Vertebrate Zoology 70(3): 305-318, doi: 10.26049/VZ70-3-2020-04
Lost and found: rediscovery and systematics of the Northeast Indian snake Hebius pealii (Sclater, 1891)
Abhijit Das, David J. Gower, Deepak Veerappan‡§‡ Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India§ Senckenberg Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Corresponding author: Deepak Veerappan ( veerappandeepak@gmail.com ) © Abhijit Das, David Gower, Deepak Veerappan. This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License. Citation:
Das A, Gower DJ, Veerappan D (2020) Lost and found: rediscovery and systematics of the Northeast Indian snake Hebius pealii (Sclater, 1891). Vertebrate Zoology 70(3): 305-318. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ70-3-2020-04 |  |
Abstract
We report the rediscovery of the keelback snake Hebius pealii after 129 years from Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. We designate a lectotype for the species, and provide the first description of a female, of colour in life, and aspects of its natural history. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses of two mitochondrial (1071 bp cytb, 508 bp 16s) and two nuclear (560 bp bdnf, 579 bp cmos) genes provides strong evidence for Hebius pealii being nested within the genus Herpetoreas instead of Hebius . We transfer this species to the genus Herpetoreas .
Keywords
Eastern Himalaya, Herpetoreas, Herpetoreas platyceps, Natricinae, phylogeny, snakes.