Rhinophis karinthandani, Sampaio & Narayanan & Cyriac & Venu & Gower, 2020

FIGURE 1. Bayesian Inference phylogeny of Rhinophis, based on 12s, 16s and nd4 mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Numbers at internal branches are Bayesian posterior probabilities (above, given to two decimal places) and maximum likelihood bootstrap values (below). See Appendix 2 for specimen details. Scale bar indicates substitutions per site.

FIGURE 2. Photographs of the holotype (BMNH 79.7.4.2) of Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. Upper row: head in dorsal, right lateral, ventral and left lateral views; central two rows whole specimen in approximately dorsolateral (upper) and ventrolateral (lower) views; lower row: tail in dorsal, right lateral, ventral, dorsal and left lateral views. Scale bar increments in mm. Photographs by Kevin Webb (NHM, London).

FIGURE 3. Map showing specimen record locations of Rhinophis from the Wayanad plateau region and from Karnataka. See Appendix 3 for underlying distribution data.

FIGURE 6. BNHS paratypes of Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. Heads and tails shown in (from left to right) dorsal, ventral, right lateral and left lateral views. A. BNHS 3540; B. BNHS 3542; C. BNHS 3544; D. BNHS 3545; E. BNHS 3546. Scale bars 10 mm.

FIGURE 7. Photographs of live Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. (A–D) and R. sanguineus (E–F). A, B. dorsal and ventral views of BNHS 3541; C, D. dorsal and ventral views of BNHS 3542; E, F. dorsal and ventral views of VPRS0918093.

FIGURE 8. Plot showing bimodal distribution of numbers of ventral versus subcaudal scales in female (circles) and male (squares) Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov.

FIGURE 9. Lateral views of bodies showing dorsal scale row irregularities in Rhinophis karinthandani sp. nov. (A and B) and R. melanoleucus (C and D). Anomalously large dark grey scales and small pale gray scales are not involved in scale row reductions. Red and yellow scales indicate typical scale row reduction. A. Right side of BNHS 3545 level with 49th ventral; B. Left side of BNHS 3541 level with 29th ventral; C & D. left and right side, respectively of BNHS 3538 level with 74th and 72nd ventral, respectively.