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Lycodon carinatus (KUHL, 1820)

IUCN Red List - Lycodon carinatus - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Ceylon Wolf Snake 
SynonymHurria carinata KUHL 1820: 95
Cercaspis carinatus — WAGLER 1830: 191
Cercaspis carinatus — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 390
Cercaspis carinatus — GÜNTHER 1864: 324
Lycodon carinatus — BOULENGER 1890
Lycodon carinatus — BOULENGER 1893: 358
Cercaspis carinatus — WALL 1921: 162
Cercaspis carinatus — SMITH 1943: 268
Cercaspis carinata — DAS 1996: 55
Cercaspis carinatus — JANZEN et al. 2007
Lycodon carinatus — PYRON et al. 2013
Lycodon carinatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 392 
DistributionSri Lanka

Type locality: unknown fide TAYLOR 1950.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: unlocated; MNHN-RA (not located; I. Ineich, March 2019) and RMNH (some sources say “AG” = Academico Groningano, the Akademisch Museum te Groningen, AMG, in the Netherlands, which was destroyed in a great fire in the Groningen academy building in 1906). 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 916 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSimilar to Bungarus ceylonicus, and thus a possible case of mimicry.

Taxonomy: previously an “incertae sedis” taxon by placed in Natricidae by Pyron et al. 2013.

Genome: Ruchira et al. 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “carinatus” = keeled (like a ship). 
References
  • Botejue, W. Madhava S.; Jayantha Wattavidanage 2012. Herpetofaunal diversity and distribution in Kalugala proposed forest reserve, Western province of Sri Lanka. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 5 (2): 65-80(e38). - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • Das, I. & De Silva, A. 2005. Photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of Sri Lanka. New Holland Publishers, 144 pp.
  • de Silva, A. 1998. Snakes of Sri Lanka: a checklist and an annotated bibliography. Dept. Wildlife Conservation/ GEF /UNDP/ FAO, Colombo.
  • EDIRISINGHE, G.M. & B.S.A.T. Hiranya SUDASINGHE 2013. Eine Beobachtung von Ovivorie bei der Sri Lanka-Wolfsnatter Cercaspis carinatus (KUHL, 1820). Sauria 35 (1): 54-56 - get paper here
  • Janssen HY, Pham CT, Ngo HT, Le MD, Nguyen TQ, Ziegler T 2019. A new species of Lycodon Boie, 1826 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from northern Vietnam. ZooKeys 875: 1-29 - get paper here
  • Janzen, P.; Klaas, P. & Ziesmann, S. 2007. Sri Lankas Schlangenfauna. Draco 7 (30): 56-64 - get paper here
  • Jayaneththi, Hareschandra Bandula 2015. Vertebrate fauna of Morankanda-Mukalana secondary forest patch in Sri Lanka: A checklist reported from 2004-2008 survey. RUHUNA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 6: 21- 41 - get paper here
  • Kuhl,H. 1820. Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie. Hermannsche Buchhandlung, Frankfurt, 152 pp. - get paper here
  • Pyron, R. Alexander; H.K. Dushantha Kandambi, Catriona R. Hendry, Vishan Pushpamal, Frank T. Burbrink, Ruchira Somaweera 2013. Genus-level phylogeny of snakes reveals the origins of species richness in Sri Lanka. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66 (3): 969-978 - get paper here
  • Samarawickrama, V.A.M.P.K.; H.I.G.C. Kumara, D.R.N.S. Samarawickrama 2019. Diversity of Reptiles in the Eastern and Southern parts of the Sinharaja Rain Forest. Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Somaweera, R., Pirro, S., & Pyron, R. A. 2025. The Complete Genome Sequences of 26 Species of Sri Lankan Snakes. Biodiversity Genomes - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1950. The snakes of Ceylon. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 33 (14): 519-603 - get paper here
  • VELAUTHEM, V.A. & JAYANETHTHI, H.B. 2016. Sri Lanka-Wolfszahnnatter, Lycodon carinatus (Kuhl, 1820), frisst Templetons Kukrinatter, Oligodon calamarius (Linnaeus, 1754), im Sinharaja-Regenwald, Sri Lanka. Sauria 38 (4): 60-62 - get paper here
  • Wall, FRANK 1921. Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon. Colombo Mus. (H. R. Cottle, govt. printer), Colombo. xxii, 581 pages - 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.
 
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