''Lycodon cavernicolus'', also known as Gua Wang Burma wolf snake, is a species of

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

snake found in peninsular

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It was first described in 2014.

Etymology

The species name ''cavernicolus'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''caverna'', which means "cave" and ''cola'' which means "dweller", and means that ''L. cavernicolus'' lives in caves. However, strictly speaking the ending "-colus" is a correctable error, as in Latin -cola as a suffix is a masculine noun and is not declined in compound words.

Phylogeny

''L. cavernicolus'' is a member of the genus ''

Lycodon ''Lycodon'' is a genus of colubrid snakes, commonly known as wolf snakes. The New Latin name ''Lycodon'' is derived from the Greek words λύκος (''lykos'') meaning wolf and οδόν (''odon'') meaning tooth, and refers to the fang-like ant ...

'', a genus of snakes commonly known as wolf snakes. The genus belongs to the snake family

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

, the largest snake family, with member species being found on every continent except Antarctica.

Description

''L. cavernicolus'' has a flat head that is distinct from its neck, with an elongated snout. The nostrils are in the middle of the nasal scale, and large. The eyes are also large, with a vertical, elliptical pupil. The body is somewhat compressed from side to side. A

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

had a total length of 50.8 centimeters. The body is light brown, with bands of a lighter share. 36 bands are on the back and 29 on the tail. The head is the color of the lighter bands. The belly of the snake is beige. Juveniles have bold white markings on a darker brown background. ''L. cavernicolus'' can be differentiated from closely related snakes such as ''

Lycodon ruhstrati ''Lycodon ruhstrati'', also known as Ruhstrat's wolf snake, the mountain wolf snake, or the Formosa wolf snake, is a species of non-venomous colubrid snake found in Taiwan, southern and eastern China, and northern Vietnam. Taxonomy The specifi ...

'' and ''

Lycodon fasciatus ''Lycodon fasciatus'', commonly known as the banded wolf snake, is a species of colubrid snake. Distribution It is found in India (Assam), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Tibet, SW China (from Yunnan and Guangxi to Hubei, northw ...

'' by the presence of an elongated

loreal scale The lore (adj. loreal) is the region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Ornithology In ornithology, the lore is the region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head. This region is sometimes featherles ...

, and either 245 ventral scales in the male or 232 in the female. Juveniles of the species have white bands.

Habitat & ecology

The holotype for ''L. cavernicolus'' was found deep inside a limestone cave. The snake is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

, or egg-laying. It is thought to eat geckos of the genus ''

Cyrtodactylus ''Cyrtodactylus'' (Greek κυρτος ''kurtos'' "curved", from κυπτω ''kuptō'' "to stoop"; δακτυλος ''daktulos'' "finger, toe") is a diverse genus of Asian geckos, commonly known as bent-toed geckos, bow-fingered geckos, and fores ...

.''

Distribution

The holotype for the species, as well as another specimen, were collected in a cave in

Perlis State Park Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces ...

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces o ...

, Malaysia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18012520 cavernicolus Reptiles described in 2014 Snakes of Southeast Asia Reptiles of Malaysia Endemic fauna of Malaysia