Calliophis castoe
Castoe's coral snake (Calliophis castoe ) is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to Western Ghats in western peninsular India.[1]
| Castoe's coral snake | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Genus: | Calliophis |
| Species: | C. castoe |
| Binomial name | |
| Calliophis castoe Smith et al., 2012 | |
Etymology
C. castoe is named after biologist, Todd A. Castoe.[1]
Geographic range
Castoe's coral snake is found in semi-evergreen and wet forests in the central part of Western Ghats across Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.[1] Despite its occurrence in lowland and mountainous parts of relatively well-populated areas, it was described only in 2009. Earlier collectors such as Phipson and Wall had collected dark specimens of C. nigrescens from locations that now record this species, which have now been identified as this species.[1] In 1887, in a paper describing 10 venomous snakes of the (then) Bombay Presidency, Phipson describes a specimen of what he considered to be Calliophis nigrescens collected by Vidal in Carwar (now Karwar in Uttara Kannada) and deposited in the Bombay Natural History Society. Phipson describes the snake as having black upper parts and uniformly red under-parts, possibly based on notes sent in a telegram by Vidal.[2] Later on Vidal describes the same specimen in a paper on venomous snakes of North Kanara as C. nigrescens.[3]
References
- Smith, Eric N.; Ogale, Hemant; Deepak, V.; Giri, Varad B. (24 August 2012). "A new species of coralsnake of the genus Calliophis (Squamata: Elapidae) from the west coast of peninsular India". Zootaxa. 3437 (1): 51. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3437.1.5. ISSN 1175-5334.
- Phipson. "The poisonous snakes of the Bombay presidency". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 2: 4 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- Vidal, G. W. (1890). "A list of the venomous snakes of Kanara; with remarks as to the imperfections of existing records of the distribution of snakes, and facts and statistics showing the influence of Echis carinata on the death-rate of the Bombay Presidency". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 5: 64–71 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Further reading