Blythia reticulata (Blyth, 1854)

Hakim, Jonathan, Trageser, Scott J., Ghose, Animesh, Rashid, Sheikh Muhammad Abdur & Rahman, Shahriar Caesar, 2020, Amphibians and reptiles from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh, Check List 16 (5), pp. 1239-1268 : 1256

Blythia reticulata (Blyth, 1854)

Material examined. BANGLADESH • 1 adult; Syl- het Division, Moulvibazar District , Kamalganj Upazila, LNP,Srimangal-BhanugachRoad; 24°19.85′N, 091°47.71′ E; 12 Jul. 2011; photo voucher ZRC ( IMG) 2.340 .

Identification. Blythia reticulata is a small snake with dark iridescent scales, head not broader than neck and narrowing towards snout, six supralabials ( III and IV contacting orbit), no loreal or preocular, and 13 midbody scale rows ( Das 2010; Vogel et al. 2017). It was distin- guished from the recently described B. hmuifang Vogel et al., 2017 by its black venter.

Taxonomic notes. Our discovery of B. reticulata in Bangladesh was first noted in Nature Quest (2012), but here we provide a submitted voucher for the first time. The occurrence is 102 km northwest of the closest previous locality in Sihhmui, Mizoram and 104 km south of the locality in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya ( Vogel et al. 2017). Blythia was recently placed in the subfamily Natricinae on the basis of genetic data ( Lalronunga et al. 2020).

Habitat. This highly fossorial snake showed up at times in the roadkill survey but has not yet been encountered alive by us. It was found in both mature and degraded forest.