El leucismo es una afección caracterizada por la reducción de toda la pigmentación de la piel, generalmente observada en animales. En esta nota describimos los primeros casos conocidos de leucismo en la ardilla de palmera de tres rayas en el hábitat forestal fragmentado de la división de bosques de Gudalur, Tamil Nadu, sur de la India.

The construction of a road, directly and indirectly, impacts on the ecosystems where the road is built.  Highways passing through national reserves/wildlife sanctuaries have an adverse impact on wild animals.  The present survey was conducted to estimate the road kills on the state highways passing through the Nilgiri north territorial forest division (19km) and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (15km) in Sigur Plateau, Tamil Nadu, India.  The road kills were monitored three times a month between July 2013 and December 2013 (six months) and a total of 176 road kills belonging to 30 species were recorded.  Reptiles were the most affected taxa (39%), followed by mammals (33%) and birds (21%).  Amphibians were least affected by vehicular traffic and comprised 7% of the total kills.  According to road stretch category, the overall road kill was N=135 in the forested area and N=41 in human habitations.  A total of 812 food materials were encounterd  612km with average of  1.32 food materials / km. Conservation and management implications are essential to prevent the local extinction of wildlife.

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On 3 September 2016 at 15.30hr, we came across a dead snake on a rock in the Sigur (11.5312700N & 76.7697310E, elevation 945m) a rain-shadow area in the Nilgiris landscape, Tamil Nadu, India. This specimen is confirmed to be Platyceps bholanathi following major key characters with available literature. Our record is important because it not only significantly extends the range from earlier records but it is also the first report of this species from the Nilgiri Landscape. We believe that our present note will encourage further studies on this group.