Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875 )

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 : 497

Uropeltis rubrolineata ( Günther, 1875)

Silybura rubrolineata Günther, 1875: 228 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Lectotype: BMNH 1874.4 .29.804 (= 1946.1.15.53) by subsequent designation of Beddome (1886).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Tirunelveli hills, southwestern Tamil Nadu state, India.

DISTRIBUTION. — Known only from the southern Western Ghats of India, in the Anaimalai and Tirunelveli hills of Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, 0-835 m ( Ferguson 1895, 1902; Rajendran 1985; Mc- Diarmid et al. 1999; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total size c. 400 mm, ventrals 165-172, subcaudals 6-9, dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody (see Smith 1943; Gower et al. 2008). Distinctive color-pattern, with a blackish-brown dorsal and ventral coloration, and a bright red stripe along each side, usually c. 2.5 scale-rows wide, beginning on the labials. Tail is Smith’s (1943) state II (our Type V), resembling that of U. ceylanica or U. macrolepis in being sharply truncated at a c. 45° angle, with thickened, enlarged, bi- or tri-carinate shield scales, and terminating in an enlarged, rugose scute with two points. Snout is ambiguous in specimens examined between “Alternate Rounded” and “Alternate Pointed;” the rostral is somewhat recurved viewed laterally, but the snout is not particularly acute viewed from above.

REMARKS

Previous reports from the northern Western Ghats likely refer to other species such as Uropeltis bicatenata (see Gower et al. 2008) or U. phipsonii (see Wallach et al. 2014), based on geographic distribution and color-pattern differences. It is unclear why this species; with 165-172 ventrals, a dark dorsum and distinct red stripe, and geographic range in the southern Western Ghats; has been considered by many authors (e.g., Constable 1949; Gans 1966; Rajendran 1985) to be synonymous with U. phipsonii , which has 138-157 ventrals, a color pattern dominated by yellow bands and speckles, and occurs in the northern Western Ghats. The suggestion appears to have been raised by Constable (1949), but his discussion is difficult to follow and does not address these major, obvious differences. It is possible that U. phipsonii and U. rubrolineata are closely related, but we suggest that they represent two very distinct species.