Morphological variation of Ahaetulla prasina (Boie, 1827) (Squamata: Colubridae) in Indonesia, with an expanded description of the species

Abstract

Since Leviton (1967) argued that genus Ahaetulla needed to extensively review, we started to examine the most common Ahaetulla species in Indonesia, A. prasina. This study aims to explain the morphological variation and analyses pattern of A. prasina population from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi mainland. This study was carried out by manually counting and measuring the characteristics of 64 A. prasina specimens belongs to Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB) collections on 2016. All morphological characters have analysed using PCA, homogeneity test and one way anova test. The results shown there have variation in meristic characters as the adaptation pattern due to environmental condition and sexual dimorphism. In contrast, the morphometric characters shown that there no significant and slightly variation within population in these mainlands. Kalimantan population has larger head size than others and assumed as an adaptation towards its prey. This evidence proved that A. prasina is a snake species which successfully adapt in various environment types.