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Lycodon anamallensis GÜNTHER, 1864

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Colombo Wolf Snake 
SynonymLycodon anamallensis GÜNTHER 1864
Lycodon aulicus ‘typica’ – WALL 1909
Ophites anamallensis – WALL 1923
Lycodon osmanhilli TAYLOR 1950: 562
Lycodon osmanhilli — DAS 1996: 57
Lycodon osmanhilli — SOMAWEERA 2006
Lycodon osmanhilli — SILVA 2009: 82
Lycodon osmanhilli — KARUNARATHNA & AMARASINGHE 2011
Lycodon anamallensis — GANESH & VOGEL 2018
Lycodon osmanhilli — MADAWALA et al. 2019 
DistributionIndia (Tamil Nadu, Kerala), Sri Lanka

Type locality: Anamallay Hills of the Western Ghats

osmanhilli: Sri Lanka; Type locality: Colombo, Ceylon  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.14.92
Holotype: KU (= KUMNH) 24141 [osmanhilli] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. A species of Lycodon presently known from peninsular India and Sri Lanka, characterised by (1) a thin and small head, (2) absence of collar-mark on head; but the first ‘band’ passing across neck > 7–10 scales away from parietals, and converging towards tail, (3) a reddish-brown body with yellow or cream (never quite white) cross bars in life, (4) preocu- lar usually not contacting frontal, (5) supraocular usually contacting prefrontal, (6) a shorter hemipenis with nu- merous long flounces and spines, (7) supralabials creamy with a median brown spot, usually 9 on each side, (8) bifid anal scales, (9) scale rows 17:17:15, (10) ventrals: 174–204 and subcaudals: 60–73 pairs, (11) relative tail length 0.14–0.20 [Taylor, 1950, Ganesh & Vogel 2018] 
CommentSynonymy: Lycodon osmanhilli has been considered as a subspecies or variant of Lycodon aulicus (see LANZA 1999 for discussion). Listed as synonym of L. aulicus by WALLACH et al. 2014: 391. Ganesh & Vogel have resurrected L. anamallensis and synonymzed L. osmanhilli with it.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality.
L. osmanhilli was named after the collector of the type, W.C. Osman Hill. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Ganesh SR, Deuti K, Punith KG, Achyuthan NS, Mallik AK, Adhikari O, Vogel G. 2020. A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14 (3): 74–83 (e256)
  • Ganesh, S. R. and S. R. Chandramouli 2011. Report of some noteworthy specimens and species of herpetofauna from South-east India. Taprobanica 3 (1): 5-10 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S.R.; A. Kalaimani, P. Karthik, N. Baskaran, R. Nagarajan & S.R.Chandramouli 2018. Herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, India – II From Western Ghats to Coromandel Coast. Asian Journal of Conservation Biology, July 2018. Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 28-45 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, S.R.; S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, G. Babu Rao & S. Babu 2020. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. JoTT 12 (9): 16123–16135 - get paper here
  • Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan & Gernot Vogel 2018. Taxonomic reassessment of the Common Indian Wolf Snakes Lycodon aulicus (Linnaeus, 1758) complex (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae). Bonn zoological Bulletin 67 (1): 25–36 - 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Lanza,B. 1999. A new species of Lycodon from the Philippines, with a key to the genus (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). Tropical Zoology 12: 89-104 - get paper here
  • Madawala, Majintha; Thilina D Surasinghe, Anslem De Silva, Dinesh Gabadage, Madhava Botejue, Indika Peabotuwage, Dushantha Kandambi, Suranjan Karunarathna 2019. Reappraisal of Herpetofauna Recorded from Jaffna Peninsula in Northern Sri Lanka with Remarks on Conservation, Diversity, and Distribution. Russ. J. Herpetol. 26 (5): 247-260 - 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
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1950. The snakes of Ceylon. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 33 (14): 519-603 - get paper here
 
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