- Common names: shield tail snakes, shield-tailed snakes, earth snakes.
Uropeltis is a genus of nonvenomous shield tail snakes endemic to Peninsular India. As of 2022, 26 species are recognized as being valid.[2]
Geographic range
Most Uropeltis species are found in the hills of Peninsular India, mainly in the southwestern parts of the country, including the Western Ghats and, to some extent, also in the Eastern Ghats and in the hills of Central India.[1]
Description
Species in the genus Uropeltis share the following characters. The eye is in the ocular shield. There are no supraoculars nor temporals. There is no mental groove. The tail is conical or obliquely truncated, terminating in a small scute, the end of which is square, or bicuspid with the points side by side.[3]
Species
Species
[2][4] Taxon author
[2][4] Common name Geographic range
[1][4] U. arcticeps (
Günther, 1875) Tinevelly shield tail snake the
Tirunelveli Hills
U. beddomii (Günther, 1862) Beddome's shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. bhupathyi Jins,
Sampaio &
Gower, 2018 Bhupathy's shield tail snake
Tamil Nadu U. bicatenata (Günther, 1875) two-chained shield tail snake the
Pune Hills
U. broughami (
Beddome, 1878) Brougham's shield tail snake the
Palni Hills U. ceylanicaT Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier's shield tail snake the
Western Ghats south of
Goa U. dindigalensis (Beddome, 1877) Dindigul shield tail snake the
Sirumalai Hills
U. ellioti (
Gray, 1858) Elliot's shield tail snake the hills of
peninsular India U. grandis (Beddome, 1867) Smith's earth snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. jerdoni Ganesh,
Punith,
Adhikari &
Achyuthan, 2021 Jerdon’s shield tail snake India (Karnataka)
U. liura (Günther, 1875) Günther's shield tail snake the southern
Western Ghats U. macrolepis (
W. Peters, 1862) Bombay shield tail snake the northern
Western Ghats U. macrorhyncha (Beddome, 1877) Ponachi shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. maculata (Beddome, 1878) spotted shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. madurensis (Beddome, 1878) Madura earth snake
Meghamalai U. myhendrae (Beddome, 1886) barred shield tail snake the
Agasthyamalai Hills U. nitida (Beddome, 1878) Cochin shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills and
Nelliyampathi U. ocellata (Beddome, 1863) Nilgiri shield tail snake the
Western Ghats south of
Nilgiris U. petersi (Beddome, 1878) Peters' shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. phipsonii (
Mason, 1888) Phipson's shield tail snake the northern
Western Ghats U. pulneyensis (Beddome, 1863) Palni shield tail snake the southern
Western Ghats U. rajendrani Ganesh & Achyuthan, 2020 Rajendran's shield tail snake the southern
Eastern Ghats U. rubrolineata (Günther, 1875) red-lined shield tail snake the southern
Western Ghats U. rubromaculata (Beddome, 1867) red-spotted shield tail snake the
Anaimalai Hills U. shorttii (Beddome, 1863) Shevaroy Hills earth snake
Yercaud U. woodmasoni (
W. Theobald, 1876) Palni shield tail snake, black-bellied shield tail snake the
Palni Hills T Type species.[1]
Nota bene: A taxon author in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Uropeltis.
References
