Himalayan keelback
| Amphiesma platyceps | |
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| at Mussoorie, India | |
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| Species: | A. platyceps
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| Binomial name | |
| Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth, 1854)
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Amphiesma platyceps, commonly known as the Himalayan keelback, is a species of grass snake endemic to South Asia.
Geographic range
It is known from India along the sub-Himalayan region, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and China between 1000 and 3600 m elevation (about 3,300 to 11,800 feet).
Description
Eye moderate; rostral just visible from above; suture between the internasals as long as that between the pre-frontals or shorter; frontal longer than its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals; loreal longer than deep ; one preocular (sometimes divided); two or three postoculars; temporals 1+1, or 1+2, or 2+2; 8 upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are much shorter than the posterior chin shields.
Dorsal scales in 19 rows, faintly or feebly keeled. 177-235 ventrals; anal divided; subcaudals 75-107, also divided.
Olive-brown above, with small black spots; frequently two black parallel lines or an elliptic marking on the nape; a light, black-edged streak on each side of the head, or a black line from eye to gape (corner of mouth); belly yellowish, with or without blackish dots; frequently a black line or series of elongate blackish spots along each side of the belly; lower surface of tail frequently mottled with blackish; throat sometimes black. In life, a coral-red band is said to run along the ends of the ventrals.[2]
Total length 90 cm (3 feet); tail 23 cm (9 inches).[3]
References
- ^ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ Boulenger, G. A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, Printers). London. xviii + 541 pp. (Tropidonotus platyceps, pp. 343-344.)
- ^ Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ Aglyphæ, Part. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.-XXVIII. (Tropidonotus platyceps, p. 248.)
Further reading
- Blyth, E. 1855. Notices and descriptions of various reptiles, new or little known [part 2]. Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Calcutta, 23 (3): 287-302 [1854].
- Cardew, A.G. 1896. A rough key to the identification of Indian ophidia. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 10: 585-596.
- Hubrecht, A.A.W. 1882. List of reptiles and amphibians brought from British India by Mr. Francis Day. Notes Leyden Mus., Leiden 4: 138-144.
- Kramer, E. 1977. Zur Schlangenfauna Nepals. Rev. suisse Zool., 84 (3): 721-761.
- Malnate, E.V. 1966. Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth) and Amphiesma sieboldii (Günther): sibling species (Reptilia: Serpentes). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 63 (1): 1-17.
- Schleich, H.H. & Kästle, W. 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. Koeltz, Königstein, 1200 pp.
- Shaw, G.E.; Shebbeare, E.O.; & Barker, P.E. 1939. The snakes of northern Bengal and Sikkim, Part 4. The colubrine snakes. J. Darjeeling Nat. Hist. Soc. 13: 114-123.
- Shaw, G.E.; Shebbeare, E.O.; & Barker, P.E. 2000. The snakes of Sikkim and Bengal [reprint]. Asiatic Publ. House (Delhi), 125 pp.
- Steindachner, F. 1867. Ueber drei neue Schlangenarten [Calamaria philippinica]. Verh. zool.-botan. Ges. Wien 17: 513-516.
- Tillack, F. 2003. Über die Verbreitung und Biologie der Himalaya-Gebirgswassernatter Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth 1854) und einen Fall von Amphigonia retardata (Serpentes: ColubridaNatricinae). Sauria 25 (1): 21-27.
- Wall, F. 1913. A new snake of the genus Tropidonotus from the Eastern Himalayas. Tropidonotus Firthi, spec. nov. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 23: 166.
- Wall,F. 1923. A Hand-list of the Snakes of the Indian Empire. Part 2. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 29: 598-632.