| Higher Taxa | Uropeltidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Palni Mountain Burrowing Snake |
| Synonym | Brachyophidium rhodogaster WALL 1921
Teretrurus rhodogaster — SMITH 1943: 70
Teretrurus rhodogaster — WILLIAMS 1959
Brachyophidium rhodogaster — GANS 1966: 9
Brachyophidium rhodogaster — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 129
Teretrurus rhodogaster — SHARMA 2004
Brachyophidium rhodogaster — OLORI & BELL 2012
Brachyophidium rhodogaster — WALLACH et al. 2014: 123
Teretrurus rhodogaster — CYRIAC & KODANDARAMAIAH 2017
Teretrurus rhodogaster — GANESH & MURTHY 2022
Brachyophidium rhodogaster — SZYNDLAR & GEORGALIS 2023 |
| Distribution | India (Shembaganur, Kodaikanal, Palnis, Kerala)
Type locality: „Palnai HiIls", S India (probably vicinity of Shembanagur).
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| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1921.3.4.13 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Brachyophidium can be distinguished from all other amniotes by the characters given above for the family, and from other uropeltids by eye in ocular shield, nasals in contact, a temporal, no mental groove, dorsal scales in 15 rows at midbody, a simple, unmodified tail tapering to a single pointed scale, and interchoanal process of parasphenoid absent (see Olori & Bell 2012, Pyron et al. 2016). |
| Comment | Type species: Brachyophidium rhodogaster WALL 1921 is the type species of the genus Brachyophidium WALL 1921, now a synonym of Teretrurus. |
| Etymology | Named after Greek rhodon (a rose, hence red) and gaster (belly), in allusion to the reddish-orange venter of the species. |
| References |
- Cyriac, V. P., & Kodandaramaiah, U. 2017. Paleoclimate determines diversification patterns in the fossorial snake family Uropeltidae Cuvier, 1829. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 116(Supplement C), 97–107 - get paper here
- Ganesh, S. R., & Murthy, B. C. 2022. Taxonomy of the shieldtail snake genus Teretrurus Beddome, 1886 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) with a revised key and remarks on the geographic gaps in the Western Ghats, Peninsular India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 122(1), 25-35
- Gans, C. 1966. Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien. Uropeltidae. Das Tierreich Lfg. 84, 29 pp.
- 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
- Pyron R. A., Ganesh S. R., Sayyed A., Sharma V., Wallach V. & Somaweera R. 2016. A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae). [type catalogue] Zoosystema 38 (4): 453-506 - 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.
- Szyndlar Z, Georgalis GL 2023. An illustrated atlas of the vertebral morphology of extant non-caenophidian snakes, with special emphasis on the cloacal and caudal portions of the column. Vertebrate Zoology 73: 717-886 - get paper here
- Wall,F. 1921. A new snake of the family Uropeltidae. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 28: 41-42 - 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
- Williams, Ernest E. 1959. The occipito-vertebral joint in the burrowing snakes of the family Uropeltidae. Breviora (106): 1-10 - get paper here
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