Sunday, 31 August 2014

Wall's Shieldtail ( Brachyophidium rhodogaster Wall, 1921 )

 Wall's Shieldtail ( Brachyophidium rhodogaster Wall, 1921 )


Family:
Uropeltidae
Characteristics for identification:

Can be identified by checking: 1) Blackish-brown dorsal body. 2) Red belly. 3) Unlike most of the Uropeltis family members its tail ends with a single spine and not like a disc.
Description:

Head short, and not broader than neck.

Dorsal dark blackish-brown. Ventral and outer dorsal rows red in life.
Tail compressed. Upper scale smooth of feebly bi or tricarinate. Terminal scale simple and ends with a conical tip.
Hide Scalation
Head:
Mental groove absent. Portion of rostral visible from above, less than the distance between it and the prefrontals which are significantly longer than nasals; frontal longer than broad, also longer than praietals; supraocular and postocular united into a single shield; single temporal shield; eye half of the length of the ocular shield; loreal absent.
Dorsal:
Smooth scales in 15 rows.
Ventral:
137-145; anal divided.
Sub Caudal:
6-11; paired.

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