Uropeltis beddomii ( Günther, 1862 )

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 : 489

Uropeltis beddomii ( Günther, 1862)

Silybura beddomii Günther, 1862: 56 .

TYPE MATERIAL. — Putatively four syntypes: BMNH 1946.1.16.13- 15, and MNHN-RA-1895.90. The MNHN jar contains two specimens ; the actual number of types is unclear.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Anamalai hills, eastern Kerala /western Tamil Nadu state, India.

DISTRIBUTION. — This species has a relatively small distribution in the Anamalai hills of India, c. 2000 m (see McDiarmid et al. 1999; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total length c. 250 mm, ventrals 180-188, dorsal scales in 17 rows at midbody. Subcaudals 6-9 contra Smith (1943) who reported 6-7, apparently only examining the BMNH material; both MNHN syntypes have 9. Non-descript color-pattern, with a primarily brown dorsal coloration and a narrow yellow streak on the side of the neck, venter brown and yellow, and a yellow crossband at the base of tail. Tail is partially compressed dorsally as described in Smith’s (1943) state I, approaching the “sliced-off” condition of his state II; scales in shield are enlarged and multicarinate, terminal scute is enlarged and has several spines. We classify it as Type IV. The snout is “Alternate Pointed”, with an enlarged, pointed, and recurved rostral.

REMARKS

This species has apparently not been reported since the late 19th century ( Roux 1928; Wall 1928) based on a lack of recent published reports or accessioned specimens, and is known only from the syntypes and a few later collections. This species was confused with or even treated as conspecific with U. ellioti by Beddome (1886), which is likely a complex of multiple species (see below).