Priyadarsi Girija Sankar Sethy

We describe a new species of the genus Mesalina from Rajasthan, India. The new species is genetically distinct and belongs to the M. watsonana species complex, and differs from all other congeners in a combination of morphological characters, such as 10 upper labials; eight lower labials; two large transparent shields of lower eyelid accompanied with three smaller shields; scales on tibia keeled; ventral plates in eight straight longitudinal series, ventral plates in 30 transverse rows; 34 dorsal granular scales across middle of back; nine collars; five submaxillaries; 24 gulars; four supraoculars; 6-7 supraciliaries; one very large preanal shield surrounded above and at the sides by two rows of smaller scales; 14 femoral pores on each side of the thigh, narrowly separated by 2 scales; 21 lamellae under fourth toe.

We redescribe and illustrate the type specimens of ten taxa of sea snakes of the genera Hydrophis Latreille in Sonnini & Latreille, 1801 and Laticauda Laurenti, 1768 in the collections of the Zoological Survey of India. The specimens comprise holotypes and syntypes of ten synonymous nominal taxa that represent seven valid nominal taxa. We here clarify that one specimen ZSI 8278 is a syntype of Hydrophis dayanus Stoliczka, 1872, not holotype as previously stated. In one case, four holotypes of four nominal taxa are synonyms of the same taxon—Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803. Many of these type specimens are herein first depicted in photographs in a publication.

Based on 85 examined specimens, photographs of living specimens and illustrations published in the literature, we refine the distribution ranges of both Gonyosoma prasinum (Blyth, 1854) and of the recently described species Gonyosoma coeruleum Liu, Hou, Ye Htet Lwin, Wang & Rao, 2021, which was not clearly addressed in its original description. We also redescribe the syntypes of Coluber prasinus Blyth, 1854 and the holotype of Gonyosoma gramineum Günther, 1864, we discuss the status of this latter taxon, and we describe the hemipenial morphology of G. coeruleum.

We present a new record of a little known tree snail Amphidromus sinensis (Benson) from the Similipal Biosphere Reserve in Odisha. It is the first record from the peninsular region of India and is remote from the previously known range. The distribution suggests either dispersal of the species through the Malayan region to northeast India, through Assam hills to Chotta-Nagpur plateau, to further Eastern Ghats, or a spread which took place during the Pleistocene, with the isolated population remaining in the region.