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Uropeltis macrolepis (PETERS, 1862)

IUCN Red List - Uropeltis macrolepis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaUropeltidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesUropeltis macrolepis macrolepis (PETERS 1862)
Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis CHARI 1955 
Common NamesE: Bombay Earth Snake 
SynonymSilybura macrolepis PETERS 1862
Silybura macrolepis — GÜNTHER 1864: 189
Silybura macrolepis — BEDDOME 1886: 24
Silybura macrolepis — BOULENGER 1893: 159
Uropeltis macrolepis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 146
Uropeltis macrolepis — GOWER et al. 2012: 48
Uropeltis macrolepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 780

Uropeltis macrolepis macrolepis (PETERS 1862)
Uropeltis macrolepis — SMITH 1943
Uropeltis macroiepis macrolepis — CHARI 1955
Uropeltis macrolepis macrolepis — MURTHY 2010

Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis CHARI 1955
Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis CHARI 1955
Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis — WHITAKER & CAPTAIN 2004
Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis — BANSODE & MORE 2018 
DistributionS India (Gujarat, Maharashtra (Phansad – near Supegaon, Mahabaleshwar, Koyna, Lonavla) [A. Captain, pers. Comm.])

Type locality: “Ceylon?” [Sri Lanka]
Type locality: ,,Mahableshwar, Satara district, Bombay State", lndia [mahableshwarensis CHARI 1955]  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.15.99 (formerly BMNH 88.4.20.4)
Holotype: BNHS = BNHM 1994 [mahableshwarensis] 
DiagnosisSnout rounded; portion of rostral visible from above distinctly less than its distance from the frontal; eye usually more than half the length of the ocular shield. Scales in 15 rows; V. 128-140, one and a half times as broad as the adjacent scales; C. 7-10. End of tail obliquely truncate above, the truncated portion flat or concave, covered with thickened bi- or tricarinate scales, forming a disc; one and a half to two times as long as broad; terminal caudal scute large, depressed with small spines above, ending in a ridge with two points (Smith 1943: 78).

Coloration: Black or dark purplish-brown, each scale with a light margjn; a short, broad, yellow or orange stripe on the lips and sides of the neck, continued as large spots on the anterior part of the body, and sometimes as smaller ones throughout its whole length; a broad yellow or orange stripe on each side of the tail. A specimen in the British Museum, locality unknown, has a broad orange stripe occupying three scale-rows along each flank througbout the whole body (Smith 1943: 79).

Total length: 300, diameter 12 mm (Smith 1943: 79). 
Comment 
References
  • Bansode, SA and Dr. VR More 2018. An updated list of serpent from Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(1): 375-379 - 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
  • Chari, V. K. 1952. Localization of the striped variety of the rough-tailed earthsnake - Uropeltis macrolepis (PETERS) - to Mahableshwar. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 50: 950-951. - get paper here
  • Chari, V. K. 1953. Some more notes on Uropeltis macrolepis (PETERS) with special reference to specimens from Mahableshwar (Western Ghats, Bombay). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 51 (2): 512. - get paper here
  • Chari, V. K. 1954. An addition to the list of snakes of Bombay and Salsette - Uropeltis macrolepis (PETERS) - Uropeltidae. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 52 (1): 213- 214. - get paper here
  • Chari, V. K. 1955. A new form of the burrowing snake, Uropeltis macrolepis (PETERS) from Mahableshwar. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 52 (4): 901. - get paper here
  • Das, Indraneil;Chaturvedi, Naresh 1998. Catalogue of the herpetological types in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society. Hamadryad 23 (2): 150-156 - get paper here
  • DATANWALA, H., AND A. M. DURSO 2020. Uropeltis Cf. macrolepis (Bombay Shield-Tailed Snake). Predation. Herpetological Review 51: 159-160.
  • Gower, D.; Garrett, K. & Stafford, P. 2012. Snakes. Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY, 144 p..
  • Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Khate, D. 2020. Predation by an Ahaetulla nasuta (Lacépède, 1789) (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) on a Uropeltis macrolepis mahableshwarensis Chari, 1955 from Mahableshwar, Maharashtra, India. Sauria 42 (1): 75-76
  • Kumbar Suresh M, Patil Satywan S and Ghadage Abhijit B 2018. Record of Bombay shield snake Uropeltis macrolepis macrolepis (Peters, 1862) in Amba Ghats, Western Maharashtra, Southern India. Int. J. Life Sc. - get paper here
  • Lobo, A.S. 2006. Uropeltis macrolepis in the diet of Calliophis nigrescens. Hamadryad 30 (1): 200-201 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 2010. The reptile fauna of India. B.R. Publishing, New Delhi, 332 pp.
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Patel, Harshil; and Raju Vyas 2019. Reptiles of Gujarat, India: Updated Checklist, Distribution, and Conservation Status. Herpetology Notes 12: 765-777 - get paper here
  • Patel, Harshil; Raju Vyas, Vaibhav Naik, Bhautik Dudhatra & Shantilal K. Tank 2018. Herpetofauna of the Northern Western Ghats of Gujarat, India. Zoology and Ecology, DOI: 10.1080/21658005.2018.1499237 - get paper here
  • Peters,W.H.C. 1862. Über eine neue Art der Schlangengattung Silybura, S. macrolepis. Mber. königl. preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1861: 901-905 [1862] - 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
  • Sekar A G. Almeida M R. 1994. Range extension of the Bombay shield-tail snake Uropelitis macrolepis (Peters 1861) (Serpentes: Uropeltidae). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90 (3): 520-521 [1993] - get paper here
  • Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp.
  • Smith, Hobart 1942. Mexican herpetological miscellany. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 92 (3153): 349-395 - 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.
  • Vyas, Raju 2007. Herptofauna of Puma Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. Reptile Rap (8): 10-15 - 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
 
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