| Amphiesma monticola | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Natricinae |
| Genus: | Amphiesma |
| Species: | A. monticola |
| Binomial name | |
| Amphiesma monticola (Jerdon, 1853) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Tropidonotus monticola Jerdon, 1853 |
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Amphiesma monticola is a harmless colubrid snake species found in the Western Ghats of India. They are especially well known from the Kodagu and Wayanad regions of the Western Ghats.
Contents |
Adults are small and slender and found in leaf litter in forest habitats. The head is reddish. The body is brownish with a greenish gloss, while some individuals are bright green.
This species has 19 keeled scale rows at midbody, 133-144 ventrals. The anal scale is divided, and has 78-92 subcaudals. There are 8 supralabials with 3, 4 and 5 touching the eye. There is one preocular scale.[1]
Description from G. A. Boulenger, The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma:
Eye large, its diameter more than its distance from the nostril; rostral just visible from above; suture between the internasals shorter than that between the prefrontals; frontal considerably longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals; loreal as long as deep, or deeper than long; one preocular; three post-oculars; temporals 2+2; upper labials 8, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye; 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are a little shorter than the posterior. Scales in 19 rows, strongly keeled, the outer row smooth or feebly keeled. Ventrals 134-142; anal divided; subcaudals 80-92. Green above, with black cross bands divided on each side by a pale spot; a white line across the head behind the eyes and a white dot on each side of the frontal; pre and postoculars and labials 3 to 6, white; lower parts white. Total length 45 cm (18 inches), tail 14 cm (5½ inches).