A revision of the taxonomy of Dendrelaphis caudolineatus (Gray, 1834) (Serpentes: Colubridae) Author Rooijen, Johan Van Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis, P. O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands & Tulpentuin 313, 2272 EH, Voorburg, The Netherlands j1.van.rooijen@hetnet.nl Author Vogel, Gernot Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology, Im Sand 3, D- 69115 Heidelberg, Germany Gernot.Vogel@t-online.de text Zootaxa 2012 2012-04-19 3272 1 25 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.3272.1.1 02e53dfe-221c-4c20-aa11-82fc7e6e5318 1175-5326 215455 Dendrelaphis levitoni sp.nov. Fig. 9 . Dendrelaphis caudolineatus , Boulenger 1894 , p. 90 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus , Griffin 1909b , p. 598 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus , Griffin 1911 , p. 261 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus , Taylor, 1922 , p. 172 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus , Meise & Hennig, 1932 , p. 282 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus , Leviton, 1963 , p. 378 , 401 Dendrelaphis caudolineatus caudolineatus , Leviton, 1968 , p. 382 –385 Holotype . CAS 15803, adult female from “ Puerto Princesa , Palawan , P.I.”; collector A. Seale ; collected 6 July 1908 ( Fig. 9 ) Paratypes . ZMA 21570, Philippines (Palawan); BMNH 1894.6.30.48, Palawan, collected by Everett; SMF 74464, Bataraza, collected by M. Gaulke; USNM 158273, Initiam, collected by Thomson; USNM 158276, Puerto Princesa, collected by Kuntz. Description. A species of the Dendrelaphis caudolineatus group, characterized by the combination of: 1) black longitudinal stripes along the entire length of the body, 8 stripes at midbody; 2) a pale ventrolateral stripe along the entire length of the body; 3) a black postocular stripe which extends onto the neck where it becomes one the upper longitudinal stripe that borders the pale ventrolateral line; 4) 175–181 ventrals (males), 180–189 ventrals (females); 5) 101–116 divided subcaudals; 6) relative tail-length 0.250–0.285; 7) 4–6 temporal scales on each side; 8) 9–11 infralabials on each side; 9) 4–5 scales touching the posterior borders of the parietal scales; 10) maximum total length males 81.5 cm , females 130.5 cm . FIGURE 9. Dendrelaphis levitoni sp. nov. , adult from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, holotype (CAS 15803; TL 98.0 cm.). Description of holotype . Adult female; SVL 70.0 cm; TAIL 28.0 cm; 182 ventral scales; 109 subcaudal scales; anal shield divided; dorsal scales in 13-13-11 rows; 9 supralabials, supralabials 5 and 6 touch the eye; 10 infralalabials, infralabials 6 and 7 touch the first sublabial; infralabials 1–5 touch first chinshield, infralabials 5,6 touch second chinshield; 2 postoculars; temporal formula 3:1:2; vertebral scales not enlarged; eye-diameter 4.9 mm /5.0 mm; eye-nostril distance 4.6 mm / 4.7 mm ; snout-width 5.1 mm ; posterior edge of the parietal scales touched by 4 scales; head-length 24 mm ; ground-color olive-brown; supralabials, chin and throat yellow; venter light-yellow; top of head covered with irregularly spaced, irregularly shaped dark spots; postocular stripe covers nearly half of temporal region, extends onto neck, runs along length of body as a dark stripe; 6 black stripes anteriorly, 8 black stripes at midbody reducing to 6 black stripes before tail; lower two black stripes enclose pale ventrolateral line which covers the upper half of the first dorsal row and lower half of the second dorsal row; black stripe on underside of tail. Variation. A summary of the morphological and coloration characters of the types is given in Table 5 . Sexual dimorphism . On average, males have 177 ventral scales whereas females have 184 ventral scales (F = 5.4; df = 1; p = 0.05). Females grow larger than males (see description). Distribution . Dendrelaphis levitoni sp. nov. inhabits the Philippine islands of Palawan, Balabac and Candaraman. Etymology . This species is named after A. E. Leviton in honour of his extensive work on the Philippine snakes.