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Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 112, The snakes of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

by: McDowell, Samuel Booker

Publication date: 1984

Topics: Snakes, Reptiles, Snakes -- Papua New Guinea -- Huon Peninsula, Snakes -- New Guinea -- Classification, Reptiles -- Papua New Guinea -- Huon Peninsula, Reptiles -- New Guinea -- Classification

Publisher: New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History

Collection: americanmuseumnaturalhistory; biodiversity

Contributor: American Museum of Natural History Library

Language: English

Rights: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/permissions

Rights-holder: American Museum of Natural History Library

Volume: no. 2775

28 p. : 26 cm

The snakes known from the Huon Peninsula (from the longitude of Lae eastward) are listed and discussed, mainly on the basis of spcimens collected by the Seventh Archbold Expedition but using other collections as well. The taxonomy of the genus Dendralaphis in the Australian region is discussed and the following species are recognized: D. punctulatus (including D. lineolatus); d. calligastra, D. salomonis, D. lorentzi, D. papuensis (these four have usually been regarded as conspecific); and D. gastrostictus (including D. meeki); hemipenial morphology, dentition, and braincase form are used for discriminating the species. A misidentification of Typhlops inornatus as Ramphotyphlops flaviventer is corrected. The snake fauna, like the frog and lizard faunas previously discussed by Zweifel, is most easily explained as the result of dispersal to a Pliocene island that became joined (probably in the Pleistocene) to the New Guinea mainland, with a lowland fauna occupying this zone of juncture. Little, if any, endemicity is indicated for the Huon snake fauna and there is no special resemblance to the snake fauna of nearby New Britain and Umboi"--P. [1]

Title from caption

"January 27, 1984."

"Represents a long-delayed report on the snakes collected by the Seventh Archbold Expedition ... with particular attention to the region of Mt. Rawlinson."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-28)

Abstract: The snakes known from the Huon Peninsula (from the longitude of Lae eastward) are listed and discussed, mainly on the basis of spcimens collected by the Seventh Archbold Expedition but using other collections as well. The taxonomy of the genus Dendralaphis in the Australian region is discussed and the following species are recognized: D. punctulatus (including D. lineolatus); d. calligastra, D. salomonis, D. lorentzi, D. papuensis (these four have usually been regarded as conspecific); and D. gastrostictus (including D. meeki); hemipenial morphology, dentition, and braincase form are used for discriminating the species. A misidentification of Typhlops inornatus as Ramphotyphlops flaviventer is corrected. The snake fauna, like the frog and lizard faunas previously discussed by Zweifel, is most easily explained as the result of dispersal to a Pliocene island that became joined (probably in the Pleistocene) to the New Guinea mainland, with a lowland fauna occupying this zone of juncture. Little, if any, endemicity is indicated for the Huon snake fauna and there is no special resemblance to the snake fauna of nearby New Britain and Umboi'--P. [1].