Pseudoplectrurus Boulenger, 1890

Pyron, Robert Alexander, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Sayyed, Amit, Sharma, Vivek, Wallach, Van & Somaweera, Ruchira, 2016, A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae), Zoosystema 38 (4), pp. 453-506 : 478

Pseudoplectrurus Boulenger, 1890

Pseudoplectrurus Boulenger, 1890: 270 .

TYPE SPECIES. — Silybura canarica Beddome, 1870 by monotypy.

INCLUDED SPECIES. — Pseudoplectrurus canaricus ( Beddome, 1870) .

DIAGNOSIS. — Pseudoplectrurus can be distinguished from all other amniotes by the characters given for the family, and from other uropeltids by oculars united, nasals in contact, no temporal, no mental groove, dorsal scales in 15 rows at midbody, and a slightly compressed, elongate tail with weakly multicarinate scales terminating in a scute with two bifid points. Snout is more pointed than in Plectrurus . No continuously varying characteristic of visceral topology measured in the single specimen dissected uniquely diagnoses Pseudoplectrurus from other uropeltids, but the viscera are qualitatively unique among uropeltids in having a large saccular lung, an asymmetrical liver with a short right segment, and a distinct left bronchus.

DISTRIBUTION. — India; the distribution of this genus is apparently limited to the type locality of the type species on Mt. Kudremukh, Karnataka state, India (see Beddome 1886; Wallach et al. 2014).

REMARKS

Ganesh et al. (2013), without discussion, first explicitly rerecognized Pseudoplectrurus as a distinct genus, contra recent authors such as McDiarmid et al. (1999). This was largely because of morphological differences and geographical isola- tion from Plectrurus (see Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015). The original description of this species noted that it was very common c. 6000 ft on “Kudra Mukh” ( Beddome 1870). This taxon is allopatric with respect to Plectrurus , no species of which are known to occur on Mt. Kudremukh.