Plectrurus canaricus

Plectrurus canaricus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Uropeltidae
Genus:	Plectrurus
Species:	P. canaricus
Binomial name
Plectrurus canaricus (Beddome, 1870)
Synonyms
Silybura canarica Beddome, 1870 Plectrurus canaricus - Günther, 1875 Pseudoplectrurus canaricus - Boulenger, 1890 Plectrurus canaricus - M.A. Smith, 1943[1][2]

Plectrurus canaricus, commonly known as the Karnataka shieldtail,^[3] is a species of uropeltid snake endemic to India.

Geographic range

It is found in southern India.

Type locality: "South Canara, [...] on the top of the Kudra Mukh, a mountain 6000 feet high" (elevation).

Description

Dorsum brownish violet, each scale usually paler in the center. Lips yellow, some yellow blotches on the anterior sides of the body, and in some specimens small yellow spots on the back. Ventral surface of tail yellow, with in some specimens a black median streak.

Adults may attain a total length of 43 cm (17 inches).

Dorsal scales arranged in 15 rows at midbody, in 19 rows behind the head. Ventrals 172-188; subcaudals 6-13.

Snout obtuse. Portion of the rostral visible from above shorter than its distance from the frontal. Nasals in contact with each other, forming a suture behind the rostral. No supraoculars. Frontal longer than broad. Diameter of eye less than ½ the length of the ocular shield. Diameter of body 32 to 43 times in the total length. Ventrals less than 2 times as large as the contiguous scales. Tail laterally compressed. Dorsal scales on the tail smooth or weakly pluricarinate. Terminal scute laterally compressed, with two superposed points, which are simple or bifid.^[4]

Footnotes

1. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Uropeltidæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London, p. 160.
2. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
3. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
4. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Uropeltidæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. p. 160, Plate X., Figures 1. & 1a.

Further reading

• Beddome, R.H. 1870. Descriptions of new Reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci., 2: 169-176. [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 327-334, 1940]
• Beddome, R.H. 1886. An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 17: 3-33.

External links

• Plectrurus canaricus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 13 December 2007.