Uncertain species:

Ophisops agarwali  PATEL & VYAS, 2020

Common names:

Agarwal’s snake-eye (English)

Types:

Holotype: BNHS 2750, adult female, collected by Raju Vyas on 30 April 2000.

Terra Typica:

Plateau near Bhuvero (22.528250, 74.131611; ca. 630 m a.s.l.), Ratanmahal, Dahod district, Gujarat, India.

Taxonomic notes:

This species was described from a single female specimen collected in 2000 from a plateau in Dahod district in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The authors (PATEL & VYAS) found no surviving population at the type locality or in the surrounding area. This suggests that Ophisops agarwali already be extinct.

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Patel, H. & Vyas, R. (2020) -  Lost before being recognized? A new species of the genus Ophisops (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Gujarat, India. -  Ecologica Montenegrina, 35: 31-44.     

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  A new species of the lacertid genus Ophisops is described based on a single female specimen from a plateau in the Dahod district, Gujarat state, western India. The new species is diagnosable by the following suite of characters: a small-sized Ophisops (adult, snout to vent length 40.8 mm); two frontonasals; prefrontals not in contact; enlarged tympanic scale absent; 30 scales around mid-body; 19 lamellae underneath the fourth toe; five chin shields, first two in contact medially; 15 gular scales between symphysis of chin shields and ventral plates; large mental scale, extending beyond second supralabial; females with 9 femoral pores on either side interrupted by three poreless scales. The new species, Ophisops agarwali sp. nov. is the fourth endemic species of reptile described in last 12 years from the state of Gujarat and highlights the rich and unique diversity of this understudied region. The single known specimen of the new species was collected nearly two decades ago and recent surveys by the authors at the type locality and surrounding areas failed to yield a surviving population which reflects the possibility that Ophisops agarwali sp. nov. may have been lost before any understanding could be gained about its existence or identity. The study emphasises dire need for proper taxonomic documentation of animals from poorly studied regions in India.