Uropeltis macrorhyncha

Last updated

Uropeltis macrorhyncha
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Uropeltis
Species:
U. macrorhyncha
Binomial name
Uropeltis macrorhyncha
(Beddome, 1877)
Synonyms [2]
  • Silybura macrorhyncha
    Beddome, 1877
  • Silybura macrorhynchus
    — Boulenger, 1893
  • Uropeltis macrorhynchus
    — M.A. Smith, 1943
  • Uropeltis (Siluboura) macrorhynchus
    — Mahendra, 1984
  • Uropeltis macrorhyncha
    — Das, 1996
Common names: Anaimalai earth snake, Anamally earth snake, Ponachi shieldtail

Uropeltis macrorhyncha is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid. [3]

Contents

Geographic range

U. macrorhyncha is found in southern India in the Western Ghats: Anaimalai Hills, Madura District.

The type locality given is "Anamullay Mountains, 4,000 feet elevation."

Also, Beddome, 1886, gives a type locality of "Anamallays, dense forests above Ponachi, at an elevation of 4000 feet. [2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of U. macrorhyncha is forest, at an altitude of about 1,200 m (3,900 ft). [1]

Description

The dorsum of U. macrorhyncha is brown. There is a yellow streak from the mouth along each side of the neck. There is a yellow streak on each side of the tail, connected by a yellow crossbar across the vent. The venter is brown mixed with yellow.

The type specimen is 57 cm (22+1⁄2 in) in total length (including tail).

The dorsal scales are in 19 rows behind the head, in 17 rows at midbody. The type specimen, a female, has 213 ventrals, and 6 subcaudals.

The snout is acutely pointed, strongly projecting. The rostral is strongly laterally compressed, keeled above, ½ the length of the shielded part of the head. The nasals are narrowly in contact behind the rostral. The frontal is as broad as long. The eye is very small, less than ⅓ the length of the ocular shield. The diameter of body goes 38 times into the total length. The ventrals are slightly less than two times as large as the contiguous scales. The end of the tail is subtruncate, the keeled dorsal portion small and rather flat, the scales with 3-5 strong keels. The terminal scute has two points. [4]

Reproduction

U. macrorhyncha is ovoviviparous. [5]

Related Research Articles

Uropeltis beddomii, commonly known as Beddome's earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

Uropeltis broughami, commonly known as Brougham's earth snake or the Sirumalai shieldtail, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats in southern India.

Uropeltis ceylanica is a species of nonvenomous shieldtail snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. No subspecies are currently recognized as being valid, but the presence of several synonyms, many recently resurrected, calls for further taxonomic studies of this species complex. It is a burrowing snake with a pointy head equipped to penetrate the soil. It has a thick tail which looks as if it has been cut at an angle. In Kerala it's called iru thala moori, which means two headed organism, as the tail end looks like another head. It primarily eats earth worms.

Uropeltis dindigalensis, commonly known as the Dindigul uropeltis and the Sirumalai Hills earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to Sirumalai and surrounding hill ranges of the southern Eastern Ghats, in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu state in South India.

<i>Uropeltis ellioti</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis ellioti, commonly known as Elliot's earth snake and Elliot's shieldtail, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

Uropeltis liura, commonly known as the Ashambu shieldtail and Günther's earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

<i>Uropeltis macrolepis</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis macrolepis, commonly known as the Bombay earth snake, the Bombay shieldtail, and the large-scaled shieldtail, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to southern India. There are two recognized subspecies.

<i>Uropeltis maculata</i> Species of snake found in India

Uropeltis maculata, also known commonly as the spotted earth snake and the spotted shieldtail, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to southern India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.

Uropeltis myhendrae, commonly known as Boulenger's earth snake, the Mahendragiri earth snake, and the Myhendra Mountain uropeltis, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

Uropeltis nitida is a species of nonvenomous shieldtail snake. The species is endemic to southern India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.

Uropeltis ocellata is a species of non-venomous shieldtail snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is indigenous to southern India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.

Uropeltis petersi, commonly known as Peter's earth snake, Peters' shieldtail, and the shieldtail earth snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

<i>Uropeltis phipsonii</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis phipsonii, commonly known as Phipson's earth snake and Phipson's shieldtail, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

<i>Uropeltis pulneyensis</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis pulneyensis, commonly known as the Indian earth snake and the Palni shieldtail, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India.

Uropeltis rubrolineata is a species of nonvenomous shieldtail snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to southern India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.

<i>Uropeltis rubromaculata</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis rubromaculata is a species of nonvenomous shieldtail snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to southern India. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.

Smith's earth snake, also known commonly as the violet shieldtail, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

<i>Uropeltis woodmasoni</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis woodmasoni, commonly known as Wood-Mason's earth snake or Woodmason's earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.

<i>Uropeltis shorttii</i> Species of snake

Uropeltis shorttii, also known commonly as the Shevaroy Hills earth snake and Shortt's shieldtail snake, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats of India. This species was first described as Silybura shorttii by British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome in 1863. It is found only in the Shevaroy Hills of Salem district in Tamil Nadu state in South India. For a long time, this species was misclassified into Uropeltis ceylanica, a snake endemic to the Western Ghats, till a recent taxonomic study proved it to be a distinct species with a very narrow geographic range. It is a burrowing snake, presumed to be nocturnal, feeding on soft-bodied worms. It becomes active during the rains. U. shorttii has most recently been assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2019, and is listed as "Critically Endangered" under criteria B1ab(iii).

<i>Uropeltis madurensis</i> Species of reptile

Uropeltis madurensis, also known commonly as the Madura earth snake and the Madurai shieldtail, is an endangered species of small, fossorial, nonvenomous snake of the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.

References

  1. 1 2 Srinivasulu, C.; Srinivasulu, B.; Ganesan, S.R.; Vijayakumar, S.P. (2013). "Uropeltis macrorhynchus ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . IUCN. 2013: e.T172667A1363050. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T172667A1363050.en . Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN   1-893777-00-6 (series), ISBN   1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. ↑ "Uropeltis macrorhyncha". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 2 September 2007.
  4. ↑ Boulenger, G.A. (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Uropeltidæ .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Silybura macrorhynchus, p. 153, Plate VIII, figure 1).
  5. ↑ "Uropeltis macrorhyncha". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.