Suborder Serpentes Phylum Chordata Rank Species | Subphylum Vertebrata Scientific name Melanophidium bilineatum Higher classification Melanophidium Order Scaled reptiles | |
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Similar Melanophidium, Plectrurus guentheri, Teretrurus, Plectrurus, Uropeltis pulneyensis | ||
Melanophidium bilineatum, commonly known as the two-lined black shieldtail or iridescent shieldtail, is a species of snake endemic to India. This species was known from only from three specimens and very little information is available of it in the wild.
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Geographic range
It is found in Wayanad, which is situated in the Western Ghats in southern India. It is mostly found in the southern Pakistan.These species are found in Gwadar as wild and some are found in Hingol National Park.The species was described from specimens obtained by Richard Henry Beddome from near the summit of the Periya peak in Wayanad, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet, and also at a similar elevation on the Tirrhioot peak. (West of Manatoddy according to M. A. Smith 1943)
Description
The diameter of eye one-fourth the length of the ocular shield, and the ventrals a little broader, twice as broad as the adjacent scales: ventrals 188-200; caudals 15-17. Tail as in the young of Melanophidium punctatum. Iridescent black above and below; the two colours separated by a broad, yellow stripe along scale row 2 and the adjacent halves of rows 1 and 3; it may or may not have a series of small black dots.