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Short Communication: First record of the Genus Calamaria (Squamata: Colubridae: Calamariinae) from Karimunjawa Island, Indonesia: Morphology and systematic
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Sidik I, Subasli DR, Sumitro SB, Widodo N, Kurniawan N. 2018. Short Communication: First record of the Genus Calamaria (Squamata: Colubridae: Calamariinae) from Karimunjawa Island, Indonesia: Morphology and systematic. Biodiversitas 19: 912-917. We present the first record of the Genus Calamaria from Karimunjawa Island, Central Java, Indonesia based on an unfathomable single specimen collected in the coastal forest of Legon Moto. Morphological characters analysis revealed the specimen as Calamaria melanota. This finding unravels the extent of the species distribution which was previously thought to be restricted in Borneo, representing the southernmost record of this species. The examined specimen is described in detail and meticulously compared with other Calamaria species such as C. battersbyi, C. borneensis, C. linnaei. Our study highlights several characteristic differences between the specimen and the holotype of C. melanota.
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The ‘suppression’ (invalidation) for nomenclatural purposes by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature of the work Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes Ovipares et des Serpens first published by La Cepède from 1788 to 1790 brought no benefit of any kind to zoological taxonomy and nomenclature but generated several nomenclatural problems. Here we review the history of the many discussions and proposals, as well as the successive and contradictory decisions of the Commission, regarding this work and the new nomina it contains, and we make new proposals to solve some of the problems created by these decisions. We suggest the Commission should take the initiative to restore nomenclatural availability to 18 nomina of La Cepède invalidated or of unclear status following its previous actions. More generally, we think that the use of the Plenary Power by the Commission should be more strictly regulated and made less easy and straightforward, and that the whole invalidation of complete works that have been considered as nomenclaturally available for a very long time in many works (e.g., 100 works in the 100 immediately preceding years) should be forbidden, and that the Commission should rather concentrate its attention and action on nomina rather than on works. Besides, we show that the snake nomen Coluber trigonocephalus Donndorff, 1798, currently considered valid, is invalid, and should be replaced by the nomen Coluber capitetriangulatus Bonnaterre, 1790.
The ‘suppression’ (invalidation) for nomenclatural purposes by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature of the work Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes Ovipares et des Serpens first published by La Cepède from 1788 to 1790 brought no benefit of any kind to zoological taxonomy and nomenclature but generated several nomenclatural problems. Here we review the history of the many discussions and proposals, as well as the successive and contradictory decisions of the Commission, regarding this work and the new nomina it contains, and we make new proposals to
solve some of the problems created by these decisions. We suggest the Commission should take the initiative to restore nomenclatural availability to 18 nomina of La Cepède invalidated or of unclear status following its previous actions. More generally, we think that the use of the Plenary Power by the Commission should be more strictly regulated and made less easy and straightforward, and that the whole invalidation of complete works that have been considered as nomenclaturally available for a very long time in many works (e.g., 100 works in the 100 immediately preceding years) should be
forbidden, and that the Commission should rather concentrate its attention and action on nomina rather than on works. Besides, we show that the snake nomen Coluber trigonocephalus Donndorff, 1798, currently considered valid, is invalid, and should be replaced by the nomen Coluber capitetriangulatus Bonnaterre, 1790.
Java is one of Indonesia’s most densely populated islands with many long-neglected environmental issues, including snake envenomation and biodiversity decline. In an effort to promote snake conservation and mitigate human-snake encounters, particularly those resulting in snakebite, we here provide information on the composition, distribution, and habitat types of snakes on Java based on a 2013–2019 survey. A total of 54 snake species from 12 families were encountered. Our surveys indicate that several species, some venomous, inhabit human-populated areas. The likelihood of conflict between humans and snakes is primarily caused by the proximity of snake habitat to urbanized areas, resulting in high levels of human-snake interactions. We suggest that research should be prioritized on synergistic survey efforts, not only to elucidate the diversity and distribution of snakes on Java, but also to aid in efforts to avoid snakebite, produce suitable antivenoms, and promote snake conservation.
Wader surveys were carried out between December 2007 and December 2013 covering eight areas in Karimunjawa National Park, Central Java, Indonesia. As a result, 23 wader species were recorded, with 10 new records for the park. Terusan on Kemujan Island is an intertidal area of approximately 10 hectares and had the highest number of species recorded. In Terusan, there were 17 species recorded with nine species not recorded elsewhere on the park. Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), Grey-tailed Tattler (Heteroscelus brevipes) and Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) were the most common and widespread waders in Karimunjawa National Park. A compilation of all wader species listed for Karimunjawa NP, including historical records, is presented.
