You are here » home advanced search search results Lycodon zawi

Lycodon zawi SLOWINSKI, PAWAR, WIN, THIN, GYI, OO & TUN, 2001

IUCN Red List - Lycodon zawi - Least Concern, LC

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Lycodon zawi?

Add your own observation of
Lycodon zawi »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Zaw's Wolf Snake 
SynonymLycodon zawi SLOWINSKI, PAWAR, WIN, THIN, GYI, OO & TUN 2001
Lycodon zawi — WALLACH et al. 2014: 397 
DistributionNE India (Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya), Myanmar (= Burma), Bangladesh

Type locality: Alaungdaw Katapha National Park (AKNP) 22°19’ N, 94° 29’ E., Sagaing Division, Myanmar.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: CAS 210323, male
Paratypes: CAS 210223, a male from AKNP (22°19’N, 94°24’E), Sagaing Division, Myanmar, collected 10 July, 1999, by J. Slowinski, K. Wiseman, J. Lovette, and J. Vindum; CAS 215494, a male from AKNP (22°19'N, 94°24’E), Sagaing Division, Myanmar, collected 30 May, 2000, by Htun Win, Thin Thin, San Lwin Oo, Sai Wanna Gyi, and Hla Tun; CAS 215570, a male from AKNP (22°19’N, 94°29’E), Sagaing Division, Myanmar, collected 12 June, 2000, by Htun Win, Thin Thin, and San Lwin Oo; CAS 215599, a male from AKNP (22°19'N, 94°29’E), Sagaing Division, Myanmar, collected 14 June, 2000, by Htun Win, Thin Thin, and San Lwin Oo; CAS 216505, a male from the Gwa Township (17°39'N, 94°39’E), Rakhine State, Myanmar, collected 29 November, 2000, by J. Slowinski, Htun Win, and Hla Tun. ZSI 25346, a male from Ngengpui Wildlife Sanctuary (NgWS; 22°29’'N, 92°48’E), Mizoram, Northeast India, collected 17 April, 1999, by S. Pawar; ZSI 25347, a male from Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS; 25°56'N, 91°31'E), Meghalaya, Northeast India, collected 8 May, 2000, by M. F. Ahmed; ZSI 25348, a female from Garbhanga Reserve Forest (GRF; 26°09’N, 91°33’E), Assam, Northeast India, collected 30 March, 1998, by S. Sengupta. ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS: Two more specimens, a male near Kaifung (23°39'N, 92°57’E), North Mizoram, Northeast India, and another male from Balphakram Tiger Reserve (BTR; 25°30'N, 90°45’E), Meghalaya, Northeast India, not housed in a permanent depository. 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS. Lycodon zawi differs from other Lycodon of the Asian mainland by the following combination of character states: 17 dorsal scale rows at mid-body, preocular scale present (Fig. 1), loreal scale not in contact with internasal (Fig. |), anal scale divided, poorly-developed white crossbands on a brownish black dorsum, and without a well-developed nape band (Fig. 1). In terms of scale characteristics, L. zawi is similar to L. laoensis (Figs. 2-4), known from Northeast India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia (Lanza 1999), but differs by its brownish black and white dorsal coloration (brownish black and yellow in L. laoensis), the poorly-developed light crossbands (well-developed in L. /aoensis), and the lack of a nape band. Lycodon zawi differs from other Myanmar and Northeast India congeners as follows: from L. aulicus/capucinus (Figs. 2—4) in lacking a nape band, in lacking a sharply defined white lip margin, and in having a loreal scale that does not contact the internasal scale; from L. kundui in lacking a nape band, having 17 mid-body scale rows (15 in L. kundui), and in having 8 or 9 supralabials (7 in L. kundui); from L. fasciatus (Figs. 2-4) in lacking loreal contact with the eye, in lacking well-developed light crossbands, and in having smooth dorsal scales; from L. jara (Figs. 2—3) in having light bands and in having a loreal scale that does not contact the internasal scale. Lycodon zawi resembles L. travancoricus (Western Ghats and southern Pakistan) and L. tiwarii (Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Biswas and Sanyal 1965) in scalation. From L. travancoricus, L. zawi differs by its divided anal and weakly developed light bands (L. travancoricus has well-developed yellow bands which bifurcate on the sides). Lycodon zawi differs from L. tiwarii in having white bands on a dark dorsum (white reticulations on a dark dorsum in L. tiwarii). (Slowinski et al. 2001)


