Uropeltis petersi (Beddome, 1878)

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 : 496

Uropeltis petersi (Beddome, 1878)

Silybura petersi Beddome, 1878a: 154 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Putatively six syntypes: BMNH 1878.1.11.3a-d (= 1946.1.1.7-9 & 1946.1.16.75), and MNHN-RA-1895.80a-b fide Wallach et al. (2014). However, only four (the BMNH specimens) are listed by McDiarmid et al. (1999); the MNHN catalogue lists their specimens as topotypic, and thus they may be part of the BMNH series, gifted from London (suggested by Wallach et al. 2014). See Beddome (1878a).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Forests above Pollachi, Tamil Nadu state, India.

DISTRIBUTION. — India; known with certainty only from the Anaimalai Hill complex South of the Palghat Gap, c. 1220-1700 m ( Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total length c. 190 mm, ventrals 150-180, subcaudals 6-11, dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody (see Smith 1943; Constable 1949). Smith (1943) classified the tail as state III; we agree (our Type III), the specimen examined here resembles U. liura in being slightly compressed, with little distinction of shield scales, being weakly multicarinate, and terminating in an enlarged, projecting, rugose scute. Snout is “Alternate Rounded”. Non-descript color-pattern, with a primarily brown or yellowish-brown dorsum and venter, occasionally with yellowish-white dots, and no tail markings.

REMARK

This species does not seem to have been collected since its description in the late 19th Century based on a lack of published reports, and may be known only from the type series.