A long-lost relic from the eastern ghats: morphology, distribution and habitat of sepsophis punctatus Beddome, 1870 (Squamata: Scincidae)

Datta-Roy, Aniruddha and Mohapatra, Pratyush P and Dutta, Sushil K and Giri, Varad B and Veerappan, Deepak and Maddock, Simon T and Raj, Prudhvi and Agarwal, Ishan and Karanth, Praveen (2013) A long-lost relic from the eastern ghats: morphology, distribution and habitat of sepsophis punctatus Beddome, 1870 (Squamata: Scincidae). In: Zootaxa, 3670 (1). pp. 55-62.

PDF Zoot_3670-1_55_2013f.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (24kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Sepsophis punctatus Beddome 1870, the only species of a monotypic genus, was described based on a single specimen from the Eastern Ghats of India. We rediscovered the species based on specimens from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh state, India, after a gap of 137 years, including four specimens from close to the type locality. The holotype was studied in detail, and we present additional morphological characters of the species with details on natural history, habitat and diet. The morphological characters of the holotype along with two additional specimens collected by Beddome are compared with the specimens collected by us. We also briefly discuss the distribution of other members of the subfamily Scincinae and their evolutionary affinities.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Zootaxa
Publisher:	Magnolia Press
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Magnolia Press.
Keywords:	Sepsophis; Rediscovery; Peninsular India; Eastern Ghats; Scincidae
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	18 Jul 2013 07:04
Last Modified:	18 Jul 2013 07:04
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/46851

Actions (login required)

View Item