Smithophis

Smithophis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Natricinae
Genus: Smithophis
Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, & Deepak, 2019
Species

5, see text.

Smithophis is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae; the one species that was known prior to 2019 had been classified under the genus Rhabdops, but was removed in the process of erecting the new genus Smithophis.[1] The genus is endemic to Asia. It is named for Malcolm Arthur Smith, a British herpetologist who was active in Indian herpetology.[2]

Species of Smithophis

The following species are recognized as being valid:[3]

  • Smithophis arunachalensis Das, Deepak, Captain, Wade & Gower, 2020[4] – Arunachal rain snake, black and yellow smithophis
  • Smithophis atemporalis Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, & Deepak, 2019 – Mizo rain snake, narrow-headed smithophis
  • Smithophis bicolor (Blyth, 1854) – brown trapezoid snake, two-colored forest snake
  • Smithophis linearis Vogel, Chen, Deepak, Gower, Shi, Ding, & Hou, 2020 – Jingpo mountain stream snake, lined smithophis
  • Smithophis mizoramensis Mirza, Bhardwaj, Lalmuanawma, Choure, Lalremsanga, Vabeiryureilai, Captain, Zagade & Patel, 2024[5] - Mizoram rain snake.

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Smithophis.

References

  1. ^ Deepak, V.; Captain, Ashok; Lalronunga, Samuel; Lalremsanga, H. T.; Das, Abhijit; Gower, David J.; Giri, Varad B. (2019-05-09). "A new genus and species of natricine snake from northeast India". Zootaxa. 4603 (2): 241–264. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4603.2.2. hdl:10141/622621. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 31717226. S2CID 165049846.
  2. ^ "New species 'pit viper snake' spotted in Arunachal". Nagaland Post. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  3. ^ Genus Smithophis at The Reptile Database. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ^ Das, Abhijit; Deepak, V.; Captain, Ashok; Wade, Edward O. Z.; Gower, David J. (2020-10-12). "Description of a new species of Smithophis Giri et al. 2019 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India". Zootaxa. 4860 (2): 267–283. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4860.2.8. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33056167. S2CID 222841573.
  5. ^ Zeeshan A. Mirza, Virender K. Bhardwaj, Jote Chawntual Lalmuanawma, Girish Choure, Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Mathipi Vabeiryureilai, Ashok Captain, Akshay Zagade and Harshil Patel. 2024. A New Species of Smithophis Giri et al. 2019 from the Indo-Burma Region. Diversity. 16(8); 480. DOI:doi.org/10.3390/d16080480 mdpi.com/2903710