Xenophidion schaeferi explained

Xenophidion schaeferi, also known commonly as the Malayan spinejaw snake or Schäfer's spiny-jawed snake, is a species of snake in the monotypic family Xenophidiidae. The species is endemic to Malaysia.

Etymology

The specific name, schaeferi is in honor of German herpetologist Christian Schäfer who collected the holotype.^[1]

Geographic range

X. schaeferi is found in the Malaysian state of Selangor, in western Peninsular Malaysia.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of X. schaeferi is forest.

Reproduction

X. schaeferi is oviparous.

DNA sequence divergence of sibling species

In the genus Xenophidion, there is one sister species, X. acanthognathus. Molecular analyses of a new specimen of X. acanthognathus reveal that it only differs from the holotype of X. schaeferi by a minimum sequence divergence of 0.27%.^[2]

Further reading

• Manthey U, Günther R (1995). "Xenophidion, a new genus with two new species of snakes from Malaysia (Serpentes, Colubridae)". Amphibia-Reptilia 16 (3): 229–240. (Xenophidion schaeferi, new species).

Notes and References

1. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Xenophidion schaeferi, p. 234).
2. Quah. Evan S.H.. Grismer. L. Lee. Jetten. Thom. Wood. Perry L. Jr.. Miralles. Aurélien. Sah. Shahrul Anuar Mohd. Guek. Kurt H.P.. Brady. Matthew L.. 2018-06-27. The rediscovery of Schaefer's Spine-jawed Snake (Xenophidion schaeferi Günther & Manthey, 1995) (Serpentes, Xenophidiidae) from Peninsular Malaysia with notes on its variation and the first record of the genus from Sumatra, Indonesia. Zootaxa. 4441. 2. 366–378. 10.11646/zootaxa.4441.2.10. 30314015. 1175-5334.