Smithophis Explained

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 of Smithophis

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

• Smithophis arunachalensis ^[4] – Arunachal rain snake, black and yellow smithophis
• Smithophis atemporalis – Mizo rain snake, narrow-headed smithophis
• Smithophis bicolor – brown trapezoid snake, two-colored forest snake
• Smithophis linearis – Jingpo mountain stream snake, lined smithophis
• Smithophis mizoramensis ^[5] - Mizoram rain snake.

Nota bene

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

Notes and 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. en. 4603. 2. 241–264. 10.11646/zootaxa.4603.2.2. 31717226. 1175-5334. 10141/622621. 165049846 . free.
2. News: 2019-11-05. New species 'pit viper snake' spotted in Arunachal. Nagaland Post. 2021-12-27.
3. . 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. 10.11646/zootaxa.4860.2.8. 33056167 . 222841573 . 1175-5334.
5. Zeeshan A. Mirza, Virender K. Bhardwaj, Jote Chawntual Lalmuanawma, Girish Choure, Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Mathipi Vabeiryureilai, Ashok Captain, Akshay Zagade and Harshil Patel. 2024. A New Species of Smithophis Giri et al. 2019 from the Indo-Burma Region. Diversity. 16(8); 480. DOI:doi.org/10.3390/d16080480 mdpi.com/2903710