The Moluccan short-tailed snakes of the genus Brachyorrhos Kuhl (Squamata: Serpentes: Homalopsidae), and the status of Calamophis Meyer

Abstract

Brachyorrhos Kuhl represents a terrestrial, fangless, vermivorous clade of the Homalopsidae. Most recent discussions of the genus consider it to contain two species, Coluber albus Linnaeus and Calamophis jobiensis Meyer. These poorly known snakes have had a deeply intertwined and confused nomenclatural history. Here we review Brachyorrhos, and fi nd that B. albus is restricted to Seram and Ambon, but may be present on other nearby islands in the Seram group; Rabdion gastrotaenia Bleeker (from Buru) is assigned to the genus Brachyorrhos, and Atractocephalus raffrayi Sauvage (from Ternate) is also assigned to the same genus. The species on Halmahera is described and named B. wallacei. Meyer’s genus Calamophis is resurrected for jobiensis and its undescribed relatives, which are endemic to the Bird’s Head region of Western Papua and Yapen Island. Brachyorrhos species are endemic to the Moluccas and possibly the surrounding area in eastern Indonesia; Calamophis also appears to belong to the Homalopsidae.