Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Vertebrata Suborder Serpentes Higher classification Platyplectrurus | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Family Uropeltidae Rank Species | |
Scientific name Platyplectrurus trilineatus Similar Plectrurus guentheri, Uropeltis pulneyensis, Rhinophis sanguineus, Plectrurus perrotetii | ||
Platyplectrurus trilineatus, commonly known as the lined thorntail snake, is a species of uropeltid snake endemic to southern India.
Contents
Geographic range
It is found in southern India in the southern Western Ghats.
Type locality of Plectrurus trilineatus: "Anamally forests; elevation 4,000 feet".
Type locality of Platyplectrurus bilineatus: "Madura Hills".
Description
Adults are reddish brown or brick-red dorsally, with three black stripes, which may be either continuous or interrupted.
The young are dark brown or black dorsally, with two or more narrow yellowish stripes, yellowish ventrally, with a brown dot on each ventral scale. Juveniles also have yellowish transverse markings behind the shielded part of the head, which may resemble an incomplete collar.
Adults may attain a total length of 40 cm (15 3⁄4 in).
Dorsal scales arranged in 15 rows at midbody (in 17 rows behind the head). Ventrals 163-175; subcaudals 8-16.
Snout broadly rounded. Rostral small, but visible from above. Frontal longer than broad. Supraocular much larger than the eye, longer than the prefrontal. One elongated temporal, which is 2/3 or 3/5 the length of the parietal. Ventrals nearly two times as broad as the contiguous scales. Dorsal scales of the tail smooth or a few of the terminal ones weakly bicarinate or tricarinate. Terminal scute with a transverse ridge which is less distinct in females.