Uropeltis ellioti

Uropeltis ellioti
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Uropeltis
Species: U. ellioti
Binomial name
Uropeltis ellioti
(Gray, 1858)
Synonyms
  • Siloboura ellioti Gray, 1858
  • Silybura ellioti — Günther, 1864
  • Silybura punctata Günther, 1875
  • Silybura ellioti — Boulenger, 1893
  • Uropeltis ellioti
    — M.A. Smith, 1943[2]

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

Etymology

The specific name or epithet, ellioti, is in honor of Scottish naturalist Walter Elliot.[3][4][5]

Geographic range

U. ellioti is found in southern India (Hills of Peninsular India. Western Ghats south of the Goa Gap to Tinnevelly. Eastern Ghats: Shevaroys, Coimbatore district, South Arcot, Jalarpet, Vizagapatam district, Ganjam).

Type locality of Siloboura ellioti = "Madras".

Type locality of Silybura punctata = "Pulney hills, Golcondah hills".

Description

Dorsum dark brown, either uniform or with yellow dots. A yellow stripe on each side of the neck, and a yellow stripe on each side of the tail. Ventrum dark brown with small yellow dots, and a yellow transverse bar across the vent, which connects the stripes on the sides of the tail.

Adults may attain a total length (including tail) of 24 cm (9 1⁄2 in).

Dorsal scales in 19 rows behind the head, in 17 rows at midbody. Ventrals 144-172; subcaudals 6-10.

Snout pointed. Rostral about ⅓ the length of the shielded part of the head, the portion visible from above longer than its distance from the frontal. Nasals in contact with each other behind the rostral. Eye very small, less than half the length of the ocular shield. Diameter of the body 25 to 32 times in the total length. Ventrals nearly twice as large as the contiguous scales. End of tail convex or somewhat flattened dorsally. Dorsal scales of tail with 3 to 6 strong keels. Terminal scute with a transverse ridge and two points.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Srinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B, Giri V, Mohapatra P, Agarwal I (2013). "Uropeltis ellioti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Uropeltis ellioti ".The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. ↑ Gray JE. 1858. On a New Genus and several New Species of Uropeltidæ, in the Collection of the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1858: 260-265.
  4. 1 2 Boulenger GA. 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 ellioti, pp. 154-155).
  5. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Uropeltis ellioti, p. 82).

Further reading

  • Beddome RH. 1886. An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Series 5, 17: 3-33.
  • Gray JE. 1858. On a New Genus and several New Species of Uropeltidæ, in the Collection of the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1858: 260-265.
  • Gray JE. 1858. On a New Genus and several New Species of Uropeltidæ, in the Collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Series 3, 2: 376-381.
  • Günther A. 1875. Second Report on Collections of Indian Reptiles obtained by the British Museum. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1875: 224-234.
  • Kannan P, Bhupathy S. 1997. Occurrence of the Elliot's Shieldtail snake (Uropeltis ellioti ) in Anaikatty Hills, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Cobra 28: 34-35.
  • Mukherjee, Debanik; Bhupathy, Subramanian. 2004. "Uropeltis ellioti in the diet of Naja naja ". Hamadryad 28 (1 & 2): 109-110.
  • Smith MA. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Uropeltis ellioti, pp. 75–76).
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