The continental core of Southeast (SE) Asia, Sundaland, was assembled from Gondwana fragments by the Early Mesozoic. Continental blocks rifted from Australia in the Jurassic [South West (SW) Borneo, East Java-West Sulawesi-Sumba], and the Woyla intraoceanic arc of Sumatra, were added to Sundaland in the Cretaceous. These fragments probably included emergent areas and could have carried a terrestrial flora and fauna. Sarawak, the offshore Luconia-Dangerous Grounds areas, and Palawan include Asian continental material. These probably represent a wide accretionary zone at the Asia-Pacific boundary, which was an active continental margin until the mid Cretaceous. Subduction ceased around Sundaland in the Late Cretaceous, and from about 80 Ma most of Sundaland was emergent, physically connected to Asia, but separated by deep oceans from India and Australia. India moved rapidly north during the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic but there is no evidence that it made contact with SE Asia prior to collision with Asia. One or more arc-India collisions during the Eocene may have preceded India-Asia collision. The arcs could have provided dispersal pathways from India into SE Asia before final suturing of the two continents. During the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic there was no significant subduction beneath Sumatra, Java and Borneo. At about 45 Ma Australia began to move north, subduction resumed and there was widespread rifting within Sundaland. During the Paleogene east and north Borneo were largely submerged, the Makassar Straits became a wide marine barrier within Sundaland, and West Sulawesi was separated from Sundaland but included land. By the Early Miocene the proto-South China Sea had been eliminated by subduction leading to emergence of land in central Borneo, Sabah and Palawan. Australia-SE Asia collision began, eliminating the former deep ocean separating the two continents, and forming the region now known as Wallacea. The microplate or terrane concept of slicing fragments from New Guinea followed by multiple collisions in Wallacea is implausible. Neogene subduction drove extension and fragmentation of Wallacea that caused both subsidence of deep marine basins and elevation of land; topography and bathymetry changed very rapidly, especially during the Pliocene, but the detailed palaeogeography of this region remains uncertain.
A new species of Eutropis (Sauria: Scincidae) is described from the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, distinguished from all congeneric species, with the exception of Eutropis longicaudis, by its large size and low number of midbody scale rows. It has two primary temporal scales, whereas E. longicaudis from Bomeo has only one. This new species is diurnal, partially arboreal, and inhabits rain forest from below 100 m to at least 600 m elevation.
A new species of reed snake, genus Calamaria, is described from the Banggai Islands off the east coast of Central
Sulawesi, Indonesia. The new species, which is phenotypically similar to C. ceramensis from the central Moluccas, is characterised by the absence of preocular scales, five supralabials (third and fourth entering orbit), five infralabials (the first meet behind the mental), mental scale separated from the anterior chin shields, five scales surrounding the paraparietal, (most probably) seven modified maxillary teeth, a high number of ventral scales, a short, thick tail which is slightly tapering to a point, a single anal plate, as well as by a characteristic colour pattern of a pale brown dorsum dotted with darker spots, a pale collar behind the head, and a pale and dark lateral zigzag pattern along the body. Calamaria banggaiensis sp. nov. represents the fifty-eighth known species of Calamaria and the twelfth species of this genus recorded from the Sulawesi region. The new taxon is the only species of reed snake recorded from the Banggai Islands. It is known only from two adult specimens, a male and a female. For phenotypic comparison with the new species, both syntypes of C. ceramensis de Rooij, 1913, are depicted herein for the first time. An updated key to the Calamaria species of Sulawesi and its satellite islands is presented.
We describe a new species of Calamaria Boie on the basis of a single specimen collected in broadleaved evergreen forest from Gia Lai Province, Central Vietnam. This is a large species (total length of the unique male 457 mm) characterized by rostral wider than high, with portion visible from above more than half of prefrontal suture; paraparietal surrounded by five shields and scales; presence of preocular; four supralabials, of which second and third entering orbit; modified maxillary teeth; five infralabials, of which first three are in contact with anterior chin shield; mental touching anterior chin shields; 3+191 ventrals, single anal scale; 23 divided subcaudal scales; tail relatively short, as thick as body, not tapering, with rounded end (8.1% of the total length); dorsum light greyish brown, with an indistinct dark neck collar and few dark blotches along posterior vertebral region; two pairs of light blotches on tail; venter yellowish beige, with dark outermost corners in each of ventrals and anterior subcaudals. A key to the Vietnamese and Chinese species of Calamaria is provided. Calamaria gialaiensis sp. nov. is the sixth species of Calamaria recorded from Vietnam.
