Melanophidium bilineatum BEDDOME, 1870

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Higher Taxa	Uropeltidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	Two-lined Black Earth Snake
Synonym	Melanophidium bilineatum BEDDOME 1870 Melanophidium bilineatum — BEDDOME 1886: 30 Melanophidium bilineatum — BOULENGER 1893: 164 Melanophidium bilineatum — SMITH 1943: 66 Melanophidium bilineatum — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 130 Melanophidium bilineatum — DAS 2003 Melanophidium bilineatum — WALLACH et al. 2014: 436
Distribution	India (Kerala) Type locality: „near the summit of the Peria peak in the Wynaad, elevation 5,000 feet, and also at a similar elevation on the Tirrhioot peak” [ = west of Manatoddy, fide SMITH 1943]
Reproduction	viviparous
Types	Lectotype: BMNH 72.1.2.5 (= BMNH 1946.1.15.75; Fig. 8) from Peria peak, Wynad. Paralectotype: MNHN (18)95.111, designated by Gower et al. 2016. Syntypes: BMNH 72.1.2.5 (= 1946.1.15.75); M. H. N. P. No. 95. 111.
Comment	After GANS 1969, this species is known from the three types only.
References	Beddome, R. H. 1870. Descriptions of new reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci., 2: 169-176 [Reprint.: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 327-334, 1940] Beddome, R.H. 1886. An account of the earth snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 17: 3-33. - 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 Das, Indraneil 2003. Growth of Knowledge on the Reptiles of India, with an Introduction to Systematics, Taxonomy and Nomenclature. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 100 (2-3): 446-502 - get paper here GOWER, DAVID J.; VARAD GIRI, ASHOK CAPTAIN, MARK WILKINSON 2016. A reassessment of Melanophidium Günther, 1864 (Squamata: Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the Western Ghats of peninsular India, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa 4085 (4): 481–503 - get paper here McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. 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 Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp. 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. Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
External links	IUCN Red List - Melanophidium bilineatum - Vulnerable, VU National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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