Melanophidium khairei

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Khaire's black shieldtail
Khaire's Black Shieldtail Melanophidium khairei by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN1145 (28).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Tetrapodomorpha
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Melanophidium
Species:M. khairei
Binomial name
Melanophidium khairei
Gower, Giri, Captain & Wilkinson, 2016

Melanophidium khairei or Khaire's black shieldtail is a species of burrowing snake of the family Uropeltidae, endemic to India. [1] [2] [3]

Snake wiggling animal without legs

Snakes are elongated, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. Legless lizards resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal.

The Uropeltidae, the shieldtail or shield-tailed snakes, are a family of primitive, nonvenomous, burrowing snakes endemic to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Greek words ura ("tail") and pelte ("shield"), indicating the presence of the large keratinous shield at the tip of the tail. Seven or eight genera are recognized, depending on whether Teretrurus rhodogaster is treated in its own genus or as part of Brachyophidium. The family comprises over 50 species. These snakes are not well known in terms of their diversity, biology, and natural history.

The species was named after the herpetologist Neelimkumar Khaire. [4] [5]

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References

  1. ↑ "New Species of Shieldtail Snake Discovered in India". Sci-News. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "New snake species discovered in Western Ghats". Zee News . Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Indian, British scientists discover new species of snake in Western Ghats". Mid-day.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "New snake species named after eminent herpetologist Khaire". Daily News and Analysis . Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "New Species Of Burrowing Snake Discovered In Western Ghats". All India Roundup. Retrieved 16 October 2017.


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