A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Squamata, Uropeltidae) from Siruvani Hills, Western Ghats, India

2025/10/17 by Vivek Philip Cyriac, Umesh Pavukandy, Achyuthan N. Srikanthan +2 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy

paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/evolsyst.9.150536

openalex created_date 2025/10/17 · openalex publication_date 2025/10/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

We describe a new species of uropeltid snake of the genus Rhinophis based on a series of three specimens collected from the Siruvani Hills, which is part of the Central Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of Peninsular India. Rhinophis siruvaniensis sp. nov. is diagnosed from other Indian and Sri Lankan congeners by a combination of 17 dorsal scale rows at (or well beyond) mid-body, 202–205 ventral scales, 4–8 paired subcaudals, and dark brownish-black dorsal and pale whitish blotched lateral and ventral colouration. Phylogenetic reconstructions using mitochondrial markers indicate that the new species is most closely related to R. melanoleucus , but the two species can be distinguished by their unique external morphology and geographic separation. The discovery of this species from outside protected areas in the Attappadi Plateau highlights the need for improved protection of the remaining forests in the Siruvani Hills.

Citations

• MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space
• Posterior Summarization in Bayesian Phylogenetics Using Tracer 1.7
• IQ-TREE 2: New Models and Efficient Methods for Phylogenetic Inference in the Genomic Era
• MEGA11: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Version 11

Discussions

• A new species of burrowing snake of the genus Rhinophis is described from India's Western Ghats: doi.org/10.3897/evol... #snakes #taxonomy #newspecies [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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