Uropeltis broughami (Beddome, 1878)

Pyron, Robert Alexander, Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan, Sayyed, Amit, Sharma, Vivek, Wallach, Van & Somaweera, Ruchira, 2016, A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae), Zoosystema 38 (4), pp. 453-506 : 490

Uropeltis broughami (Beddome, 1878)

Silybura broughami Beddome, 1878b: 800 . Putatively two syntypes: BMNH 1883.1.12.23 (= 1946.1.16.29) and MNHN-RA-1895.89, as listed by Wallach et al. (2014). However, Beddome (1878b) described only a single specimen, and Boulenger (1893a) lists BMNH 1946.1.16.29 as the holotype. Additionally, the MNHN specimen resembles Beddome’s (1878b) description of one of the two Silybura levingii syntypes, and likely represents one of those specimens (BMNH 1946.1.16.35-36), sent to Paris. We regard BMNH 1946.1.16.29 as the holotype of Silybura broughami . Type locality: Sirumalai and Palni hills, Tamil Nadu state, India.

Silybura levingii Beddome, 1878b: 801 . Two syntypes: BMNH 1946.1.16.35-36. Type locality: Lower Pulney hills, Tamil Nadu state, India. Designated as a junior subjective synonym by Beddome (1886). The specimen MNHN-RA-1895.89 is listed as a type in the Paris catalogue, and appears to represent one of the two syntypes BMNH 1946.1.16.35-36, likely sent from London at a later date. See Beddome (1878b).

DISTRIBUTION. — Palni hills in the southern Western Ghats of India, c. 1230-1680 m ( Roux 1928; Ganesh 2015).

DESCRIPTION

Maximum total length c. 410 mm, ventrals 195-230, subcaudals 7-10, dorsal scales in 19 rows at midbody ( Smith 1943). Smith (1943) also reports one putative specimen with 181 ventrals, and the specimen dissected here has 173. In contrast to the classification of Smith (1943) as state II, the tail appears to match more closely his state I in the specimens examined, being partially compressed dorsally but still somewhat rounded on top, with the expanded dorsal scales multi-carinate. The terminal scute is expanded and terminates in two points. The tail appears more similar to U. beddomii or U. ellioti , than to U. macrolepis as stated by Smith (1943). We classify it as our Type IV. The snout is “Alternate Pointed”, with an enlarged, pointed, and recurved rostral. Distinctive color-pattern, with a primarily brown dorsal and ventral coloration, and irregular rows of yellow spots ventrolaterally, and yellow flecking randomly on the other dorsal scales. The single specimen dissected has a much smaller right lung (16% of SVL) than any other Uropeltis specimen examined (mean of 25% SVL), as well as a more posterior left kidney (91% vs 85%), and more anterior gallbladder (55% vs 69%).

REMARKS

This is a very rare species that is not frequently sighted or collected, based on a dearth of published records. Roux (1928) recorded this species from Thandikudi in the Palni hills. The specimen dissected here, CAS 9113, was collected by Herre in 1940 at Kodai Kanal in the Palni hills c. 6000 ft, a region where Uropeltis broughami and U. woodmasoni are putatively sympatric ( Roux 1928; Wall 1928; Rajendran 1985). The specimen has 173 ventrals, placing it in the range of U. woodmasoni (166-183), but strongly resembles the original description of U. broughami and the body form and color pattern of MNHN-RA-1895.89 (likely a syntype of Silybura levingii ) almost exactly, being more slender than U. woodmasoni and having irregular black crossbands with yellowish-white spots and yellow blotches on the sides of the body and tail. Given the small number of specimens known from this area, the status of these species is unclear, but it seems likely that there is much greater taxonomic uncertainty than implied by currently recognized species boundaries, diagnoses, and known geographic distributions. A recent long-term herpetological study in Sirumalai ( Ganesh & Arumugam 2016), concluded its absence there based on lack of sightings.