Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India Author Mallik, Ashok Kumar Author Srikanthan, Achyuthan N. 0000-0003-0570-3330 peltopelor@gmail.com Author Pal, Saunak P. 0000-0002-8267-4708 herps.saunak@gmail.com Author D’Souza, Princia Margaret 0000-0002-2185-2611 princiadsouza777@gmail.com Author Shanker, Kartik 0000-0003-4856-0093 kshanker@gmail.com Author Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan 0000-0002-1947-8093 snakeranglerr@gmail.com text Zootaxa 2020 2020-11-06 4874 1 1 62 journal article 8009 10.11646/zootaxa.4874.1.1 d04aa5ef-c604-457c-92e8-e8c9a88a1eef 1175-5326 4423512 8FF98990-0E47-4BB7-82BB-098F86771271

TABLE 2. Main morphological characters of the Ahaetulla species dealt with in the present work

Species	Ventro lateral stripe	Rostral appendage	Dorsal scale rows	Ventrals	Sub caudals	Maxillary teeth	Colour
A. nasuta	Present	Medium	14:15:13	182	158	12	Green, rarely brown
A. isabellina comb. nov.	Present	Short	15:15:11– 13	167– 183	135– 167	16	Green, rarely brown
A. malabarica sp. nov.	Present	Short	13– 15:15: 9– 13	167– 183	124– 155	13	Green, rarely brown or buff
A. farnsworthi sp. nov.	Present	Short	13– 16:15: 11– 13	167– 177	126– 165	17	Green
A. borealis sp. nov.	Present	Short	15:15:13	174– 181	142– 157	14	Green
A. oxyrhyncha comb. nov.	Present	Long	15:15:13	170– 189	142– 174	14	Green, rarely brown
A. pulverulenta	Absent	Long, multi scaled	15:15:13	179– 193	151– 178	15	Brown
A. sahyadrensis nom. nov.	Absent	Long, multi scaled	13– 15:15: 11– 13	179– 203	162– 208	13	Brown
A. dispar	Present	Absent	15:15:13	139– 159	103– 125	12	Males green, females brown
A. travancorica sp. nov.	Present	Absent	15:15:13	153	130	14	Green
A. perroteti	Present	Absent	15:15:13	140– 149	65– 86	12	Males green, females brown