Rhinophis is a genus of nonvenomous shield-tail snakes found in Sri Lanka and South India.[2] Currently, 24 species (with no subspecies) are recognized in this genus. Of the 24 species, 18 are endemic to Sri Lanka, while six are endemic to South India.[3]

Rhinophis
Salty earth snake, R. sanguineus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Uropeltidae
Genus: Rhinophis
Hemprich, 1820
Synonyms

[1]

Common names: shield-tail snakes, earth snakes

Geographic range

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Found mainly in Sri Lanka and also in southern India. In Sri Lanka, this genus also occurs in low plains in the dry zone.[1]

Species

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Species[2] Taxon author[2] Common name Geographic range[1]
Rhinophis blythii Kelaart, 1853 Blyth's earth snake Sri Lanka in the hills of the Central (Hatton and Pundluoya), Uva, Sabaragamuwa (Balangoda) and Southern Province.
Rhinophis dorsimaculatus Deraniyagala, 1941 polka-dot earth snake[4] Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality in the North Western Province.
Rhinophis drummondhayi Wall, 1921 Drummond-Hay's earth snake Sri Lanka in the hills of the Central and Uva Provinces (Haldumulla, Nanunukula and Uva Patnas at 1,200 m elevation).
Rhinophis erangaviraji Wickramasinghe et al., 2009 Eranga Viraj's shield-tail snake Sri Lanka.
Rhinophis fergusonianus Boulenger, 1896 Cardamom Hills shield-tail snake Southern India in the Western Ghats: the Cardamom Hills, Travancore.
Rhinophis goweri Aengals & Ganesh, 2013 Gower's shield-tail snake the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in the Bodha Malai Hills of the Namakkal District
Rhinophis gunasekarai Wickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Wickramasinghe, & Gower, 2020 Gunasekara’s shield-tail snake Sri Lanka (the Central Province)
Rhinophis homolepis (Hemprich, 1820) Trevelyan's earth snake[4] Sri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura, Yatiyantota and Balangoda Hills below 900 m), the Central and Uva Provinces
Rhinophis karinthandani Sampaio et al., 2020[5] Sri Lanka: Wayanad
Rhinophis lineatus Gower & Maduwage, 2011[6] striped earth snake Sri Lanka
Rhinophis melanogaster (Gray, 1858) Gray's earth snake Sri Lanka
Rhinophis melanoleucus Cyriac, Narayanan, Sampaio, Umesh, & Gower, 2020 India (Kerala)
Rhinophis mendisi Gower, 2020 Mendis' shield-tail snake Sri Lanka
Rhinophis oxyrynchusT (Schneider, 1801) Schneider's earth snake Sri Lanka in the dry zone of the Northern, Central and Eastern Provinces
Rhinophis philippinus (Cuvier, 1829) Peters's earth snake Sri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa and the Central Provinces
Rhinophis phillipsi (Nicholls, 1929) Phillips' earth snake Sri Lanka
Rhinophis porrectus Wall, 1921 Willey's earth snake Sri Lanka, known only from the type locality in the North Western Province
Rhinophis punctatus J.P. Müller, 1832 Müller's earth snake Sri Lanka in the Central (Kandy, Peradeniya) and Western Provinces (Puttalam)
Rhinophis roshanpererai Wickramasinghe et al., 2017[7] Roshan Perera's shield-tail snake Sri Lanka from the central hills around Badulla
Rhinophis saffragamus (Kelaart, 1853) large shield-tail snake Sri Lanka
Rhinophis sanguineus Beddome, 1863 salty earth snake Southern India in the Western Ghats: Mysore (Koppa, Kalsa), Waynad, the Nilgiris, Travancore and the Tinnevelly Hills
Rhinophis travancoricus Boulenger, 1893 Travancore earth snake Southern India: Travancore, from sea level to an elevation of about 1,200 m in the hills. In Trivandrum, Peermade, Mahendragiri, Ernakulam and Chenganacherry.
Rhinophis tricoloratus Deraniyagala, 1975 Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality: "vicinity of the rain forest of Sinha Raja to the south west of Ratnapura at an elevation of 1,500 feet with a rainfall of over 200 inches per annum".
Rhinophis zigzag Gower & Maduwage, 2011[6] zigzag shield-tail snake Sri Lanka

T) Type species.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ^ a b c "Rhinophis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  3. ^ Sampaio, Filipa L.; Narayanan, Surya; Cyriac, Vivek Philip; Venu, Govindappa; Gower, David J. (2020-11-18). "A new Indian species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 closely related to R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae)". Zootaxa. 4881 (1): zootaxa.4881.1.1. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4881.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33311126.
  4. ^ a b The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  5. ^ Sampaio, Filipa L.; Narayanan, Surya; Cyriac, Vivek Philip; Venu, Govindappa & Gower, David J. (2020-11-18). "A new Indian species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 closely related to R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae)". Zootaxa. 4881 (1): 1–24. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4881.1.1. PMID 33311126.
  6. ^ a b Gower, D.J.; Mduwage, K. (2011). "Two new species of Rhinophis Hemprich (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from Sri Lanka" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2881: 51–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2881.1.4. S2CID 86294901.
  7. ^ Wickramasinghe, L. J. Mendis; Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga; Rajeev, M. D. Gehan & Gower, David J. (2017). "A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the central hills of Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 4263 (1): 153–164. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.7. PMID 28609885.
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  • Rhinophis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 1 September 2007.
  • Aengals, R.; S. R. Ganesh 2013. Rhinophis goweri — A New Species of Shieldtail Snake from the Southern Eastern Ghats, India. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (1): 61-65.
  • Ganesh, S. R. 2015. Shieldtail snakes (Reptilia: Uropeltidae)– the Darwin's finches of south Indian snake fauna? Manual on Identification and Preparation of Keys of Snakes with Special Reference to their Venomous Nature in India., Govt. Arts College, Ooty, 13-24.
  • Pyron, R. A., Ganesh, S. R., Sayyed, A., Sharma, V., Wallach, V., & Somaweera, R. 2016. A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae). Zoosystema, 38(4), 453-506.