Plagiopholis
{{Short description|Genus of snakes}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Plagiopholis
| image = Plagiopholis_styani_Boulenger.jpg
| image_caption = Plagiopholis styani
| taxon = Plagiopholis
|authority=Boulenger, 1893
}}
Plagiopholis is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae.{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis |url=http://www.ubio.org/browser/details.php?namebankID=212172|publisher=uBIO|accessdate=29 April 2014}}{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Plagiopholis/classification/|publisher=Animal Diversity Web|accessdate=29 April 2014}} The genus is native to Asia.
General Facts
The species of the genus Plagiopholis are found in Southeast Asia, China and Taiwan.{{cite book|last1=Wallach, Van|last2=Williams, Kenneth L.|last3=Boundy|first3=Jeff.|title=Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species.|date=2014|publisher=Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press|isbn=9781482208474|pages= 562–563 (of 1,237 pp.)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsySAwAAQBAJ&dq=Plagiopholis&pg=PA563|author1-link=Van Wallach|author2-link=Kenneth L. Williams}} The snakes of this genus are mountainous species that can be found in grasses and bushes. They feed primarily on earthworms, frogs, and arthropods (Zhao 2006). All species are oviparous, meaning they use internal fertilization to lay eggs.{{EMBL genus|genus=Plagiopholis}} www.reptile-database.org. The genus Plagiopholis can be distinguished from the other genus in the subfamily Pseudoxenodontinae (Pseudoxenodon) by their lower midbody scale count, entire anal plate, and smaller size (O'Shea 2018).
List of species
- Plagiopholis blakewayi {{small|Boulenger, 1893}}{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis blakewayi |url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Plagiopholis&species=blakewayi|publisher=The Reptile Database|accessdate=29 April 2014}} – Blakeway's mountain snake
- Plagiopholis delacouri {{small|Angel, 1929}}{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis delacouri |url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Plagiopholis&species=delacouri|publisher=The Reptile Database|accessdate=29 April 2014}}
- Plagiopholis nuchalis {{small|(Boulenger, 1893)}}{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis nuchalis |url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Plagiopholis&species=nuchalis|publisher=The Reptile Database|accessdate=29 April 2014}} – Assam mountain snake
- Plagiopholis styani {{small|(Boulenger, 1899)}}{{cite web|title=Plagiopholis styani |url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Plagiopholis&species=styani|publisher=The Reptile Database|accessdate=29 April 2014}} – Chinese mountain snake
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Plagiopholis.
Etymology
The specific name, blakewayi, is in honor of a Lieutenant Blakeway who resigned from the British army and collected reptiles in what is now Myanmar.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Plagiopholis blakewayi, p. 26; P. delacouri, p. 68).
The specific name, delacouri, is in honor of French-born American ornithologist Jean Théodore Delacour.
Original publication
- Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Plagiopholis, new genus, p. 301).([https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsnake01brit]).
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Zhong GH, De Chen W, Liu Q, Zhu F, Peng P, Guo P (2015). "Valid or not? Yunnan mountain snake Plagiopholis unipostocularis (Serpentes: Colubridae: Pseudoxenodontinae)". Zootaxa 4020 (2): 390-396.
- O'Shea M (2018). The Book of Snakes: A life-size guide to six hundred species from around the world. University of Chicago Press.
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Category:Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger
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