Additional details (3163 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
Comment 
References
  • Basfore, B., Kalita, M. J., Sharma, N., & Boro, A. R. 2024. An updated checklist of snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) in northeastern India derived from a review of recent literature. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 16(11), 26131-26149 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Biakzuala, Lal; Vanlal Hrima, Michael Vanlalchhuana, Andrew Vanlallawma, Mathipi Vabeiryureilai, Lal Muansanga, Sarathbabu Subbarayan, Nachimuthu Senthil Kumar & Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga 2020. Contributions to Lycodon zawi, a little-known colubrid snake (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). The Herpetological Journal 30: 234-237 - get paper here
  • Das, I. 2012. A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of South-East Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford J, ohn Beaufoy Publishing - get paper here
  • Deb, Arnab; Debendra Sinha, Jayaditya Purkayastha 2023. Predation on Zaw's Wolf Snake (Lycodon zawi) by a Malaysian Cherry Red Centipede (Scolopendra dehaani). Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18468 - get paper here
  • Dutta, Dipankar; Saibal Sengupta, Arup Kumar Das and Abhijit Das. 2013. New distribution of records of Lycodon zawi (Serpentes:<br />Colubridae) from Northeast India. Herpetology Notes 6: 263-265.
  • Ghosh, Avrajjal, Mukherjee, Nilanjan and Rahut, Biswapriya 2017. Geographic Distribution: Lycodon zawi (Zaw's Wolf Snake). Herpetological Review 48 (1): 129 - get paper here
  • Hakim, J., Trageser, S. J., Ghose, A., Rashid, S. M. A., & Rahman, S. C. 2020. Amphibians and reptiles from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh. Check List, 16: 1239 - get paper here
  • Janssen HY, Pham CT, Ngo HT, Le MD, Nguyen TQ, Ziegler T 2019. A new species of Lycodon Boie, 1826 (Serpentes, Colubridae) from northern Vietnam. ZooKeys 875: 1-29 - get paper here
  • Lalremsanga, H.T.; Saipari Sailo and Chinliansiama 2011. Diversity of Snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) and Role of Environmental Factors in Their Distribution in Mizoram, Northeast India. Advances in Environmental Chemistry - get paper here
  • Mahananda, P., S.N. Jelil, S.C. Bohra, N. Mahanta, R.B. Saikia & J. Purkayastha 2023. Terrestrial vertebrate and butterfly diversity of Garbhanga Landscape, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(4): 23029–23046 - get paper here
  • Majumder, Joydeb 2018. Record of Lycodon zawi (Squamata: Colubridae) in Tripura and its range extension in northeast India: an Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots of the world. Biodiversity International Journal 2 (3) - get paper here
  • Malsawmdawngliana, B. Boruah, N.G. Patel, S. Lalronunga, I. Zosangliana, K. Lalhmangaiha & A. Das 2022. An updated checklist of reptiles from Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India, with sixteen new distribution records. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(10): 21946–21960 - get paper here
  • Purkayastha J. 2013. An Amateur’s Guide to Reptiles of Assam. EBH Publishers (India) - get paper here
  • Purkayastha, J. 2018. Urban biodiversity: an insight into the terrestrial vertebrate diversity of Guwahati, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(10): 12299–12316; - get paper here
  • Rahman, Shahriar Caesar;,, S.M.A. Rashid, Kanai Das, Luca Luiselli,∗ 2013. Composition and structure of a snake assemblage in an altered tropical forest-plantation mosaic in Bangladesh. Amphibia-Reptilia 34 (3): 41-50 - get paper here
  • Reza, A. H. M. Ali 2010. Colubrid snake Lycodon zawi (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh. Russ. J. Herpetol. 17 (1): 75-77 - get paper here
  • Slowinski, J. B., Pawar, S. S. , Win, H., Thin, T., Gyi, S. W., Oo, S. L., and Tun, H. 2001. A new Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Northeast India and Myanmar (Burma). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 52: 397-405 - get paper here
  • Tenzin, J.; S. Nidup, G. Gyeltsen, T. Tshomo, A. Nepal & J.T. Wangyal 2022. The herpetofauna in Sarpang District, Bhutan TAPROBANICA 11 (02): 99–102 - get paper here
  • Thapa, M. K., Dutta, S., Das, H. J., Pradhan, T. K., Mahanta, D., Tossa, S., ... & Ray, P. C. 2025. Herpetofaunal inventory of the Ranga Reserve Forest, Lakhimpur, Assam, India. Reptiles & Amphibians, 32(1), e21663-e21663
  • 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
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lycodon&species=zawi

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator