Taxonomic reassessment of two Indian shieldtail snakes in the Uropeltis ceylanicus species group (Reptilia: Uropeltidae)

A new species of shieldtail snake (Squamata: Uropeltidae: Uropeltis) from the Bengaluru uplands, India

“…These materials originate from two, nearby (40 airline km apart) hill ranges -Devarayana Durga (type locality) and Nandi Durga. Shieldtail snakes, especially the diverse genus Uropeltis is a radiation of cryptic species (Cyriac & Kodandaramiah 2017), with each of the constituent species displaying very subtle morphological variations (Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014;Jins et al 2018; and occupying small, allopatric geographic ranges (Pyron et al 2013;Ganesh 2015). In the case of U. jerdoni sp.…”

“…The new species belongs to Smith's (1943) Group II, in having an obliquely truncate tail, terminating in a thickened, circumscribed, concave caudal disc covered with multicarinate scales (see Smith 1943). Comparisons are presented as differential diagnosis, following the pattern in works on the genus Uropeltis by Ganesh et al (2014) and . Museum abbreviations are as follows: CSPT-Chennai Snake Park Trust, Chennai, India; J TT Referred specimen (n= 1).…”

“…Further, Uropeltis jerdoni sp. nov. also differs from the remaining congeners (after Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014; with a thickened, circumscribed, caudal shield categorized under Smith's (1943) Group II A & B as follows (only opposing suite of character states listed): U. arcticeps (southern Western Ghats): dorsal scales lacking a clearly defined yellow scale border; ventral scale counts much lower (127-128); U. bicatenata (northern Western Ghats): yellowish scalloping chain-like pattern across both sides of the body; ventral scale count 130-141; U. broughami (southern Western Ghats): 19 midbody scalerows; rostral scale much produced and ridged with a dorsal keel; dorsum brown with distinct small, yellowblack-edged transverse ocelli; ventral scale counts much higher (181-230); U. ceylanica s. auct. (Western Ghats): anterior dorsum without distinct yellow spots; venter lacking a clearly defined brownish scale border; ventral scale counts much lower (119-146; 130 (northern Western Ghats): 15 midbody scalerows; lower ventral scale counts (120-140); dorsum blackish-brown with yellow broken spots forming zig-zag crossbars or annuli or a pair of distinct, thick, yellowish-orange paravertebral stripes extending across most of the body except near neck, where there are two large orange spots; U. madurensis (southern Western Ghats): snout much more rounded in profile; body colour rich brown, dorsal scales with a clearly defined yellow scale border throughout the back, giving a yellow-reticulated appearance; no ventrolateral yellow reticulations, but ventrals with large alternating yellow blotches; ventral scale count 144-157; U. myhendrae (southern Western Ghats): dorsum with brownish-black body, each scale with yellowish posterior border forming more or less complete band or annuli; part of rostral visible from above distinctly longer than its distance from frontal; ventral scales 139-156; U. phipsoni (northern Western Ghats): a pair of yellowish lateral streaks along both sides of the body; part of rostral visible from above distinctly longer than its distance from the frontal; ventral scales 138-157; U. rajendrani (southern Eastern Ghats): ventrals 146-158; rounded snout profile; body deep ochre brown; presence of yellow colouration in the ventral scales; part of rostral visible from above, not much longer than its distance from frontal; U. rubromaculata (southern Western Ghats): presence of two large red caudal spots; much lower ventral counts (127-136); U. rubrolineata (southern Western Ghats): presence of two ventrolateral red stripes; much higher ventral counts (165-172); U. shorttii (southern Eastern Ghats, allopatric): dorsal body brownish or bluish-black, with distinct yellowish annuli or crossbars; ventral scales 137-156.…”

“…The genus Uropeltis Cuvier, 1829 currently consists of 25 species occurring in the hills of peninsular India (Pyron et al 2016;Jins et al 2018;. The first species in this genus that was described was Uropeltis ceylanica Cuvier, 1829, a species that is currently considered to be a complex (Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014) and with an erroneous type locality 'Ceylon' that is outside the known distribution of the species (see Pyron et al 2016). Of late, two species U. bicatenata (Günther, 1864) and U. shorttii (Beddome, 1863) previously considered invalid were resurrected and one species U. madurensis (Beddome, 1878) that was previously considered a subspecies, was elevated to a full species rank (see Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014).…”

“…The first species in this genus that was described was Uropeltis ceylanica Cuvier, 1829, a species that is currently considered to be a complex (Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014) and with an erroneous type locality 'Ceylon' that is outside the known distribution of the species (see Pyron et al 2016). Of late, two species U. bicatenata (Günther, 1864) and U. shorttii (Beddome, 1863) previously considered invalid were resurrected and one species U. madurensis (Beddome, 1878) that was previously considered a subspecies, was elevated to a full species rank (see Gower et al 2008;Ganesh et al 2014). In recent times, two new species Uropeltis bhupathyi Jins, Sampaio, Gower, 2018 and Uropeltis rajendrani Ganesh & Achyuthan, 2020 were described from the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, respectively (Jins et al 2018;.…”