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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) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Rostral twice as broad as deep, just reaching the upper surface of the head; internasals and preefrontals subequal in size; frontal rather longer than broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals ; loreal small, longer than deep, entering the eye; a small praocular above the loreal; two postoculars; two very long temporals ; six or seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye; three pairs of large chin-shields. Scales in 15 rows. Ventrals 210-217; anal entire; subcaudals 59-65. Brown above, with a yellowish vertebral stripe ; a yellowish stripe commences on the snout and runs along each side of the head to the temporals and the angle of the mouth; an angular yellowish cross-band on the nape; lower parts yellowish.Total length 784 millim.; tail 114. (BOULENGER 1896: 264) 
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). 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • 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
  • Gans, C. 1954. Present knowledge of the snake Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt. Breviora (36): 1-17 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Kulmus, H. 1985. Einige Anmerkungen zur Zucht und Haltung von Eierschlangen. Herpetofauna 7 (36): 23-34 - get paper here
  • Lenz, Norbert 2012. Von Schmetterlingen und Donnerdrachen - Natur und Kultur in Bhutan. Karlsruher Naturhefte 4, Naturkundemuseum Karlsruhe, 124 pp.
  • Lillywhite, Harvey B. 2014. How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp
  • Maheta, J., Thakor, R., Shankhala, P., Prajapati, D., Zala, A., Bharavad, L., ... & Patel, S. 2023. Updated checklist of snakes with the first record of Spalerosophis arenarius in Gujarat and range extensions of five fpecies of snakes in the northern region of Gujarat, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18403 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Reinhardt, J., and C. Lütken 1863. En ny Slaegt af Slangefamilien Rachiodontidae. Overs. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Forh.: 198- [1862]
  • Schleich, H.H. & Kästle, W. (eds.) 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. Koeltz, Königstein, 1200 pp. [review in Reptilia 40: 87]
  • Sharma, R. C. 2004. Handbook Indian Snakes. AKHIL BOOKS, New Delhi, 292 pp.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • SONDARVA, R., R. VYAS, B. DUDHATRA & H. PATEL 2017. Fortpflanzung bei der Indischen Eierschlange Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863. Sauria 39 (4): 52-56 - get paper here
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  • Visvanathan, Avinash C. 2015. Natural history notes on Elachistodon westermannii Reinhardt, 1863. Hamadryad 37 (1-2): 132-136 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Vyas, Raju 2006. Story of a snake's photograph from Gujarat and notes on further distribution of the Indian egg-eater snake. Herpinstance 3(2): 1-4.
  • Vyas, Raju 2007. Present conservation scenario of reptile fauna in Gujarat State, India. Indian Forester, Oct 2007: 1381-1394 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Vyas, Raju; Harshil Patel, and Bhautik Dudhatra 2017. The Indian Egg-Eating Snake, Elachistodon westermanni (Colubridae): Comments on distribution and new localities from Gujarat, India. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 24 (3): 203–206 - get paper here
  • Wall,F. 1913. A rare Snake (Elachistodon westermanni) from the Jalpaiguri District. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 22: 400- - 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.
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