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Oligodon violaceus (CANTOR, 1839)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Coral red kukri snake 
SynonymCoronella violacea CANTOR 1839: 50
Oligodon kheriensis ACHARJI & RAY 1936: 519
Holarchus violaceus — RENDAHL 1937
Oligodon kheriensis — DAS 1996
Oligodon kheriensis — SCHLEICH & KÄSTLE 2004
Oligodon kheriensis — DAVID et al. 2011
Oligodon kheriensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 498
Oligodon violaceus — LEE et al. 2026 
DistributionIndia (Assam, Uttar Pradesh), SW Nepal, Bangladesh

Type locality: “Rungpore”

kheriensis: Type locality: “North Kheri Division, Eastern Circle, Kheri-Lakimpur, in the United Provinces”, currently near Kheri, 27° 57’ N, 80° 47’ E, Lakhimpur Kheri District, State of Uttar Pradesh, India.  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesNeotype: ZSI 20391 (adult female), formerly the holotype of Oligodon kheriensis, but designated as neotype of violaceus by Lee et al. 2026. 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. We will relaease that material sometime next year. Please contact us if you need any of this data earlier than that. 
CommentSynonymy: Oligodon kheriensis ACHARJI & RAY 1936 has been removed from the synonymy of Oligodon cyclurus by DAVID et al. 2011. Lee et al. 2026 consider Coronella violacea CANTOR 1839 as a valid species and senior synonym of O. kheriensis which thus becomes a synonym of the former. Since the holotype of Coronella violacea is considered lost, the holotype of Oligodon kheriensis is designated as the neotype by Lee et al. 2026, an act that objectively links the two nomina with one another.

Specimens: known from only 2 specimens.

Etymology: O. kheriensis was named after the type locality, Kheri (District) in Uttar Pradesh.

Distribution: see map in Lee et al. 2026: 343 (Fig. 3) 
References
  • Acharji, M.N. & Ray, H.C. 1936. A new species of Oligodon from the United Provinces (India). Records of the Indian Museum 38: 519−520.
  • Al Haidar, I. K., Hasan, N., Islam, M. R., Uddin, M. A., Uddin, H., Hasan, M. T., ... & Chowdhury, M. A. W. 2025. Revisiting the snakes of Bangladesh: a systematic review of species diversity and distribution patterns. Herpetozoa, 38, 253-269 - get paper here
  • Basfore, B., Kalita, M. J., Sharma, N., & Boro, A. R. 2024. An updated checklist of snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) in northeastern India derived from a review of recent literature. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 16(11), 26131-26149 - get paper here
  • Bhattarai S., Gurung A., Lamichhane BR., Regmi R., Dhungana M., Kumpakha B. and Subedi N. 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of Chure Range, Nepal. President Chure Terai-Madhesh Conservation Development Board and National Trust for Nature Conservation, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal
  • Cantor, T. E. 1839. Spicilegium serpentium indicorum [part 1]. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1839: 31-34 - get paper here
  • Das,I. 1996. Biogeography of the Reptiles of South Asia. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida
  • DAVID, PATRICK; INDRANEIL DAS & GERNOT VOGEL 2011. On some taxonomic and nomenclatural problems in Indian species of the genus Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Squamata: Colubridae). Zootaxa 2799: 1–14 - get paper here
  • Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here
  • Lee, J.L. 2026. The identity of Coronella violacea Cantor, 1839, a senior synonym of Oligodon kheriensis Acharji & Ray, 1936 (Squamata: Colubridae). Zootaxa, 5785 (2), 334–351 - get paper here
  • Nath, Anukul; Vivek Sarkar, Pathik Saha, Pushpal Goswami, Sanjoy Sutradhar, Sanjeev Ray, Kingshuk Das Chaudhuri, Biswajit Chakdar, [email protected] 2021. Connecting the dots: New distribution records of the rare Coral Red Kukri Snake, Oligodon kheriensis Acharjee and Ray 1936, in India. Reptiles & Amphibians 28 (1): 91-93 - get paper here
  • NEANG, THY; L. LEE GRISMER & JENNIFER C. DALTRY 2012. A new species of kukri snake (Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains, southwest Cambodia. Zootaxa 3388: 41–55 - get paper here
  • NGUYEN, SANG NGOC; VU DANG HOANG NGUYEN, SON HONG LE, ROBERT W. MURPHY 2016. A new species of kukri snake (Squamata: Colubridae: Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826) from Con Dao Islands, southern Vietnam. Zootaxa 4139 (2): 261–273 - get paper here
  • Pandey, Deb Prasad 2018. New records of snakes from Chitwan National Park and vicinity, Central Nepal. Herpetology Notes 11: 679-696 - get paper here
  • Pandey, Deb Prasad, Bishnu Lama, Dipendra Dhungel, Aniket Modak and Dusan Jelic. 2016. Oligodon kheriensis ACHARJI & RAY, 1936, in India and Nepal, with notes on distribution, ecology and conservation. Herpetozoa 28 (3/4): 181-184 - get paper here
  • Rawat, Y.B., S. Bhattarai, L.P. Poudyal & N. Subedi 2020. Herpetofauna of Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(5): 15587–15611 - get paper here
  • Schleich, H.H. & Kästle, W. (eds.) 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. Koeltz, Königstein, 1200 pp. [review in Reptilia 40: 87]
  • Sutradhar, Sanjoy; Anukul Nath 2013. An Account on Poorly Known Corral Red Snake Oligodon kheriensis Acharji et Ray, 1936 from Assam, India. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (4): 247-252 - get paper here
  • Verma, Sourabh; Soham Pattekar, Ashish Panda, Arif Siddiqui, Gaurav Ojha, Ambarish Mall, H.K. Roy 2021. First record of the Coral Red Kukri Snake (Oligodon kheriensis Acharji and Ray 1936) from Bihar, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 28 (1): 154-156 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams, Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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