''Trachischium fuscum'', also known as the blackbelly worm-eating snake or the Darjeeling slender 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 ...

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

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 ...

, which 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 ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''fuscum'', is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "dusky" or "dark brown".

Geographic range

It is found in Nepal and India (Jammu & Kashmir, northern West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam, eastern Arunachal Pradesh), possibly also in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

Description

As the common name implies, the venter is black or dark brown. The dorsum is also black or dark brown, and may have lighter longitudinal streaks. The dorsal scales are in 13 rows. Males have keeled scales on their sides in the anal region. Adults may attain 51 cm (20 inches) in total length, with a tail 6 cm (2¼ inches) long. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I''. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.-XXVIII. (''Trachischium fuscum'', pp. 297-299.)

Geographic range

Description

References

Further reading