The Karnataka burrowing snake (''Pseudoplectrurus canaricus'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of uropeltid

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 ...

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 ...

Geographic range

It is found in southern

. Type locality: "South Canara, ..on the top of the Kudra Mukh, a mountain 6000 feet high" (elevation).

Description

Dorsum brownish violet, each scale usually paler in the center. Lips yellow, some yellow blotches on the anterior sides of the body, and in some specimens small yellow spots on the back. Ventral surface of tail yellow, with in some specimens a black median streak. Adults may attain a total length of 43 cm (17 inches). Dorsal scales arranged in 15 rows at midbody, in 19 rows behind the head. Ventrals 172–188; subcaudals 6–13. Snout obtuse. Portion of the rostral visible from above shorter than its distance from the frontal. Nasals in contact with each other, forming a suture behind the rostral. No supraoculars. Frontal longer than broad. Diameter of eye less than ½ the length of the ocular shield. Diameter of body 32 to 43 times in the total length. Ventrals less than 2 times as large as the contiguous scales. Tail laterally compressed. Dorsal scales on the tail smooth or weakly pluricarinate. Terminal scute laterally compressed, with two superposed points, which are simple or bifid. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Uropeltidæ...'' Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. p. 160, Plate X., Figures 1. & 1a.

Geographic range

Description

Footnotes

Further reading