Himalayan keelback

The Himalayan keelback (Herpetoreas platyceps) is a species of grass snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia.

Himalayan keelback
at Mussoorie, India
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Herpetoreas
Species:
H. platyceps
Binomial name
Herpetoreas platyceps
(Blyth, 1854)
Synonyms[1]

Geographic range

H. platyceps is known from India along the sub-Himalayan region, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and China between 1000 and 3600 m elevation (about 3,300 to 11,800 feet).

Description

H. platyceps has the following characteristics: Eye moderate; rostral just visible from above; suture between the internasals as long as that between the pre-frontals or shorter; frontal longer than its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals; loreal longer than deep ; one preocular (sometimes divided); two or three postoculars; temporals 1+1, or 1+2, or 2+2; 8 upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are much shorter than the posterior chin shields.

Dorsal scales in 19 rows, faintly or feebly keeled. 177-235 ventrals; anal divided; subcaudals 75-107, also divided.

Olive-brown above, with small black spots; frequently two black parallel lines or an elliptic marking on the nape; a light, black-edged streak on each side of the head, or a black line from eye to gape (corner of mouth); belly yellowish, with or without blackish dots; frequently a black line or series of elongate blackish spots along each side of the belly; lower surface of tail frequently mottled with blackish; throat sometimes black. In life, a coral-red band is said to run along the ends of the ventrals.[2]

Total length 90 cm (3 feet); tail 23 cm (9 inches).[3]

Notes
  1. Wall, 1923
  2. G.E. Shaw et al., 1939
  3. Malnate, 1960
  4. Guo et al., 2014

References
  1. Herpetoreas platyceps at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database
  2. Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Tropidonotus platyceps, pp. 343-344).
  3. Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ Aglyphæ, Part. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Tropidonotus platyceps, p. 248).

Further reading
  • Blyth E (1855). "Notices and descriptions of various reptiles, new or little known [part 2]". J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Calcutta 23 (3): 287-302 [1854].
  • Cardew AG (1896). "A rough key to the identification of Indian ophidia". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 10: 585-596.
  • Hubrecht AAW (1882). "List of reptiles and amphibians brought from British India by Mr. Francis Day". Notes Leyden Mus., Leiden 4: 138-144.
  • Kramer E (1977). "Zur Schlangenfauna Nepals ". Rev. suisse Zool. 84 (3): 721-761. (in German).
  • Malnate EV (1966). "Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth) and Amphiesma sieboldii (Günther): sibling species (Reptilia: Serpentes)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 63 (1): 1-17.
  • Schleich HH, Kästle W (2002). Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books. 1,200 pp.
  • Shaw GE, Shebbeare EO, Barker PE (1939). "The snakes of northern Bengal and Sikkim, Part 4. The colubrine snakes". J. Darjeeling Nat. Hist. Soc. 13: 114-123.
  • Shaw GE, Shebbeare EO, Barker PE (2000). The snakes of Sikkim and Bengal [reprint]. Dehli: Asiatic Publishing House. 125 pp.
  • Steindachner F (1867). "Ueber drei neue Schlangenarten [Calamaria philippinica]". Verh. zool.-botan. Ges. Wien 17: 513-516. (in German).
  • Tillack F (2003). "Über die Verbreitung und Biologie der Himalaya-Gebirgswassernatter Amphiesma platyceps (Blyth 1854) und einen Fall von Amphigonia retardata (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) ". Sauria 25 (1): 21-27. (in German).
  • Wall F (1913). "A new snake of the genus Tropidonotus from the Eastern Himalayas. Tropidonotus Firthi, spec. nov. ". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23: 166.
  • Wall F (1923). "A Hand-list of the Snakes of the Indian Empire. Part 2". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 29: 598-632.
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