Smithophis

Smithophis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Natricinae
Genus:	Smithophis Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, & Deepak, 2019
Species
5, see text.

Smithophis is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae; the one species that was known prior to 2019 had been classified under the genus Rhabdops, but was removed in the process of erecting the new genus Smithophis. ^[1] The genus is endemic to Asia. It is named for Malcolm Arthur Smith, a British herpetologist who was active in Indian herpetology. ^[2]

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid: ^[3]

• Smithophis arunachalensis Das, Deepak, Captain, Wade & Gower, 2020 ^[4] – Arunachal rain snake, black and yellow smithophis
• Smithophis atemporalis Giri, Gower, Das, Lalremsanga, Lalronunga, Captain, & Deepak, 2019 – Mizo rain snake, narrow-headed smithophis
• Smithophis bicolor (Blyth, 1854) – brown trapezoid snake, two-colored forest snake
• Smithophis linearis Vogel, Chen, Deepak, Gower, Shi, Ding, & Hou, 2020 – Jingpo mountain stream snake, lined smithophis
• Smithophis mizoramensis Mirza, Bhardwaj, Lalmuanawma, Choure, Lalremsanga, Vabeiryureilai, Captain, Zagade & Patel, 2024 – Mizoram rain snake ^[5]

Nota bene : A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Smithophis.

References

1. Deepak, V.; Captain, Ashok; Lalronunga, Samuel; Lalremsanga, H. T.; Das, Abhijit; Gower, David J.; Giri, Varad B. (2019-05-09). "A new genus and species of natricine snake from northeast India". Zootaxa. 4603 (2): 241–264. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4603.2.2. hdl: 10141/622621 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   31717226. S2CID   165049846.
2. "New species 'pit viper snake' spotted in Arunachal". Nagaland Post. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
3. Genus Smithophis at The Reptile Database. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
4. Das, Abhijit; Deepak, V.; Captain, Ashok; Wade, Edward O. Z.; Gower, David J. (2020-10-12). "Description of a new species of Smithophis Giri et al. 2019 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India" . Zootaxa. 4860 (2): 267–283. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4860.2.8. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   33056167. S2CID   222841573.
5. Mirza, Zeeshan A.; Bhardwaj, Virender K.; Lalmuanawma, Jote Chawntual; Choure, Girish; Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte; Vabeiryureilai, Mathipi; Captain, Ashok; Zagade, Akshay; Patel, Harshil (2024-08-07). "A New Species of Smithophis Giri et al. 2019 from the Indo-Burma Region". Diversity. 16 (8): 480. doi: 10.3390/d16080480 . ISSN   1424-2818.