''Rhinophis blythii'', or Blyth's earth snake, 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 ...

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 ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Uropeltidae The Uropeltidae, also known Common name, commonly as the shieldtails or the shield-tailed snakes, are a Family (biology), family of primitive, nonvenomous, burrowing snakes native to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Gr ...

. The species is

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 rain forests and grasslands of

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 ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''blythii'', is in honor of English

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

(1810-1873), curator of the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Description

''R. blythii'' is dark brown, both

dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

and ventrally. The sides have vertical yellow spots or a wavy or zigzag stripe on the anterior half of the body. There is a yellow ring around the base of the tail. Adults may attain a total length (including tail) of . The

dorsal scales In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales. Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publis ...

are in 17 rows at midbody (in 19 rows behind the head). The

ventrals In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that cont ...

number 148-162, and the

subcaudals In snakes, the subcaudal scales are the enlarged plates on the underside of the tail.Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. . These scales may be either single or divided (pair ...

number 4-7. The snout is acutely pointed. The eye is in the ocular shield. There are no

supraoculars In scaled reptiles, supraocular scales are (enlarged) scales on the crown immediately above the eye.Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. ...

, and no temporals. The frontal is longer than broad. There is no mental groove. The diameter of the body goes 22 to 32 times in the total length. The ventrals are only slightly larger than the contiguous scales. The tail ends in a large convex rugose shield, which is neither truncated nor spinose at the end. The caudal disc is 1/2 to 3/5 the length of the shielded part of the head. Some of the distal dorsal scales of the tail are weakly keeled. 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. (Genus ''Rhinophis'', p. 140; species ''Rhinophis blythii'', p. 144).

References

* Beddome RH (1886). "An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Fifth Series'' 17: 3-33. ("''Rhinophis Blythii'' ic, pp. 8–9). * 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. (''Rhinophis blythii'', pp. 256–257). * Kelaart EF (1853). "Descriptions of new or little-known species of Reptiles collected in Ceylon". ''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Second Series'' 13: 25-31. ("''Rhinophis Blythii'' ic, new species, pp. 26–27). *Pyron, Robert Alexander; Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan; Sayyed, Amit; Sharma, Vivek;

Wallach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

, Van; Somaweera, Ruchira (2016). "A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae)". ''Zoosystema'' 38 (4): 453-506. (in English, with an abstract in French). * 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. (''"Rhinophis blythi'' ic, pp. 88-89). * Wall F (1921). ''Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon.'' Colombo, Ceylon ri Lanka Colombo Museum. (H.R. Cottle, Government Printer). xxii + 581 pp. ("''Rhinophis blythi'' ic, pp. 40–43, Figure 14). blythii Snakes of Asia Reptiles of Sri Lanka Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Reptiles described in 1853 Taxa named by Edward Frederick Kelaart {{Alethinophidia-stub

Etymology

Description

References

Further reading