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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025
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| 4:06a | [Herpetology • 2025] Trimeresurus cryptographicus • A snake can change its finery: A New cryptic Species of the Trimeresurus kanburiensis complex (Serpentes: Viperidae) from central Thailand with an unusual ontogenetic color change
Abstract We describe a new species of green pitviper from the northern part of Central Thailand based on morphological and molecular (2406 bp from cyt b, ND4, and 16S rRNA mitochondrial DNA genes fragments) lines of evidence. Trimeresurus cryptographicus sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: small size, maximum known SVL of 523 mm; dorsal scales in 23(22)-21-15 rows, moderately keeled except the outermost rows; ventral scales 171–178; subcaudal scales 57–73, all paired; iris golden yellow in both sexes; body uniformly bright grass-green with indistinct serrated dark transverse markings in adults (499–523 mm SVL) but neonates and juveniles (231–245 mm SVL) have prominent irregular, serrated dark grey crossbands on a light green dorsum; suborbital stripe bluish-white and thin in male, absent in females; ventrolateral stripe, white, distinct, present on the first two dorsal scale rows in both sexes; throat, chin, and lower labials pale blue; ventral surfaces greenish-yellow; tail light brick-red mottled with dark spots, ventral side of the tail with white markings. While the new species differs from the morphologically similar species Trimeresurus macrops by a notable divergence in mitochondrial DNA sequences, it is more closely related to T. kuiburi (p = 1.7% for cytochrome b, p = 1.6% for 16S rRNA, and p = 1.8% for ND4 gene fragments). The new species is currently known only from low elevation in tropical limestone forest of Phitsanulok Province, in the northern part of central Thailand (ca. 100 m a.s.l.). This discovery further underlines the importance of limestone massifs of Indochina as local centres of herpetofaunal diversity and endemism. Reptilia, Trimeresurus cryptographicus sp. nov., limestone, morphology, molecular phylogeny, systematics  
Subfamily Crotalinae Oppel, 1811 Genus Trimeresurus lacépède, 1804 Trimeresurus cryptographicus sp. nov. Etymology. the species name “cryptographicus” is a latin adjective in the nominative singular, masculine gender, derived from the classical greek adjective kryptos (κρυπτός), “cryptos”, meaning “hidden”, and from the past participle of the verb graphein (γράφειν), meaning “to write” or “to draw”. we coined this greek word, in latinized form, by allusion to the strong dorsal pattern present in juvenile specimens, which disappears and becomes barely visible in adult individuals like some cryptography text. Furthermore, this pitviper is a good example of cryptic and elusive species itself. We suggest the following common names for the new species: “Ngu Khiew Hang MaiTa To Si Jang” (งูเขียวหางไหม้ตาโตสีจาง, in thai), “Cryptic Green Pitviper” (in english), and “Kripticheskayabambukovaya kufiya” (Криптическая бамбуковая куфия, in Russian).
Parinya PAWANGKHANANT, Sabira S. IDIIATULLINA, Tan Van NGUYEN, Thiti RUANGSUWAN, Tomoya MATSUKOJI, Patrick DAVID, Chatmongkon SUWANNAPOOM and Nikolay A. POYARKOV. 2025. A snake can change its finery: A New cryptic Species of the Trimeresurus kanburiensis complex (Reptilia: Serpentes: Viperidae) from central Thailand with an unusual ontogenetic color change. Zootaxa. 5621(5); 514-546. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5621.5.2 [2025-04-22] | ||||||||||||
| 4:15p | [Mammalogy • 2024] Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Integrative Taxonomic Revision of the Afro-Arabian Rodent Genus Ochromyscus (Muridae: Murinae: Praomyini)
Abstract The analyses of Plio-Pleistocene speciation processes in the Horn of Africa are relevant for understanding the evolution of biodiversity patterns of this understudied part of the world. Here we analyse comprehensive genomic and morphological data of the recently delimited murid genus Ochromyscus, one of the few with Afro-Arabian distribution. Using an integrative taxonomic approach, we delimit three species in the genus: two in eastern Africa (O. brockmani and O. niveiventris) and one in southern Arabia (O. yemeni), and detail their distribution, genetic structure, and evolutionary history. Despite their morphological similarity, the three species split before the Pleistocene, and their interspecific genetic divergence level is comparable to that between sister genera of murine rodents. The split between two taxa living on opposite sides of the Red Sea (O. brockmani vs. O. yemeni) is younger than the separation of their ancestor and O. niveiventris living in eastern Africa. The colonization of Arabia can be explained either by the presence of a relatively recent continental bridge or by the past occurrence of the genus along the eastern coast of the Red Sea and subsequent spreading through the Sinai Peninsula. ddRAD, Horn of Africa, integrative taxonomy, phylogeography, rodents, Somali-Masai savanna  Ochromyscus brockmani (Thomas, 1906) Brockman’s white-bellied rocky mouse. Ochromyscus niveiventris (Osgood, 1910) Snowy white-bellied rocky mouse. The Latin name ‘niveiventris’ means ‘snowy-white-bellied’. Because the English genus name is ‘white-bellied rocky mouse’ (Nicolas et al., 2021), we propose to simplify the English name to avoid redundant use of ‘white-bellied’. Ochromyscus yemeni (Sanborn and Hoogstraal, 1953) Yemen white-bellied rocky mouse. Yonas Meheretu, Ondřej Mikula, Daniel Frynta, Petra Frýdlová, Getachew Mulualem, Leonid A Lavrenchenko, Danila S Kostin, Hassan Sh Abdirahman Elmi, Radim Šumbera and Josef Bryja. 2024. Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Integrative Taxonomic Revision of the Afro-Arabian Rodent Genus Ochromyscus (Muridae: Murinae: Praomyini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 202(1); zlad158. DOI: doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad158 [04 November 2023] Study of mammal evolutionary histories sheds light on existence of continental bridge between Africa and Arabian Peninsula https://sev-in.ru/en/node/4067 |
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