''Ahaetulla sahyadrensis'' is a species of tree

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is also reported from Bangladesh.

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered conspecific with '' A. pulverulenta'' (now considered to be restricted to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

), and was described as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of it (''A. p. indica'') by

Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala (1900–1976) was a Sri Lankan paleontologist, zoologist, and artist. Early life and education He was born in Colombo, the son of Paul Edward Pieris and Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris. He had two younger brothers ...

in 1955. However, a 2020 study recovered it as a distinct species. In addition, a now-defunct subspecies of '' Ahaetulla prasina'', ''A. p. indica'', was described by

Rudolf Mell Rudolf Emil Mell (1878 in Gera, Thuringia – 1970 in Berlin) was a German zoologist and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera especially Sphingidae and the fauna of China. He was the director of the German-Chinese Middle School at Canton ( ...

in 1931. Thus, the combination ''Ahaetulla pulverulenta indica'' would be a

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...

to ''Ahaetulla prasina indica''. To solve this, a new replacement name, ''A. sahyadrensis'', was erected in 2020.

Geographic range

This species is the most widespread of all vine snakes endemic to the Western Ghats, ranging from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

south to

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. It is also reported from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Habitat

It is found in moist deciduous and

evergreen forests An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zon ...

from just above sea level up to 1500 msl. They are usually found in the vicinity of

perennial stream A perennial stream is a stream that has continuous flow of surface water throughout the year in at least parts of its catchment during seasons of normal rainfall, Water Supply Paper 494. as opposed to intermittent river, one whose flow is interm ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q102109391 Ahaetulla Reptiles of India Snakes of Asia Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats Reptiles described in 2020