A New Species of Wolf Snake (Serpentes: Colubridae: Lycodon) from Anaikatti Hills, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India

Debanik Mukherjee, S. Bhupathy

Abstract


A new species of wolf snake is described from the tropical mixed dry deciduous forests of the Anaikatti Hills, Western Ghats, India. This species is distinct from its congeners of the Indian mainland by the following combination of characters: dorsal scales in 17:17:15 rows, scales smooth with single apical pit; anterior nasal shield larger than the posterior, loreal in contact with the internasal, but not with the eye; higher number of ventrals (210 – 224) which do not angulate laterally and hemipenis not forked at the tip and lacks spines. The new species also differs from other Lycodon spp. of the Western Ghats in having a prominent yellow collar and dorsum lacking any prominent pattern such as blotches, spots and bands.

Keywords


wolf snake; Lycodon flavicollis; tropical forests; biodiversity hotspots; Western Ghats; India

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2007-14-1-21-26

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