Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875 )

Pyron, Robert Alexander, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Sayyed, Amit, Sharma, Vivek, Wallach, Van & Somaweera, Ruchira, 2016, A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae), Zoosystema 38 (4), pp. 453-506 : 497

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5252/z2016n4a2

publication LSID

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BFFD82EF-50C9-42BF-8493-DF57591EA4FF

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A82A47-8331-FFA8-FC57-FD00FE987A43

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875 )
status

 

Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875)

Silybura rubrolineata Günther, 1875: 228 View in CoL .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Lectotype: BMNH 1874.4 .29.804 (= 1946.1.15.53) by subsequent designation of Beddome (1886).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Tirunelveli hills, southwestern Tamil Nadu state, India.

DISTRIBUTION. — Known only from the southern Western Ghats of India, in the Anaimalai and Tirunelveli hills of Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, 0-835 m ( Ferguson 1895, 1902; Rajendran 1985; Mc- Diarmid et al. 1999; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total size c. 400 mm, ventrals 165-172, subcaudals 6-9, dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody (see Smith 1943; Gower et al. 2008). Distinctive color-pattern, with a blackish-brown dorsal and ventral coloration, and a bright red stripe along each side, usually c. 2.5 scale-rows wide, beginning on the labials. Tail is Smith’s (1943) state II (our Type V), resembling that of U. ceylanica or U. macrolepis in being sharply truncated at a c. 45° angle, with thickened, enlarged, bi- or tri-carinate shield scales, and terminating in an enlarged, rugose scute with two points. Snout is ambiguous in specimens examined between “Alternate Rounded” and “Alternate Pointed;” the rostral is somewhat recurved viewed laterally, but the snout is not particularly acute viewed from above.

REMARKS

Previous reports from the northern Western Ghats likely refer to other species such as Uropeltis bicatenata (see Gower et al. 2008) or U. phipsonii (see Wallach et al. 2014), based on geographic distribution and color-pattern differences. It is unclear why this species; with 165-172 ventrals, a dark dorsum and distinct red stripe, and geographic range in the southern Western Ghats; has been considered by many authors (e.g., Constable 1949; Gans 1966; Rajendran 1985) to be synonymous with U. phipsonii , which has 138-157 ventrals, a color pattern dominated by yellow bands and speckles, and occurs in the northern Western Ghats. The suggestion appears to have been raised by Constable (1949), but his discussion is difficult to follow and does not address these major, obvious differences. It is possible that U. phipsonii and U. rubrolineata are closely related, but we suggest that they represent two very distinct species.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Uropeltidae

Genus

Uropeltis

Loc

Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875 )

Pyron, Robert Alexander, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Sayyed, Amit, Sharma, Vivek, Wallach, Van & Somaweera, Ruchira 2016
2016
Loc

Silybura rubrolineata Günther, 1875: 228

GUNTHER A. C. L. G. 1875: 228
1875
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