Melanophidium wynaudense
{{Short description|Species of snake}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Melanophidium wynaudense.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Melanophidium
| species = wynaudense
| authority = (Beddome, 1863)
| synonyms = *Plectrurus wynaudensis
{{small|Beddome, 1863}}
- Plectrurus wynandensis [sic]
{{small|Beddome, 1863}} (ex errore) - Melanophidium wynandense
{{small|— Günther, 1864}} - Melanophidium wynadense [sic]
{{small|Boulenger, 1893}} (ex errore) - Melanophidium wynaudense
{{small|— M.A. Smith, 1943}} - Melanophidium wyandense [sic]
{{small|E.E. Williams, 1959}} (ex errore) - Melanophidium wynaudense
{{small|— McDiarmid et al., 1999}}
| synonyms_ref =Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Uropeltidæ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. ("Melanophidium wynadense [sic]", p. 163)."Melanophidium wynaudense ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
}}
Melanophidium wynaudense, commonly known as the Indian black earth snake, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to India.
Geographic range
M. wynaudense is found in the Western Ghats of southern India.
Type locality: "Cherambady in the Wynaud [= Wayanad]".
Description
Beddome (1864: 180) described M. wynaudense as follows:
"Scales round the body 15, round the neck 16 or 17; rostral scarcely produced back between the nasals; no supraorbital; muzzle more obtuse than in P. perrotteti; eye small; subcaudals 11 pairs; anal large, bifid; tail compressed; scales smooth, terminal spinose, tail ending in a single horny point.
Colour bluish black, with broad white blotches on the belly, which become larger and more numerous towards the tail; tail uniform bluish black."
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- Beddome RH (1863). "Descriptions of New Species of the Family Uropeltidæ from Southern India, with Notes on other little-known Species". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863: 225-229 + Plates XXV-XXVII.
- Beddome RH (1863). "Further Notes upon the Snakes of the Madras Presidency; with some Descriptions of New Species". Madras Quart. J. Med. Sci. 6: 41-48. (Plectrurus wynaudensis, new species). [Reprint: (1940). J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London 1 (10): 306-314.]
- Beddome RH (1864). "Descriptions of New Species of the Family Uropeltidæ from Southern India, with Notes on other little-known Species". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Third Series 13: 177-180.
- Beddome RH (1886). "An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Fifth Series 17: 3-33.
- Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. ("Melanophidium wynadense [sic]", p. 272).
- Günther ACLG (1864). The Reptiles of British India. London: The Ray Society. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xxvii + 452 pp. + Plates I-XXVI. ("Melanophidium wynandense [sic]", p. 194 + Plate XVII, figures I & I').
- Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Melanophidium wynaudense, p. 67).
{{refend}}
External links
- {{NRDB species|genus=Melanophidium|species=wynaudense|date=13 December|year=2007}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q3007330}}
Category:Reptiles described in 1863
{{Alethinophidia-stub}}