Uropeltis broughami

Uropeltis broughami, commonly known as Brougham's earth snake or the Sirumallay Uropeltis, is a species of snake in the family Uropeltidae. Uropeltis broughami is endemic to India.

Uropeltis broughami
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Uropeltis
Species:
U. broughami
Binomial name
Uropeltis broughami
(Beddome, 1878)
Synonyms[2]
  • Silybura broughami
    Beddome, 1878
  • Silybura levingii
    Beddome, 1878
  • Uropeltis broughami
    — M.A. Smith, 1943

Etymology

The specific name, broughami, is in honor of British botanist Henry Brougham Guppy.[3]

Geographic range

U. broughami is found in southern India (Palni and Sirumalai Hills, Madura district; Nilgiris).

Type locality of Silybura broughami = "Sirumallay hills (Madura district), 5500 feet elevation".

Type locality of Silybura levingii = "Lower Pulney hills (Madura district), 4000 feet elevation".

Description

The dorsum of U. broughami is brown, with transverse series of small yellow black-edged ocelli. Sides with series of large yellow spots. Ventrals dark brown.

The longest type specimen is 41 cm (16 1⁄8 in) in total length (including tail).

Dorsal scales in 19 rows. Ventrals 203–230; subcaudals 7-10.

Snout acutely pointed. Rostral laterally compressed, obtusely keeled above, two fifths the length of the shielded part of the head, the portion visible from above much longer than its distance from the frontal. Nasals in contact with each other behind the rostral. Frontal as long as broad, or slightly longer than broad. Eye very small, not half the length of the ocular. Diameter of body 34 to 40 times in the total length. Ventrals not twice as broad as the contiguous dorsal scales. Tail obliquely truncate, flat above, with strongly pluricarinate scales; terminal scute bicuspid.[4]

References
  1. Srinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B, Ganesan SR, Vijayakumar SP (2013). "Uropeltis broughami". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2013: e.T172691A1367722. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T172691A1367722.en. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. "Uropeltis broughami ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. 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. (Uropeltis broughami, pp. 40, 112).
  4. Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Uropeltidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Silybura broughami, pp. 152-153 + Plate VII, figure 2).

Further reading
  • Beddome RH (1878). "Description of six new Species of Snakes of the Genus Silybura, family Uropeltidæ, from the Peninsula of India". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1878: 800–802. (Silybura broughami, new species, p. 800; and Silybura levingii, new species, p. 801).
  • Beddome RH (1886). "An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Fifth Series 17: 3-33.
  • Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Silybura broughami, p. 264).
  • 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). xii + 583 pp. (Silybura broughami, p. 83).
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