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Boiga westermanni (REINHARDT, 1863)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Indian Egg-eating Snake
G: Indische Eierschlange 
SynonymElachistodon westermanni REINHARDT 1863: 206
Elachistodon westermanni — BOULENGER 1896: 264
Elachistodon westermanni — SMITH 1943: 404
Elachistodon westermanni — DAS 1996: 56
Elachistodon westermanni — MURTHY 2010
Elachistodon westermanni — WALLACH et al. 2014: 260
Boiga westermanni — MOHAN et al. 2018
Elachistodon westermanni — PATEL & VYAS 2019 
DistributionBangladesh, India (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat; Bhavnagar, Surat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana), Nepal

Type locality: “Rungpore” = Rangpur, Bengal / Rajshahi division, NW Bangladesh.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMUC R6401, adulf female (Copenhagen) 
Diagnosis 
CommentDistribution: Possibly in Bhutan (Lenz 2012). See maps in Sharma 2014: 162, Mohan et al. 2018.

Conservation: rare; known from only 3 specimens between 1863 and 2005, after which about 100 specimens were discovered in India (the few records from Nepal and Bangladesh are all older).

Type species: Elachistodon westermanni REINHARDT 1863: 206 is the type species of the genus Elachistodon REINHARDT 1863. Elachistodon was “provisionally assigned” to Boiga by Mohan et al. 2018.

Diet: (bird) eggs

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Geraldus Frederick Westermann (1807-1890), a book dealer and pigeon fancier who became a zoologist. 
References
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  • Bilaskar, Mahesh; Santhanakrishnan Babu, Honnavalli N. Kumara, Harif Parengal 2018. First record of the Indian Egg-eater, Elachistodon westermanni REINHARDT, 1863, from Karnataka, India. Herpetozoa 31 (1/2): 108 - 110 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • Captain, A.; Frank Tillack, Andreas Gumprecht and Parag Dandge 2005. FIRST RECORD OF Elachistodon westermanni REINHARDT, 1863 (SERPENTES, COLUBRIDAE, COLUBRINAE) FROM MAHARASHTRA STATE, INDIA. Russ. J. Herpetol. 2 (2): 156 – 158 - get paper here
  • Dandge, P.H. 2007. Food and Feeding Habits of Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863. Hamadryad 32 (1):86-87 - get paper here
  • Dandge, Parag Hemachandra; Ashish Dilip Tiple 2016. Notes on Natural History, New Distribution Records and Threats of Indian Egg Eater Snake Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes: Colubridae): Implications for Conservation. Russ. J. Herpetol. 23 (1): 55-62
  • Deshmukh, Rahul V.; Sagar A. Deshmukh, Swapnil A Badhekar, and Shubham D. Katgube 2020. The Indian Egg-eater, Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt 1863 (Squamata: Dasypeltidae): First record from the Satpura Mountain Range of Madhya Pradesh, India, with notes on threats and habitat conservation. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (1): 60–64 - get paper here
  • Deshmukh, Rahul V.; Sagar A. Deshmukh, Swapnil A. Badhekar, and Roshan Y. Naitame 2020. Snakes of Bhandara District, Maharashtra, Central India with notes on natural history. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (1): 10–17 - get paper here
  • Deshmukh, Rahul V.; Sagar A. Deshmukh, Swapnil A. Badhekar, Shubham Katgube, Swapnil Bhondawe, and Ritik Shete 2020. Tail-vibrating behavior in an Indian Egg-Eater (Boiga westermanni), Common Catsnake (Boiga trigonata ), Banded Kukri (Oligodon arnensis), and Common Wolfsnake Lycodon aulicus) from India. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 27 (1): 68–70 - get paper here
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  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Indische Eierschlange, Elachistodon westermanni. Draco 16 (61): 93-95 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here
  • Khandal, Dharmendra; Y. K. Sahu, Vivek Sharma 2016. New Record of Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae) for Rajasthan State, India. Russ. J. Herpetol. 23 (4): 249-253 - get paper here
  • Kramer, E. 1977. Zur Schlangenfauna Nepals. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 84 (3): 721-761. - get paper here
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  • Lenz, Norbert 2012. Von Schmetterlingen und Donnerdrachen - Natur und Kultur in Bhutan. Karlsruher Naturhefte 4, Naturkundemuseum Karlsruhe, 124 pp.
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  • MANHAS, AMIT. 2021. Notes on the distribution of the rare Indian Egg-eating Snake, Boiga westermanni (Reinhardt 1863). Reptiles & Amphibians 28(3): 471–474. - get paper here
  • Mohan, Ashwini Venkatanarayana; Avinash C. Visvanathan and Karthikeyan Vasudevan. 2018. Phylogeny and conservation status of the Indian egg-eater snake, Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae). Amphibia-Reptilia 39 (3): 317–324 - get paper here
  • Murthy, T.S.N. 2010. The reptile fauna of India. B.R. Publishing, New Delhi, 332 pp.
  • Narayanan, Abhishek 2012. Records of Indian Egg Eater Snake Elachistodon westermanni in the localities of Shegaon, District Buldhana, Maharashtra, India. Reptile Rap (14): 9–12 - 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, Bhautik Dudhatra, Vaibhav Naik, Ashish Chavda, Devendra Chauhan, Amit Vaghashiya, Ramesh Vagadiya and Pranav Vaghashiya 2019. Preliminary report on Herpetofauna of Mount Girnar, Gujarat, India. Journal of Animal Diversity 1 (2): 9–35 - get paper here
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  • Sharma, Vivek 2014. On the Distribution of Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 21 (3): 161-165 - get paper here
  • Singh J, Dutta S.K., Singh H 2021. Herpetofauna of Punjab: The Field Guide. New Era Book Agency, Chandigarh, 82 pp.
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  • VYAS, R. 2016. Distribution of the Indian Egg-eater (Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1864), with three new records from Gujarat, India, and descriptions of its pholidosis and hemipenis morphology. Sauria 38 (1): 15 - 21 - get paper here
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  • Vyas, Raju 2010. Distribution of Elachistodon westermanni in Gujarat. Reptile Rap (10): 7-8 - get paper here
  • Vyas, Raju 2013. Notes and Comments on Distribution of a Snake: Indian Egg Eater (Elachistodon westermanni). Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (1): 39-42 - get paper here
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