scholarly journals A striking new species of Papuan groundsnake (Stegonotus: Colubridae) from southern Papua New Guinea, with a dichotomous key to the genus in New Guinea

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4926 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-42
Author(s):  
MARK O’SHEA ◽  
STEPHEN J. RICHARDS

We describe a new species of groundsnake of the genus Stegonotus (Colubridae) from the Purari River basin in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea. The new species can be most readily distinguished from all other New Guinean Stegonotus by its unique dorsal colour pattern which consists of a dark head and creamy-white anterior one third to two thirds of the body, grading into increasingly dense dark pigmentation on the posterior of the body and tail. It is most similar to S. iridis from the Raja Ampat Archipelago off western New Guinea, but that species has a different pattern of pigmentation dorsally, has a lower ventral scale count (198–211 vs. 229–239), and exhibits a different temporal scale arrangement. The description of S. aplini sp. nov. brings to fourteen the number of Stegonotus species described from New Guinea. A dichotomous key to described species in the New Guinea region is provided. 

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4664 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-232
Author(s):  
VITOR ABRAHÃO ◽  
JAN MOL ◽  
MARIO DE PINNA

A new species of Cetopsis is described from Guiana Shield drainages in Guyana and Suriname. The new species is found in the Konawaruk River and tributaries, Essequibo River basin, Guyana, and in the Mauritie Creek, tributary to the Tempati River, upper Commewijne River basin, Suriname. The new taxon can be distinguished from all congeners by a combination of features: dark spots on sides of the body eye-sized or larger, dark, bilobed patch at the base of the caudal fin, absence of a dark humeral spot, absence of dark pigmentation along the fin-membrane posterior to the first dorsal-fin ray, dark pigmentation at the base of the dorsal fin, dark spots extending ventrally to the bases of anal-fin rays, and 41 total vertebrae with 28 caudal vertebrae. Data on internal anatomy of the new species were incorporated into a previously-published phylogenetic analysis and resolves the position of the new species as the sister group of C. motatanensis, from Lago Maracaibo basin. The new Cetopsis is the first species of the genus known to occur exclusively in the Guiana Shield. 


2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Bursey ◽  
Stephen Goldberg ◽  
Fred Kraus

AbstractCosmocerca tyleri sp. nov. (Ascaridida, Cosmocercidae) from the large intestine of Genyophryne thomsoni (Anura, Microhylidae) is described and illustrated. Cosmocerca tyleri sp. nov. represents the 23rd species assigned to the genus and the 6th from the Australian realm. Of the 5 Australian species previously described, C. tyleri sp. nov. differs from C. limnodynastes and C. novaeguineae in number of plectanes, 4 pairs in C. tyleri, 5 pairs in C. limnodynastes and C. novaeguineae. Cosmocerca australis has 3–4 pairs of plectanes, C. archeyi and C. zugi each have 4 pairs of plectanes; however, in each species the plectanes lie in the fourth quarter of the body and just anterior to the cloaca. In C. tyleri sp. nov. the plectanes lie in the third quarter of the body and there is significant space between the cloaca and the posterior pair of plectanes.


Zootaxa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 399 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERALD R. ALLEN

A new species of pomacentrid fish is described from coral reefs of Papua New Guinea. Specimens were collected by the author between 1982 and 2000. Pomacentrus aurifrons is described from 12 specimens, 22.4 61.5 mm SL, collected at depths between 7 12 m. It closely resembles P. smithi Fowler and Bean from Indonesia and the Philippines. These species have similar morphology but are easily distinguished by the taller dorsal fin of P. aurifrons (tallest dorsal ray averaging 1.37 in HL versus 1.65 in HL for P. smithi) and colour pattern differences, particularly the broad zone of yellow encompassing the snout, forehead, and base of the anterior dorsal spines.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark O’Shea ◽  
Allen Allison ◽  
Hinrich Kaiser

Abstract We trace the taxonomic history of Toxicocalamus, a poorly known genus of primarily vermivorous snakes found only in New Guinea and associated island archipelagos. With only a relatively limited number of specimens to examine, and the distribution of those specimens across many natural history collections, it has been a difficult task to assemble a complete taxonomic assessment of this group. As a consequence, research on these snakes has undergone a series of fits and starts, and we here present the first comprehensive chronology of the genus, beginning with its original description by George Albert Boulenger in 1896. We also describe a new species from the northern versant of the Owen Stanley Range, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, and we present a series of comparisons that include heretofore underused characteristics, including those of unusual scale patterns, skull details, and tail tip morphology. Defined by the smallest holotype in the genus, the new species is easily differentiated from all other Toxicocalamus by a combination of the following eidonomic characters: fused prefrontal-internasal scute; single preocular, separate, not fused with prefrontal; minute circular, counter-sunk naris in the centre of a large, undivided, nasal scute; paired postoculars; single anterior temporal and paired posterior temporals; six supralabials, with 3rd and 4th supralabial contacting the orbit; dorsal scales in 15-15-15 rows; 235 ventral scales, 35 paired subcaudal scales; paired cloacal scales preceded by paired precloacal scales; and a short, laterally slightly compressed, ‘Ultrocalamus-type’ tail, terminating in a short conical scale. Differences from congeners in skull morphology include a reduced anterior extent of the parasphenoid, termination of the palatine tooth row at the anterior level of the parasphenoid, extent and shape of the premaxilla, shape and size of the prootics, extent and shape of the exoccipitals and occipital condyles, and features of the atlas-axis complex. This is the fifteenth species in the genus Toxicocalamus.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4991 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
MING KAI TAN ◽  
SIGFRID INGRISCH ◽  
CAHYO RAHMADI ◽  
TONY ROBILLARD

Heminicsara Karny, 1912 is a katydid genus of Agraeciini from the Axylus genus group. It currently comprises 62 species from mainly New Guinea and surrounding archipelagos. Based on recent fieldwork in Lobo in West Papua, Indonesia, a new species of Heminicsara is described here: Heminicsara incrassata sp. nov. It is most readily characterised from congeners and other species of the Axylus genus group by the male tenth abdominal tergite forming a large shield-shaped plate. This represents the first species of Heminicsara described and known from the south-west of New Guinea.  


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