Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Vertebrata Suborder Serpentes Scientific name Uropeltis myhendrae Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Family Uropeltidae Higher classification Uropeltis | |
Similar Uropeltis pulneyensis, Uropeltis, Plectrurus guentheri | ||
Uropeltis myhendrae, commonly known as Boulenger's earth snake or the Myhendra Mountain Uropeltis, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. It is endemic to India.
Contents
Geographic range
It is found in southern India (Western Ghats south of the Goa Gap; Nilgiris, Travancore; 2,000 - 4,000 feet).
Type locality: "South Travancore, on the Myhendra Mountain", southern India.
Description
Dorsum dark purplish brown, each scale with a yellowish crescent-shaped posterior border. Three or four dark transverse blotches behind the head. Ventrum yellowish, adults with small purplish brown spots, young with large transverse blackish rhomboids.
Adults may attain 33.5 cm (13 1⁄4 in) in total length.
Dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody, in 19 rows behind the head. Ventrals 139-153; subcaudals 7-8.
Snout obtuse. Rostral ¼ to almost ⅓ the length of the shielded part of the head. Portion of the rostral visible from above slightly longer than its distance from the frontal. Nasals narrowly in contact with each other behind the rostral. Frontal slightly longer than broad. Diameter of eye somewhat more than ½ the length of the ocular shield. Diameter of the body 25 to 32 times in the total length. Ventrals two times as wide as the contiguous scales. Tail obliquely truncate, flat dorsally, with strongly bicarinate or strongly tricarinate dorsal scales. Terminal scute with a transverse ridge, indistinctly bicuspid, rounded in the young.