- Plectrurus guentheri
Taxobox
name = Günther's Burrowing Snake
image_width = 240px
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Reptilia
ordo =Squamata
subordo =Serpentes
familia =Uropeltidae
genus = "Plectrurus "
species = "P. guentheri"
binomial = "Plectrurus guentheri"
binomial_authority = Beddome, 1863Günther's Burrowing Snake ("Plectrurus guentheri") is a species of uropeltid
snake found in theWestern Ghats ofIndia .Description
Description provided by Beddome (1864: 180): "Scales of the neck in 17 rows; anterior portion of the trunk in 13 rows, of the rest of the body in 15 rows; head-shields as in P. Perrotteti, only the rostral is not produced so far back. All the scales of the tail 5-6-keeled, and some of the approximated scales of the body also keeled; terminal scale of the tail with four sharp points, and covered with small tubercles; abdominals 172, and a bifid anal; subcaudals 12. Total length 13 inches, circumference 18 inch. Colour of the body a bright reddish purple; belly yellow, the yellow colour rising up on the sides of the trunk into regular pyramid-shaped markings, and the purple colour descending in the same way down to the abdominals"
Named after Albert Günther (1830-1914), German-born zoologist at the British Museum.
Distribution
Found in the
Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India. Type locality: Walaghat on the Western slopes of theNilgiris .Further reading
* Beddome, Richard Henry 1863 Descriptions of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863: 225-229.
* Beddome, Richard Henry 1863 Further notes upon the snakes of the Madras Presidency; with some descriptions of new species. Madras Quart. J. Med. Sci., 6: 41-48 [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 306-314, 1940]
* Beddome,R.H. 1864 Description of new species of the family Uropeltidae from Southern India, with notes on other little-known species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 13: 177-180
* Beddome,R.H. 1886 An account of the earth snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 17: 3-33.External links
*
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