Aspidura drummondhayi

Aspidura drummondhayi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Natricinae
Genus: Aspidura
Species: A. drummondhayi
Binomial name
Aspidura drummondhayi
Boulenger, 1904

Aspidura drummondhayi, commonly known as Drummond-Hay's rough-sided snake or කෙටිවල් මැඩිල්ලා (ketiwal medilla) in Sinhala, is a colubrid species endemic to Sri Lanka.

Etymology

The specific name, drummondhayi, is in honor of Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (1869-1932), who was a planter and naturalist in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and who was the son of Scottish ornithologist Colonel Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (1814-1896).[1]

Geographic range

A. drummondhayi is a burrowing snake from the low hills of southwestern Sri Lanka. Localities recorded are Balangoda region, and from Sinharaja, at elevations over 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

Description

The head is indistinct from the neck, and the body is cylindrical. The dorsum is chocolate-brown with faint mottling. A dark vertebral stripe, one scale wide, runs from the snout to the tail tip. There are two pairs of faint dark stripes on the paravertebral region of each side. The forehead is dark. The venter is light brown with faint mottling.

Scalation

The dorsal scales are arranged in 15 rows at midbody. Preoculars are absent. There are 2 postoculars which are in contact with the parietal. Ventrals 113-119. Subcaudals 18-26.

Reproduction

Known to lay 4 eggs at a time.

References

  1. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Aspidura drummondhayi, p. 76).

Further reading

External links

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