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Eryx whitakeri DAS, 1991

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Higher TaxaBoidae (Erycinae, Erycidae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Whitaker’s sand boa
G: Whitakers Sandboa 
SynonymEryx whitakeri DAS 1991
Gongylophis whitakeri — TOKAR
Eryx whitakeri — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 209
Eryx whitakeri — WHITAKER & CAPTAIN 2004
Eryx whitakeri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 290
Eryx whitakeri — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 36 
DistributionSW India (Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra (Velhe – near Nasrapur, Visapur fort – Pune district) [A. Captain, pers. Comm.])

Type locality: “Mangalore, Karnataka State, India”  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: ZSI 24810, adult female; paratypes: ZSI 24811, ZSI 24813, ZSI 22152 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A medium-sized (at least 79.0 cm total body length and 73.5 cm snout-vent length) erycine, distinguished from other described species of the genus Eryx by possessing the following morphological characteristics : smooth scales on dorsal aspect of body; rostral without angular edgc; mental groove absent; tail-tip blunt in adults; subcaudals 18-25, ventrals 201-206, midbody scale rows 50-54 and in coloration (dorsally vandyke brown with sepia blotches, edged with chamois, forehead dark vinaceous, ventrally pale horn). (Das 1991)


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CommentSimilar species: This species has been reported as Eryx conicus.

Distribution: Map: Das 1991 
EtymologyNamed after Romulus Whitaker (b. 1943), an American-born Indian herpetologist and conservationist who has spent most of his life in India. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Das I 1991. A new species of Eryx (Boidae: Serpentes: Squamata) from south-western India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 88 (1): 92-97 - get paper here
  • Jones, C. 2004. Sand Boas. Reptilia (GB) (34): 12-23 - get paper here
  • Jones, C. 2004. Sandboas. Reptilia (Münster) 9 (47): 20-30 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Palot, M.J. 2015. A checklist of reptiles of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13): 8010–8022 - get paper here
  • Reynolds, R. Graham and Robert W. Henderson 2018. Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Sep 2018, Vol. 162, No. 1: 1-58. - 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.
  • Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. Snakes of India. Draco Books, 500 pp., reprinted 2007 - get paper here
 
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