The breakup of Pangea in the Jurassic saw the opening of major ocean basins at the expense of older Tethyan and Pacific oceanic plates. Although the Tethyan seafloor spreading history has been lost to subduction, proxy indicators from multiple generations of Tethyan ribbon terranes, as well as the active margin geological histories of volcanism and ophiolite obduction events can be used to reconstruct these ancient oceanic plates. The plate reconstructions presented in this study reconcile observations from ocean basins and the onshore geological record to provide a regional synthesis, embedded in a global plate motion model, of the India-Eurasia convergence history, the accretionary growth of Southeast Asia and the Tethyan-Pacific tectonic link through the New Guinea margin. The global plate motion model presented in this study captures the time-dependent evolution of plates and their tectonic boundaries since 160 Ma, which are assimilated as surface boundary conditions for numerical experiments of mantle convection. We evaluate subducted slab locations and geometries predicted by forward mantle flow models against P- and S-wave seismic tomography models. This approach harnesses modern plate reconstruction techniques, mantle convection models with imposed one-sided subduction, and constraints from the surface geology to address a number of unresolved Tethyan geodynamic controversies. Our synthesis reveals that north-dipping subduction beneath Eurasia in the latest Jurassic consumed the Meso-Tethys, and suggests that northward slab pull opened the younger Neo-Tethyan ocean basin from ~ 155 Ma. We model the rifting of ‘Argoland’, representing the East Java and West Sulawesi continental fragments, as a northward transfer of continental terranes in the latest Jurassic from the northwest Australian shelf – likely colliding first with parts of the Woyla intra-oceanic arc in the mid-Cretaceous, and accreting to the Borneo (Sundaland) core by ~ 80 Ma. The Neo-Tethyan ridge was likely consumed along an intra-oceanic subduction zone south of Eurasia from ~ 105 Ma, leading to a major change in the motion of the Indian Plate by ~ 100 Ma, as observed in the Wharton Basin fracture zone bends. We investigate the geodynamic consequences of long-lived intra-oceanic subduction within the Neo-Tethys, requiring a two-stage India-Eurasia collision involving first contact between Greater India and the Kohistan-Ladakh Arc sometime between ~ 60 and 50 Ma, followed by continent-continent collision from ~ 47 Ma. Our models suggest that the Sunda slab kink beneath northwest Sumatra in the mantle transition zone results from the rotation and extrusion of Indochina from ~ 30 Ma. Our results are also the first to reproduce the enigmatic Proto South China Sea slab beneath northern Borneo, as well as the Tethyan/Woyla slab that is predicted at mid-mantle depths south of Sumatra. Further east, our revised reconstructions of the New Guinea margin, notably the evolution of the Sepik composite terrane and the Maramuni subduction zone, produce a better match with seismic tomography than previous reconstructions, and account for a slab at ~ 30°S beneath Lake Eyre that has been overridden by the northward advancing Australian continent. Our plate reconstructions provide a framework to study changing patterns of oceanic circulation, long-term sea level driven by changes in ocean basin volume, as well as major biogeographic dispersal pathways that have resulted from Gondwana fragmentation and accretion of Tethyan terranes to south- and southeast-Eurasia.
AimWe seek to relate the present distributions of frogs and snakes of Sundaland and the known geological history of the region.LocationFrom the Isthmus of Kra to Java and Sulawesi.Methods
We relate the known ecological requirements of frogs and snakes to their geographical distributions and information on geological history.ResultsMicrohabitat requirements for larvae of various groups of frogs are strong predictors of the breadth of their geographical distributions. At the species level, the frog faunas of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra are the most similar. The Sulawesi frog fauna, mainly derived from Sundaland lineages, shows almost no similarity to the other frog faunas at the species level. The ecological zones occupied by snake species show association with the breadth of their geographical distributions There are only minor differences among similarity ratios for the Malay Peninsula–Sumatran, Malay Peninsula–Borneo, and the Borneo–Sumatra pairs. The Sulawesi snake fauna has distinctly lower similarity with the faunas of the other areas. The similarity ratios between faunas are larger for snakes than for frogs. This difference between the two groups reflects the difference between them in ability to cross salt water barriers, frogs being extremely vulnerable to saline water. Also snakes may establish founder populations more easily as a single gravid female or one carrying stored sperm may introduce a clutch into previously unoccupied territory.ConclusionsA few species of frogs and snakes probably reached their present, almost ubiquitous distributions in Sundaland within the last few millenia or even more recently. Other widely distributed species may have been able to disperse among land masses within Sundaland until 10,000–17,000 yr BP; the frogs of this category are common in environments that almost certainly characterized the exposed area of the South China Sea. The distributions of other frogs common to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo probably antedate the Pleistocene, as their larval development requires hilly topography which was not generally available on the Pleistocene-exposed bed of the South China Sea. Many of the endemic species of frogs and snakes probably owe their origins to events of the Miocene or earlier. Several genera of frogs and one genus of snakes have undergone extensive speciation and display considerable sympatry and elevational stratification of species, suggesting their present distributions are the result of events as old as the Eocene. We have cast these conclusions in the form of hypotheses that can be tested mainly by the use of molecular genetics, but in some cases, by additional field sampling.
Two new Bornean snakes
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Proceeding of the Biological Society of Washington 40: 127-128.