Elijah Wostl, Irvan Sidik, Wahyu Trilaksono, Kyle J. Shaney, Nia Kurniawan, Eric N. Smith
The pitviper Trimeresurus (Popeia) toba was described on the basis of slight morphological differences between six specimens collected in northern Sumatra and the other recognized species of Trimeresurus (Popeia) from the Sunda Shelf. In January 2014, we collected two additional specimens of T. (P.) toba from Sumatra and located a third unexamined specimen at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense. We compared molecular and morphological data generated from these specimens with existing data for T. (P.) toba and the other Sunda Shelf Trimeresurus (Popeia). Our findings indicate that T. (P.) toba is indistinguishable from T. (P.) barati, the other species that occurs on Sumatra. Additionally, with the exception of T. (P.) nebularis, all currently recognized species of Trimeresurus (Popeia) from the Sunda Shelf are minimally divergent and the morphological characters used to diagnose the individual species broadly overlap. For these reasons, we conclude that all should be considered a single species, T. (P.) sabahi. © Copyright 2016 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center and Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, United States; Laboratory of Herpetology, Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences-LIPI, Widyasatwa Loka Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor km 46, Cibinong, West Java, Indonesia; Department of Biology, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang, East Java, Indonesia
