Lycodon jara

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Twin-spotted Wolf Snake
Lycodon jara from North Bengal
Lycodon jara from North Bengal
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Lycodon
Species: L. jara
Binomial name
Lycodon jara
(Shaw, 1802)[1]

Twin-spotted Wolf Snake Lycodon jara is a species of snake found in India, Nepal, Java and Bangladesh.

Contents

[edit] Distribution

Scales of Lycodon jara showing the yellow spots which give them their name.
Scales of Lycodon jara showing the yellow spots which give them their name.

This snake is known from Assam, northern Orissa Ganjam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bangladesh, Nepal and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

[edit] Description

Snout much depressed ; eye rather small. Rostral much broader than long, just visible from above ; internasals much shorter than the prefrontals ; frontal as long as or a little shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals ; loreal elongate, not entering the eye ; one pre-ocular ; two post-oculars ; temporals small, 1 + 2 ; 9 or 10 upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye ; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are longer than the posterior. Scales smooth, in 17 rows. Ventrals 167-175, not angulate laterally; anal divided ; subcaudals 56-63, in two rows. Brown above, each scale with two white dots or short longitudinal lines ; labials white ; usually a white collar ; lower surface uniform white.[2]

Total length 16 inches ; tail 2.75 inches.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shaw, G. 1802 General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol.3, part 1 + 2. G. Kearsley, Thomas Davison, London: 313-615
  2. ^ Boulenger, G. A. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.

[edit] Other references

  • Lanza,B. 1999 A new species of Lycodon from the Philippines, with a key to the genus (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). Tropical Zoology 12: 89-104