Melanophidium bilineatum

Melanophidium bilineatum, commonly known as the two-lined black shield-tail snake or iridescent shield-tail snake, is a species of snake endemic to India. This species was known from only three specimens and very little information is available of it in the wild.

Melanophidium bilineatum
One of the first photographs of this species taken in the wild.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Uropeltidae
Genus:	Melanophidium
Species:	M. bilineatum
Binomial name
Melanophidium bilineatum Beddome, 1870

Geographic range

It is found in Wayanad, Kannur, Malappuram districts of Kerala which is situated in the Western Ghats in southern India. The species was described from the specimens obtained by Richard Henry Beddome from near the summit of the Periya peak in Wayanad, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet and also at a similar elevation on the Tirrhioot peak (West of Manatoddy according to M. A. Smith 1943).

Illustration published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1875.

Description

The diameter of eye one-fourth the length of the ocular shield, and the ventrals a little broader, twice as broad as the adjacent scales: ventrals 188–200; caudals 15–17. Tail as in the young of Melanophidium punctatum. Iridescent black above and below; the two colours separated by a broad, yellow stripe along scale row 2 and the adjacent halves of rows 1 and 3; it may or may not have a series of small black dots.

Further reading

• Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III. - Serpentes. Taylor and Francis. London. 583 pp.
• Beddome, R.H. 1870. Descriptions of new Reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci. 2: 169–176. [Reprint: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 327–334, 1940.]
• Beddome, R.H. 1886. An Account of the Earth-Snakes of the Peninsula of India and Ceylon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 17: 3-33.

External links

• Melanophidium bilineatum at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 13 December 2007.