université des Antilles; CNRS; CP 30; 57 rue Cuvier; F-75005 Paris; France
Zoological Survey of India; FPS Building; Indian Museum Campus; Kolkata; West Bengal; India
Zoological Survey of India; FPS Building; Indian Museum Campus; Kolkata; West Bengal; India
Reptilia Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus species group Asian pitvipers taxonomy

References

  1. Blyth, E. (1861) Report of Curator, Zoological Department. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Natural History), 29 (1), 87–115. [1860]
  2. Boulenger, G.A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp., 142 figs. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.100797
  3. Boulenger, G.A. (1896) Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III. Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae, and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 37 figs., 25 pls.
  4. Cantor, T.E. (1839) Spicilegium serpentium indicorum [part 1]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1839, 31–34.
  5. Chan, K.O., Anuar, S., Sankar, A., Law, I.T., Law, I.S., Shivaram, R., Christian, C., Mulcahy, D.G. & Malhotra, A. (2023) A new species of pit viper from the Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions in Myanmar (Viperidae, Trimeresurus). ZooKeys, 1186, 221–234. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1186.110422
  6. Chan, K.O., Law, I.S., Law, I.T., Sankar, A., Shivaram, R., Aowphol, A., Rujirawan, A., Anuar, S., Mulcahy, D., Grismer, J.L. & Grismer, L.L. (2022) Phylogeography of mangrove pit vipers (Viperidae, Trimeresurus erythrurus-purpureomaculatus complex). Zoologica Scripta, 51 (6), 664–675. https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12562
  7. Deuti, K., Aengals, R., Raha, S., Debnath, S., Sathiyaselvam, P. & Ganesh, S.R. (2021) On further specimens of the pit viper Trimeresurus erythrurus (Cantor, 1839) (Squamata: Viperidae), with description of a topotype and range extension to the Godavari Basin, peninsular India. Journal of Animal Diversity, 3, 110–119. https://doi.org/10.52547/JAD.2021.3.1.7
  8. Gray, J.E. (1830–1832) Illustrations of Indian Zoology; Chiefly Selected from the Collection of Major-General Hardwicke. Volume I (parts I–X). Treuttel, Wurtz, Treuttel, Jun. & Richter, London, [3] pp., 100 pls. [Parts published as follows: I–IV (1830), V–IX (1831), and X–XII (1832); fide Sherborn (1922), Kinnear (1925), Dawson (1946), and Sawyer (1953)] https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.95127
  9. Gray, J.E. (1842) Synopsis of the species of rattle-snakes, or family of Crotalidae. The Zoological Miscellany, 2, 47–51.
  10. Günther, A.C.L.G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. Ray Society, London, xxvii + 452 pp., 28 pls. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.5012
  11. ICZN [International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature] (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 4th Edition. Adopted by the International Union of Biological Sciences. International Trust of Zoological Nomenclature, London, xxix + 306 pp.
  12. Malhotra, A., Walter, M., Russel, G.L. & Thorpe, R.S. (2025) Integrative analysis of geographic variation and species boundaries in the whitelipped pitviper complex (Squamata: Viperidae: Crotalinae: Trimeresurus albolabris). Vertebrate Zoology, 75, 191–225. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.75.e142775
  13. Poyarkov, N.A., Nguyen, T.V., Popov, E.S., Geissler, P., Pawangkhanant, P., Neang, T., Suwannapoom, C., Ananjeva, N.B. & Orlov, N.L. (2023) Recent progress in taxonomic studies, biogeographic analysis and revised checklist of reptiles in Indochina. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 30 (5), 255–476. https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2023-30-5-255-476
  14. Smith, M.A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III. Serpentes. Taylor & Francis, London, xii + 583 pp.
  15. Stoliczka, F. (1870) Observations on some Indian and Malayan Amphibia and Reptilia. [Part 2] Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Natural History), 39 (3), 159–228, pls. 10–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222937008696209
  16. Theobald, W. (1868) Catalogue of reptiles in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1866. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 37 (Extra Number), i–vi + 1–88 + i–iii, 4 pls. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.5477
  17. Vogel, G., Nguyen, T.V. & David, P. (2023) A new green pitviper of the Trimeresurus albolabris complex (Reptilia: Serpentes: Viperidae) from central and southern Myanmar. Zootaxa, 5357 (4), 515–554. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5357.4.3
  18. Wallach, V., Williams, K.L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, xxvii + 1209 pp.
  19. Werner, F. (1927) Neue oder wenig bekannte Schlangen aus dem Wiener Naturhistorischen Staatsmuseum (3. Teil). Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, 135 (7–8), 243–257.

How to Cite

Ray, S., Nguyen, T.V., Vogel, G., David, P., Das, A. & Mohapatra, P.P. (2026) Designation of a lectotype for Trimeresurus porphyraceus Blyth, 1861 (Reptilia: Viperidae) and its recognition as a junior synonym of Trimeresurus erythrurus (Cantor, 1839). Zootaxa, 5796 (2), 369–380. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5796.2.10