Stegonotus ayamaru KAISER, O’SHEA & KAISER, 2019
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Stegonotus ayamaru
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Ayamaru Groundsnake |
| Synonym | Stegonotus ayamaru KAISER, O’SHEA & KAISER 2019 |
| Distribution | Indonesia (West Papua) Type locality: “Komara” [Kamro], Aitinyo District, Maybrat Regency, West Papua Province, Indonesia (1.5103°S, 132.3763°E; elevation ca. 140 m; Fig. 1). The type locality is a village of the Ayamaru people inhabiting the central Bird’s Head Peninsula. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: RMNH RENA 31199, an adult male. The specimen was collected in February 1953 by the Reverend Herbert Marcus (1883–1961) and his wife Mieneke Marcus-van den Nieuwenhuizen (1911–2009). In addition to the village name, the original specimen label also gives the local name for the specific collection site as “apan bebach,” but this appears to be a local designation and we were unable to determine its precise locality. In order to determine the detailed locality of the village listed as “Komara,” we located the name on Map SA 53-1 (Army Map Service 1942), the most likely map of the area available to missionaries in the 1950s. On this map, there is a village listed under the name Komara, which we confirmed as the correct locality based on the accounts of the missionaries (Marcus-van den Nieuwenhuizen 2009). The map in Elmberg (1968: Fig. 2) reflects this arrangement and indicates that Komara was a village with school activity, making it a very likely residence for missionaries. This location is now known as Kamro. The initial identification of the specimen as S. batjanensis was done by Dr. Maria S. (“Riet”) Knaap-van Meeuwen (born 1936) in March 1962. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Stegonotus ayamaru appears to be a relatively small-sized (SVL of only known specimen = 493 mm) member of the genus with a relatively long tail (SCR♂ = 0.37). It can be distinguished from all other known Stegonotus by the following combination of characters: (1) rostral extending onto the dorsal part of the head and not intruding into the internasal area, resulting in a relatively long internasal suture (character state: gull wing +; Fig. 3C in Kaiser et al. 2019); (2) area of prefrontals 1.5 times that of the internasals, internasal suture two-thirds the length of the prefrontal suture (Fig. 7A); (3) frontal clearly pentagonal with well-formed corners and a slightly convex anterior suture; (4) AE lies behind the anterior end of frontal (Fig. 7A’); (5) length of frontal equal to that of the parietal suture; (6) PF ( ≥ 90° (Fig. 7A’); (7) AP ( = 135° with lateral ray directed laterally (Fig. 7A’); (8) three temporal scales touching the parietals, the lengths of the two anterior temporals combined equaling the length of the posterior temporal, temporal formula 2+2+3; (9) three neck scales contacting parietals (10) loreal two-thirds as long as wide; (11) a single preocular with dimensions similar to those of the loreal, curving around the anterior border of the eye (Fig. 5B’); (12) seven supralabials, three (SL3–5) touching the eye; SL5 projecting forward from behind the eye to form a narrow contact zone with the eye (Figs. 5B, B’, 6A’); (13) eight infralabials, four (IL1–4) touching the anterior genial, two-thirds of IL4 in contact with the anterior genial (Fig. 5D’); (14) four chin scales separating the posterior genial and the anteriormost gastrostege; (15) 17-17-15 dorsals; 181 ventrals, 105 paired subcaudals; (16) cloacal plate entire; (17) color in preservative (65 years post-collection): dorsum Maroon (29) fading laterally to Hazel (26), head Maroon with areas on the frontal and parietals that are a lighter color (Hazel); nasals Light Buff (2) with some darker areas (Hazel); venter Light Buff (Figs. 4, 5). On the ventral surface, the anterior to medial portions of the subcaudals are Hazel, creating a dark tail (Fig. 4C in Kaiser et al. 2019, as all figure references in this section). |
| Comment | Habitat: lowland primary rainforest Only known from the holotype. |
| Etymology | The species name ayamaru is a noun in apposition. It references the Ayamaru people of Maybrat Regency, West Papua, Indonesian New Guinea and their homonymic language. Kaiser et al. 2019 selected this name not only to indicate the type locality but also to highlight the Ayamaru people’s struggle to protect their forests and waterways from exploitation. The Ayamaru Lakes are a case in point. One of the several endemic fishes in the lake (Melanotaenia boesemani) has been over-collected and is currently listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Allen 1996). West Papua was recently declared a conservation province (Anonymous 2018), and it is hoped that this will have a long-term, positive effect on regional development. |
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