Refine
Document Type
- Article (2)
Language
- English (2)
Has Fulltext
- yes (2)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (2)
Keywords
- 16S (1)
- Arunachal Pradesh (1)
- COI (1)
- Indo-Burma (1)
- Pareas kaduri sp. nov. (1)
- Pareidae (1)
- biodiversity hotspot (1)
- cryptic species (1)
- cyt b (1)
- molecular phylogeny (1)
A new species of snail-eating snakes of the genus Pareas Wagler, 1830 is described from the eastern Himalayas. The species Pareas kaduri sp. nov. differs from all known species of the genus in bearing the following suite of characters: SVL 455–550 mm, TaL/TL 0.184–0.207, brown dorsum with black transverse bands throughout the body, 15 dorsal scale rows throughout the body and mid-dorsal vertebral scale rows enlarged, 8 rows keeled in males, loreal not touching orbit, ventrals 160–183, subcaudals 65–70 in males, 52 in one female specimen, hemipenis short, unilobed and 6–7 maxillary teeth. Molecular data for mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes further attest the distinctness of the new species, which was recovered as a member of the Pareas hamptoni clade. Our work brings the total number of species recognized within the genus Pareas to 20.
The Western Ghats of India is considered one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. Documenting scorpion diversity has always been of paramount importance due to their species richness, ecological role and endemism, which calls for conservation priority. Scorpion diversity of the Western Ghats is probably underestimated given the ancestry of the group, and more field work in the region is very likely to uncover numerous undescribed taxa. Several new Indian species have recently been discovered in the scorpion genus Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae). In this communication, we resurrect I. sankeriensis Tikader & Bastawade, 1983 and describe two new species from the Western Ghats of India, I. nakshatra sp. nov. and I. wayanadensis sp. nov., using an integrative taxonomic approach. In order to replace the lost holotype of I. sankeriensis, we designate a neotype and reassess the identity of this species. This work elevates the number of species of Isometrus found in India to eight and we expect many more scorpion discoveries from India with continued research.
