Gonyosoma hodgsoni

Gonyosoma hodgsoni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Colubrinae
Genus: Gonyosoma
Species: G. hodgsoni
Binomial name
Gonyosoma hodgsoni
(Günther, 1860)
Synonyms
  • Spilotes hodgsonii
    Günther, 1860
  • Compsosoma hodgsonii
    — Günther, 1864
  • Coluber hodgsoni
    Boulenger, 1890
  • Elaphe hodgsoni
    Smith M.A., 1943
  • Gonyosoma hodgsoni
    Wallach, 1997
  • Orthriophis hodgsoni
    — Utiger et al., 2002[1]

Gonyosoma hodgsoni is a species of snake found in parts of Asia around the Himalayas.

Etymology

The specific name, hodgsoni, is in honor of British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson.[2]

Description

G. hodgsoni grows to 4 feet (1.2 m) long, including a 9 inches (23 cm) tail. It is brownish-olive above, with most of the scales black-edged. The young have blackish cross bands. Its lower parts are yellowish, with the outer part of the margin of each ventral shield blackish.

Its rostral is as deep as it is broad, and visible from above. The suture between the internasals is much shorter than that between the prefrontals. Its frontal is as long as its distance from the end of the snout or a little shorter, and shorter than the parietals. The loreal is longer than deep, and often united with the prefrontal. It has one large preocular (a small subocular below the preocular is rarely present) and two postoculars. Temporals are 2+2 or 2+3. Normally there are 8 upper labials, the fourth and fifth entering the eye, and 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields. The anterior chin shields are as long as the posterior chin shields or a little longer. The dorsal scales are in 23 rows, feebly keeled on the posterior part of the body. Ventrals 233–246; anal divided; subcaudals 79–90.[3]

Distribution

G. hodgsoni is found in Nepal, India (Sikkim, Assam, Kashmir), and China (Tibet).

Type locality: "China: Ladakh" (Günther 1860) = "Tibet: Ladakh, Tsomoriri" (Boulenger 1894).

Notes

  1. "Orthriophis hodgsoni ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Orthriophis hodgsoni, p. 124).
  3. Boulenger, G.A. 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. (Coluber hodgsonii, pp. 332-333).

References

External links


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