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Fowlea asperrima (BOULENGER, 1891)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Boulenger's Keelback 
SynonymTropidonotus asperrimus BOULENGER 1891: 281
Tropidonotus umbratus — KELAART 1852 (non DAUDIN 1803)
Tropidonotus quincunciatus var. δ — GÜNTHER 1858 (partim)
Tropidonotus quincunciatus var. δ — GÜNTHER 1864 (partim)
Tropidonotus quincunciatus — FERGUSON 1877 [partim]
Tropidonotus quincunciatus — MÜLLER 1887 [partim]
Tropidonotus asperrimus — BOULENGER 1891
Tropidonotus asperrimus — BOULENGER 1893: 232
Tropidonotus piscator — WALL 1921 [partim]
Natrix piscator asperrimus — SMITH 1943 [partim]
Natrix piscator asperrimus — DERANIYAGALA 1955 [partim]
Natrix piscator asperrimus — DE SILVA 1969 [partim]
Natrix asperrimus — TAYLOR 1950: 567
Xenochrophis asperrimus — DAS 1996: 59
Xenochrophis asperrimus — VOGEL & DAVID 2006
Xenochrophis asperrimus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 797
Fowlea asperrimus — PURKAYASTHA et al. 2019
Fowlea asperrima — AMARASINGHE et al. 2022 
DistributionSri Lanka

Type locality: Ceylon; lectotype locality: Candy (Kandy; 7°17’24.37’’N, 80°38’14.77’’E; datum = WGS84; 540 m above sea level), Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: NHMUK 1946.1.7.60 = BMNH, adult female
Paralectotypes: NHMUK 1946.1.7.61, 1946.1.12.73–75, 1946.1.12.83, 1946.1.13.33–34, 1946.1.14.50, 1946.1.15.17, 1946.1.15.22– 23, from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and NHMUK 1946.1.15.30 from Pundaluoya, Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka.
Other material (n = 22). NHMUK 1982.600–601, 1946.1.13.36, 1946.1.13.39–40, ZMB 14299, NMB 721–2, from Ceylon (Sri Lanka); NHMUK 1905.3.25.85 from Pundaluoya, Nuwara Eliya District; FMNH 121493 from Western Sri Lanka; ZMH R07929 from Wakwella, South-west Sri Lanka; WHT 2232, male from Kottawa, Galle District; NHMUK 1931.5.13.35, 1931.5.13.37–38, 1931.5.13.41–42, 1946.1.12.85, ZMH R07923, R07934, R07936, from Ceylon (Sri Lanka); and NHMUK 1910.3.16.24 from Galle, Galle District, Sri Lanka. 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2492 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: Has been confused with Xenochrophis piscator (see WALL 1921: 91 for comment). Smith (1943) regardced it as a color variation of X. piscator.

Distribution: see map in Amarasinghe et al. 2022: 213 (Fig. 9).

Genome: Ruchira et al. 2025. 
References
  • Amarasinghe, A. A., Bandara, S. K., Weerakkody, S., Campbell, P. D., Marques, D. A., Danushka, A. D., ... & Vogel, G. 2022. Systematics of the Sri Lankan Water Snakes of the Genus Fowlea Theobald 1868 (Reptilia: Natricidae). Herpetologica 78(3) : 201-219 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1891. Description of new oriental reptiles & batrachians. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 6: 279-283 - 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
  • Das, I. & De Silva, A. 2005. Photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of Sri Lanka. New Holland Publishers, 144 pp.
  • de Silva, A. 1998. Snakes of Sri Lanka: a checklist and an annotated bibliography. Dept. Wildlife Conservation/ GEF /UNDP/ FAO, Colombo.
  • Janzen, P.; Klaas, P. & Ziesmann, S. 2007. Sri Lankas Schlangenfauna. Draco 7 (30): 56-64 - get paper here
  • Jayaneththi, Hareschandra Bandula 2015. Vertebrate fauna of Morankanda-Mukalana secondary forest patch in Sri Lanka: A checklist reported from 2004-2008 survey. RUHUNA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 6: 21- 41 - get paper here
  • Karunarathna, Suranjan D. M. S. and A. A. Thasun Amarasinghe 2011. A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE REPTILE FAUNA IN NILGALA FOREST AND ITS VICINITY, MONARAGALA DISTRICT, SRI LANKA. Taprobanica 3 (2): 69-76 - get paper here
  • Purkayastha, Jayaditya; JATIN KALITA, Rajeev Kungur Brahma, Robin Doley, MADHURIMA DAS 2018. A review of the relationships of Xenochrophis cerasogaster Cantor, 1839 (Serpentes: Colubridae) to its congeners. Zootaxa 4514 (1): 126-136, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4514.1.10 - get paper here
  • Pyron, R. Alexander; H.K. Dushantha Kandambi, Catriona R. Hendry, Vishan Pushpamal, Frank T. Burbrink, Ruchira Somaweera 2013. Genus-level phylogeny of snakes reveals the origins of species richness in Sri Lanka. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66 (3): 969-978 - get paper here
  • RODRIGO, R.K.; U.K.G.K. PADMALAL, C.N.B. BAMBARADENIYA, V.A.M.P.K SAMARAWICKRAMA, N. PERERA, M.S.J. PERERA, T.N. PERIES 2006. COMPARISON OF HERPETOFAUNAL DIVERSITY IN THREE WETLAND IN HABITATS THE SOUTH-EAST COAST OF SRI LANKA. Wildlanka 1 (1): - 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.
  • Somaweera, R., Pirro, S., & Pyron, R. A. 2025. The Complete Genome Sequences of 26 Species of Sri Lankan Snakes. Biodiversity Genomes - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1950. The snakes of Ceylon. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 33 (14): 519-603 - get paper here
  • Vogel, G. & Patrick David 2006. On the taxonomy of the Xenochrophis piscator complex (Serpentes, Natricidae). Herpetologica Bonnensis II: 241-246 - get paper here
  • VOGEL, Gernot & Patrick DAVID 2012. A revision of the species group of Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799) (Squamata: Natricidae). Zootaxa 3473: 1–60 - get paper here
  • Wall, FRANK 1921. Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon. Colombo Mus. (H. R. Cottle, govt. printer), Colombo. xxii, 581 pages - 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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