Pseudoplectrurus canaricus ( Beddome, 1870 )

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 : 479

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.5252/z2016n4a2
publication LSID	urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BFFD82EF-50C9-42BF-8493-DF57591EA4FF
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A82A47-8307-FF9F-FF1F-FE03FE257FDC
treatment provided by	Felipe (2021-03-03 17:02:42, last updated by Plazi 2023-11-01 22:57:55)
scientific name	Pseudoplectrurus canaricus ( Beddome, 1870 )
status

Treatment

Pseudoplectrurus canaricus ( Beddome, 1870) View in CoL

Silybura canarica Beddome, 1870: 170 View in CoL .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Six syntypes: BMNH 1874.4.29.940-943 (= 1946.1.15.95-98), BMNH 1872.1.2.3 (= 1946.1.16.71), and MNHN-RA-1895.102.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Mt. Kudremukh, Karnataka state, India.

DISTRIBUTION. — India; known only from type locality, Mt. Kudremukh in the Kudremuk hills, at elevations> 1800 m (see Beddome 1886; Smith 1943; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total length c. 430 mm, ventrals 172-188, subcaudals 6-13 (see Beddome 1886; Smith 1943). Color pattern somewhat similar to Plectrurus aureus , with purplish-brown dorsum (scales lighter in the center), and small yellow blotches extending onto the dorsum ventrolaterally (more obvious anteriorly).

REMARK

This species is known only from the syntypes, and has apparently not been collected since 1870, based on a lack of published reports or specimens.

References

BEDDOME R. H. 1870. - Descriptions of new reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly Journal of Medical Science 2: 169 - 176.

BEDDOME R. H. 1886. - An account of the earth-snakes of the peninsula of India and Ceylon. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 17: 3 - 33.

GANESH S. R. 2015. - Shieldtail snakes (Reptilia: Uropeltidae. - the Darwin's finches of south Indian snake fauna?, in KANNAN, P. (Ed.) Manual on Identification and Preparation of Keys of Snakes with Special Reference to their Venomous Nature in India. Proceedings by Government Arts College, Udhagamandalam, Tamilnadu, India, 13 - 24.

SMITH M. A. 1943. - The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor & Francis, London, 583 p.

WALLACH V., WILLIAMS K. L. & BOUNDY J. 2014. - Snakes of the World: a Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1209 p.