| Higher Taxa | Uropeltidae, Henophidia, Serpentes (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Ceylon Earth Snake |
| Synonym | Uropeltis ceylanicus COCTEAU 1833
Coloburus Ceylanicus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 164
Siloboura [sic] ceylonica — GRAY 1858: 378
Silybura brevis GÜNTHER 1862
Silybura shortii BEDDOME 1863
Silybura shortii — BEDDOME 1864: 177
Silybura brevis — BEDDOME 1864: 178
Silybura shortii — BEDDOME 1863 (redescription)
Coloburus ceylanicus — JAN 1865
Silybura nilgherriensis var. annulata BEDDOME 1886: 15
Silybura brevis — BOULENGER 1893: 158
Uropeltis ceylanicus — SMITH 1943
Uropeltis ceylanicus — WILLIAMS 1959
Uropeltis ceylanica — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 143
Uropeltis cf. ceylanica — MIRZA & PAL 2010 |
| Distribution | S India (Western Ghats from Castle Rock to Travancore; Shevaroys). The commonest species in the Travancore hills.
Type locality: ,,Ceylan".
Type locality: ,,Anamallay Hills. [Silybura brevis GÜNTHER]
Type locality: ,,the Shevaroys [Shevaroy HilIs], 4,500 feet elevation", S India. [Silybura shortii BEDDOME]
Type locality: ,,Ootacamund, Nilgherries, 7000 feet elevation". [Silybura nilgherriensis BEDDOME]
Type locality: ,,Wynad, Malabar, 3500 feet elevation", S India. [Silybura bicatenata GÜNTHER]
Type locality: ,,The Wynad, Malabar, 3500 feet elevation", S India. [Silybura nilgherriensis var. annulata BEDDOME]
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| Types | Lectotype (designated by GANS 1966): MHNP 39. Paralectotype: Formerly in MHNP, now lost (fide GANS 1966)
Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.16.42. [Silybura brevis GÜNTHER]
Syntypes: BMNH 74.4.29.737: RR 1946.1.15.91—74.4.29.739: RR 1946.1.15.94; MHNP 95.100. [Silybura shortii BEDDOME]
Holotype: BMNH 74.4.29.88: RR 1946.1.16.41. [Silybura nilgherriensis BEDDOME]
Holotype: BMNH RR 1946.1.16.8. [Silybura bicatenata GÜNTHER]
Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.16.1. [Silybura nilgherriensis var. annulata BEDDOME] |
| Comment | “BEDDOME‘s specimen, said to have come from Ganjam district, is probably incorrectly labelled as regards locality” (fide SMITH 1943).
Silybura bicatenata GÜNTHER 1864 has been revalidated by GOWER et al. (2008). |
| References |
- Beddome, RICHARD HENRY 1863. Descriptions of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863: 225-229. - get paper here
- Beddome, RICHARD HENRY 1863. Further notes upon the snakes of the Madras Presidency; with some descriptions of new species. Madras Quart. J. Med. Sci., 6: 41-48 [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 306-314, 1940]
- 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
- 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
- Cocteau, TH. 1833. Sur le genre de reptiles ophidiens nommé Uropeltis par CUVIER, et description d'une espèce de ce genre. Mag. Zool. GUÉRIN, Paris, Class. III, pl. 2.
- 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
- Gray,J.E. 1858. On a new genus and several new species of Uropeltidae in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 2: 376-381 - get paper here
- Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
- Günther, ALBERT 1862. On new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 9: 52-67. - get paper here
- Jan, G. 1865. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 9. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris [1864] - get paper here
- McDiarmid,R.W.; Campbell,J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
- Mirza, Z.A. & Pal, S. 2010. Über eine Schlange aus der Gattung Uropeltis (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) aus den Western Ghats von Maharashtra, Indien. Sauria 32 (3): 47-52 - get paper here
- Sclater,W.L. 1891. Notes on a collection of snakes in the Indian Museum, with descriptions of several new species. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal LX: 230-250 - 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.
- Underwood, G. 2002. On the rictal structures of some snakes. Herpetologica 58 (1): 1-17 - 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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