Trachischium guentheri

Trachischium guentheri, commonly known as the rosebelly worm-eating snake[1] or Günther's Oriental slender snake,[2] is a species of colubrid snake, which is endemic to Asia.

Trachischium guentheri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Trachischium
Species:
T. guentheri
Binomial name
Trachischium guentheri
Boulenger, 1890

Etymology

The epithet, guentheri, honors Albert Günther (1830–1914), German-born zoologist at the British Museum (Natural History).[2]

Geographic range

T. guentheri is found in India (Sikkim, West Bengal), Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Description

The rosebelly worm-eating snake does have a rose-colored belly when alive. However, specimens preserved in alcohol are dark brown dorsally, with indistinct lighter and darker longitudinal streaks; and are yellowish ventrally, either uniform or scantily mottled with brown.

The dorsal scales are arranged in 13 rows and are smooth, except that the males have keeled dorsal scales in the anal/basicaudal region. The ventrals are 134-138; the anal plate is divided; and the subcaudals, which are also divided, number 34–39.

Adults may attain 28 cm (11 inches) in total length, with a tail 3.5 cm (1⅜ inches) long.[3]

References
  1. "Trachischium guentheri ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Trachischium guentheri, p. 111).
  3. Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Trachischium guentheri, pp. 298-299 + Plate XIX, figures 1, 1a, 1b).

Further reading
  • Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor & Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Trachischium guentheri, new species, pp. 285–286).
  • Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). (Trachischium guentheri, p. 323).


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