Uropeltis ocellatus

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iOcellated Shieldtail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Uropeltidae Genus: Uropeltis Species: U. ocellatus
Binomial name
Uropeltis ocellatus (Beddome, 1863)

Ocellated Shieldtail, Uropeltis ocellatus (or Uropeltis ocellata), is a species of snake.

Description from Beddome (1864): "Rostral pointed and much produced; nasal scutella meeting behind the rostral, and separating it from the frontals; eye very small, obscure, in front of ocular shield; other shields and labials as in the genus; scales round the neck in 18 rows, round the trunk in 17; caudal disk not very clearly defined; scales 2-5-keeled; terminal shield entire, or slightly 2-3-pronged; abdominals 199; subcaudals 8 or 10 pairs, some generally entire. Total length 14.5 inches. Colour of the body of the male yellowish, becoming gradually brown near the head and tail, of the female dull brownish, of the young dark purplish brown; all banded with transverse rows of four or five black-edged white or yellow spots (like eyes), generally rather irregularly placed. Sides of the belly with transverse, very irregular shaped, yellow or white blotches, rarely meeting over the abdominals, and forming a transverse band."

Distribution: South India (Western Ghats south of the Goa Gap; common in the Nilgiri and Anaimalai Hills) Type locality: Walaghat on the Western slopes of the Neilgherries in the dense forests at an elevation of 3,500 feet", India. Type locality: Anamullays, at Nelliamputty, 3000 feet, and at Ponachi, 4500 feet, and on the Bolumputty hills, 2000 feet". [Silybura ochracea Beddome] Type locality: Anamullays at Nelliamputty, 3000 feet". [Silybura dupeni Beddome]

It is also called the "Nilgiri Uropeltis."

[edit] External links

• EMBL reptile database

[edit] References

• Beddome, Richard Henry 1863 Descriptions of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863: 225-229.
• Beddome, Richard Henry 1863 Further notes upon the snakes of the Madras Presidency; with some descriptions of new species. Madras Quart. J. Med. Sci., 6: 41-48 [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 306-314, 1940]
• Beddome,R.H. 1864 Description of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 13: 177-180
• Beddome,R.H. 1878 Description of six new species of snakes of the genus Silybura, family Uropeltidae. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1878: 800-802.
• Beddome,R.H. 1886 An account of the earth snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 17: 3-33.
• Rajendran M V 1979 Uropeltis ocellatus Beddome morphology, ecology and distribution. Recording two subspecies U. ocellatus gansi and U. ocellatus krishnasami. JOURNAL OF MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY SERIES B SCIENCES 8 (1): 97-99,