Aspidura

Aspidura
Aspidura trachyprocta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Natricinae
Genus:	Aspidura Wagler, 1830

Aspidura is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the Family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to island of Sri Lanka. Member species are commonly known as rough-sided snakes, except for A. ceylonensis, which is commonly known as the black-spined snake and was formerly in the genus Haplocercus. ^[1] The genus Aspidura comprises nine species, with the latest having been discovered in 2019. ^[2]

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid. ^[1]

• Aspidura brachyorrhos (F. Boie, 1827) – Boie's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura ceylonensis (Günther, 1858) – black-spined snake
• Aspidura copei Günther, 1864 – Cope's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura deraniyagalae Gans & Fetcho, 1982 – Deraniyagala's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura desilvai M. Wickramasinghe, Bandara, Vidanapathirana & N. Wickramasinghe, 2019 – De Silva's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura drummondhayi Boulenger, 1904 – Drummond-Hay's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura guentheri Ferguson, 1876 – Günther's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura ravanai M. Wickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Kandambi, Pyron & N. Wickramasinghe, 2017 – Ravana's rough-sided snake
• Aspidura trachyprocta Cope, 1860 – common rough-sided snake

References

1. Genus Aspidura at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
2. "A New Species of Aspidura Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Sri Pada Sanctuary (Peak Wilderness), Sri Lanka". Novataxa Blogspot. Retrieved 1 November 2017.

Further reading

• Wagler JG (1830). Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugthiere und Vögel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. Munich, Stuttgart and Tübingen: J.G. Cotta. vi + 354 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin). (Aspidura, new genus, p. 191).