| Indian egg-eating snake | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Colubrinae |
| Genus: | Elachistodon |
| Species: | E. westermanni |
| Binomial name | |
| Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 |
|
The Indian egg-eating snake (Elachistodon westermanni) is a rare species of egg-eating snake found in the Indian subcontinent. It is also called Westermann's snake, reflecting its scientific name. The snake belongs to the monotypic genus Elachistodon.
Contents |
It is found in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Recent discoveries of the species from Maharashtra and Gujarat[1][2] It was thought that the species is extinct in 1969 A.D.and enlisted in Red Data Book. But Firstly rediscovered By Central Indian Herpetologist Ashahar Khan, at Amravati district in Maharashtra state in 2004. He wrote 200 pages of scientific thesis on it which includes its anatomical, morphological and various significant research.
This species is glossy brown to black, with bluish white flecks posteriorly, and a middorsal creamy stripe from neck to tail tip. The head is brown with a black arrow mark. The ventrals are white with brown dots.
Adults may attain a total length of 78 cm (31 inches), with a tail 11 cm (4¼ inches) long.[3]
It is nocturnal.[4]
Elachistodon westermanni has special adaptations such as a vertebral hypapophysis, a projection of the backbone, that juts into the oesophagus and helps in cracking eggs.[5] The only other snakes that share these egg-eating adaptations are in the genus Dasypeltis found in Africa.