Uropeltis bicatenata GÜNTHER, 1864

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Higher Taxa	Uropeltidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Bicatenate Uropeltis, Two-chained Uropeltis
Synonym	Uropeltis ceylanicus CUVIER 1829 (nomen nudum) (part.) Silybura bicatenata GÜNTHER 1864 Silybura nilgherriensis BEDDOME 1863 Silybura nilgherriensis — BEDDOME 1864: 178 Uropeltis rubrolineatus (non GÜNTHER 1875) — ALI 1949: 376 Uropeltis (Siluboura) ceylanicus CUVIER 1829 — MAHENDRA 1984 (part.) Uropeltis bicatenata — GOWER et al. 2008 Uropeltis bicatenata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 779
Distribution	W India (Maharashtra, Pune District) Type locality: "Wynad, Malabar, 3500 feet elevation", S India [incorrect fide MCDIARMID et al. 1999]; the correct locality is “Dekkan” (= Deccan) [in Western India] after GOWER et al., 2008.
Reproduction	viviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022)
Types	Holotype: BMNH RR 1946.1.16.8
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A Uropeltis with 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody and a notably flat-to-mildly-concave tail shield (distinctly not convex). Ranges of variation of seven known specimens: total length 155-264 mm; ventral scales 130-141; subcaudals scales 8-9 (three females) or 10-12 (four males); tail shield with 34-43 keeled scales; typically 7 (uniquely 6, on one side only) maxillary and dentary teeth per row. [GOWER et al. 2008]
Comment	Synonymy: Previously considered as a synonym of U. ceylanicus, but revalidated by Gower et al. 2008. Sampaio et al. 2022 seem to have resurrected the genus Silybura, including S. nilgherriensis (fide GenBank) but this is not mentioned in the actual paper.
References	ALI, S. 1949. Extension of range of the earth snake Uropeltis rubrolineatus (Günther). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 48:376 - get paper here Beddome, R.H. 1864. Description of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 13: 177-180 - get paper here Gower, D.J.; Captain, A. & Thakur, S.S. 2008. On the taxonomic status of Uropeltis bicatenata (GÜNTHER) (Reptilia: Serpentes: Uropeltidae). Hamadryad 33 (1): 64 – 82 - get paper here Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here Mahendra B C 1984. Handbook of the snakes of India, Ceylon, Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan. ANNALS OF ZOOLOGY (AGRA) 22 (B): i-xvi, 1-412 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 Thite, Vedant and Anish Kirtane. 2013. First note on polychromatism in Uropeltis bicatenata (Günther, 1864). [in English and German]. Sauria 35 (4): 59-62 - 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
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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