Narayanan, Surya and Mohapatra, Pratyush P. (2021) Ahaetulla laudankia and A. sahyadrensis (Serpentes: Colubridae): two additions to the ophidiofauna of Maharashtra, India. Herpetology Notes, 17. pp. 1299-1303.

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Abstract

The vine snake genus Ahaetulla Link, 1807 is currently known to comprise 18 species (Mallik et al., 2020; Lam et al. 2021; Uetz et al., 2021), of which 12 are recorded with certainty from India. The presence of a thirteenth species, A. nasuta (Lacépède, 1789) has been suggestet, but this remains unconfirmed at this time. The recent work on the phylogeny of Ahaetulla by Mallik et al. (2020) clarified the taxonomic status of this group and resulted in the descriptions of five new species from the Western Ghats (A. borealis, A. farnsworthi, A. malabarica, A. sahyadrensis, A. travancorica). These authors also transferred the heretofore widely distributed Indian populations of A. nasuta to A. oxyrhyncha (Bell, 1825) by restricting the distribution of A. nasuta to Sri Lanka. Similarly, earlier records of A. pulverulenta (Duméril et al., 1854) from India have been revalidated by the authors under the name A. sahyadrensis (sensu stricto), given that A. pulverulenta was considered to be a Sri Lankan endemic. At this time, two species of Ahaetulla have been confirmed from Maharashtra, A. oxyrhyncha and A. borealis (sensu Mallik et al., 2020). Mallik et al. (2020) did not mention any early records of A. pulverulenta from Maharashtra, such as the specimens housed in the national zoological collection of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). We herein add two vine snake species to the checklist of reptiles for Maharashtra and provide an updated distribution map for Ahaetulla species in the state.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Copyright of this article belongs to the Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Subjects: A ATREE Publications > G Journal Papers
Divisions: SM Sehgal Foundation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation > Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation Planning
Depositing User: Ms Library Staff
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2025 09:18
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2026 05:54
URI: http://archives.atree.org/id/eprint/1030

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