Lycodon jara

Lycodon jara, commonly known as the twin-spotted wolf snake, is a species of colubrid snake. It is endemic to Asia.

Lycodon jara
A twin-spotted wolf snake from North Bengal.

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Lycodon
Species:
L. jara
Binomial name
Lycodon jara
(Shaw, 1802)[2]
Synonyms

Coluber jara Shaw, 1802
Lycodon jara - Schlegel, 1837
Coluber bipunctatus Cantor, 1839
Leptorhytaon jara - Günther, 1858
Lycophidion bipunctatum - Peters, 1863
Lycodon jara - Stoliczka, 1871[3]

Distribution
Dorsal scales of Lycodon jara showing the yellow "twin spots" to which the common name refers

Found in Bangladesh, India (Assam, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nadia District, West Bengal and parts of Uttar Pradesh) and Nepal.

Description

Snout much depressed; eye rather small. Rostral much broader than long, just visible from above; internasals much shorter than the prefrontals; frontal as long as or a little shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals; loreal elongate, not entering the eye; one pre-ocular; two post-oculars; temporals small, 1 + 2; 9 or 10 upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are longer than the posterior.

Dorsal scales smooth, in 17 rows. Ventrals 167–175, not angulate laterally; anal divided; subcaudals 56–63, in two rows.

[Coloration in alcohol:] brown above, each scale with two white dots or short longitudinal lines; labials white; usually a white collar; lower surface uniform white.[4]

Total length 35 cm (13¾ inches); tail 6 cm (2⅜ inches).[5]

References
  1. Captain, A. (2010). "Lycodon jara". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2010: e.T176843A7315760. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T176843A7315760.en. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. Shaw, G. 1802 General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol.3, part 1 + 2. G. Kearsley, Thomas Davison, London: 313-615
  3. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I. London.
  4. Boulenger, G. A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
  5. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I. London.

Other references
  • Lanza, B. 1999 A new species of Lycodon from the Philippines, with a key to the genus (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). Tropical Zoology 12: 89-104


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