Rhinophis

Rhinophis
Bloody-bellied earth snake, R. sanguineus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Rhinophis
Hemprich, 1820
Synonyms
Common names: (none).

Rhinophis is a genus of nonvenomous shield tail snakes found in southern India and Sri Lanka. Currently, 16 species of sheildtails were recognized with no subspecies are recognized.[2] From 16 species, 12 are endemic to Sri Lanka, while 4 are endemic to India.

Geographic range

Found in southern India and Sri Lanka.[1]

Species

Species[2] Taxon author[2] Common name Geographic range[1]
R. blythii Kelaart, 1853 Blyth's earth snake Sri Lanka in the hills of Central (Hatton and Pundluoya), Uva, Sabaragamuwa (Balangoda) and Southern Provinces.
R. dorsimaculatus Deraniyagala, 1941 polka-dot earth snake[3] Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality in North Western Province.
R. drummondhayi Wall, 1921 Drummond-Hay's earth snake Sri Lanka in the Hills of Central and Uva Provinces (Haldumulla, Nanunukula and Uva Patnas at 1,200 m elevation).
R. erangaviraji Wickramasinghe et. al., 2009 Eranga Viraj's earth snake Sri Lanka.
R. fergusonianus Boulenger, 1896 Cardamom Hills earth snake Southern India in the Western Ghats: Cardamom Hills, Travancore.
R. goweri Aengals & Ganesh, 2013 Gower's earth snake[3] Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in Bodha Malai Hills of Namakkal district.
R. homolepis (Hemprich, 1820) Trevelyan's earth snake[3] Sri Lanka in the Hills of Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura, Yatiyantota and Balangoda Hills below 900 m), Central and Uva Provinces.
R. lineatus Gower & Maduwage, 2011[4] striped Rhinophis Sri Lanka
R. oxyrynchusT (Schneider, 1801) Schneider's earth snake Sri Lanka in the dry zone of Northern, Central and Eastern Provinces.
R. philippinus (Cuvier, 1829) Peter's earth snake Sri Lanka in the Hills of Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces.
R. porrectus Wall, 1921 Willey's earth snake Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality in North Western Province.
R. punctatus J.P. Müller, 1832 Müller's earth snake Sri Lanka in Central (Kandy, Peradeniya) and Western Provinces (Puttalam).
R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863 salty earth snake Southern India in the Western Ghats: Mysore (Koppa, Kalsa), Wynaad, Nilgiris, Travancore and Tinnevelly Hills.
R. travancoricus Boulenger, 1893 Travancore shieldtail Southern India: Travancore, from sea level to an elevation of about 1,200 m in the hills. In Trivandrum, Peermade, Mahendragiri, Ernakulam and Chenganacherry.
R. tricolorata Deraniyagala, 1975 Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality: "vicinity of the rain forest of Sinha Raja to the south west of Ratnapura at an elevation of 1,500 feet with a rainfall of over 200 inches per annum.
R. zigzag Gower & Maduwage, 2011[4] zigzag Rhinophis Sri Lanka

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.
T) Type species.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. 1 2 3 "Rhinophis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. 1 2 Gower, D.J. & Maduwage, K. (2011). "Two new species of Rhinophis Hemprich (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from Sri Lanka." Zootaxa 2881: 51-68.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhinophis.

Aengals, R.; S. R. Ganesh 2013. Rhinophis goweri — A New Species of Shieldtail Snake from the Southern Eastern Ghats, India. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (1): 61-65

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, August 10, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.