- Melanophidium punctatum
-
Beddome's Black Shieldtail 
Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Uropeltidae Genus: Melanophidium Species: M. punctatum Binomial name Melanophidium punctatum
Beddome, 1871Beddome's Black Shieldtail, Melanophidium punctatum, is a species of shieldtail snake found in the Western Ghats of India.
Contents
Description
Snout rounded; rostral small, just visible from above; frontal as long as its distance from the end of the snout j suture between the ocular and the frontal less than one third the length of the latter shield. Eye very small. Diameter of body 42 to 48 times in the total length. 15 scales round the middle of the body, 17 behind the head. Ventrals rather more than twice as broad as the contiguous scales, 184-198; subcaudals 15-18. Black above, beautifully iridescent; ventrals and the two lower series of scales on each side with a broad white border.[1]
Type locality: "Travancore, [..] under a stone in the Muti-Kuli Vayal, a little valley on the Asamboo range (4,500 feet elevation)"
References
- ^ Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Amphibia.
Further reading
- Beddome,R.H. 1871 Descriptions of new reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci., 4: 401-404 [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 324-326, 1940.
- Mason, George E. 1888 Description of a new earth-snake of the genus Silybura from the Bombay Presidency with remarks on little known Uropeltidae. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 22: 184-186.
External links
- Melanophidium punctatum at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 13 December 2007.
- M. punctatum image 1/2 at Uetz Lab. Accessed 13 December 2007.
- M. punctatum image 2/2 at Uetz Lab. Accessed 13 December 2007.
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