Tropidonotus nicobarensis Sclater, 1891 is a junior synonym of Thamnophis saurita (Linnaeus, 1766) (Squamata: Serpentes: Natricinae) Author Lee, Justin L. 0000-0002-9782-8503 Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 19085 USA. & justinllee @ verizon. net; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9782 - 8503 & Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013 USA Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605014, India. findthesnakeman @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 0626 - 0527 justinllee@verizon.net Author Chandramouli, S. R. 0000-0003-0626-0527 findthesnakeman@gmail.com Author Bauer, Aaron M. 0000-0001-6839-8025 Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 19085 USA. & aaron. bauer @ villanova. edu; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 6839 - 8025 aaron.bauer@villanova.edu text Zootaxa 2023 2023-05-15 5285 1 133 148 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5285.1.5 journal article 58360 10.11646/zootaxa.5285.1.5 dfb7f5aa-08ab-4a26-9e37-cf559c08de4e 1175-5326 7935864 50042611-FB61-444D-A80D-BDF50271768B

TABLE 1. Morphological comparison between the type specimens of Tropidonotus nicobarensis, Prymnomiodon chalceus and literature data based on Thamnophis saurita. Data for Th. saurita originate from Rossman (1963) and Rossman et al. (1996). Data noted with an asterisk indicate the tails in specimens were broken or damaged. Data in parentheses indicate rare occurrences, whereas data in brackets indicate data from literature sources.

Character	Tropidonotus nicobarensis	Prymnomiodon chalceus	Thamnophis saurita
Muzzle Length/Frontal Length	0.510	0.610	usually less than 0.700
Loreal	1/1	1/1	1/1
Preoculars	1/1	1/1	1/1
Postoculars	3/3	3/3	3 (2, 4, 5)
Supralabials	8/7	8/7	7–8 (6, 9)
Supralabials contacting eye	4+5/3+4	4+5/3+4	3+4–4+5
Anterior Temporals	1/1	1/1	1 (2)
Posterior Temporals	2/2	2/2	2 (1, 3, 4)
Infralabials	10/10	9/10	9–10 (7, 8, 11, 12)
Infralabials contating upper chin shields	5/5	4/5	4–5
Anterior dorsal scales	19	19	19 (17, 18)
Midbody dorsal scales	19	19	19 (17, 18)
Posterior dorsal scales	17	17	17 (16)
Ventrals	160	152	143–177
Subcaudals	88 [120] *	24 *	94–136
Cloacal plate	Undivided	Undivided	Undivided
Maxillary teeth	[25 or 24]	31	27–34
Vertebral stripe	Present, dark edges	Present, dark edges	Present, dark edges
Position of lateral stripe	3rd and 4th dorsal scale rows	3rd and 4th dorsal scale rows	3rd, 4th dorsal scale rows
Width of lateral stripes on each dorsal scale	0.5	0.5	0.5
Temporal streak	Present	Present	Present