Mountain Worm-eating Snake

description

Description. Body elongate, cylindrical and slender, SVL 181 – 257 mm; head short (HL / SVL 4.4 – 5.1 %), ovoid, not distinct from a thick neck; snout rounded, extended slightly beyond lower jaw; nostril oval and small; eye rather small, pupil rounded; tail short (TAL / TOL 11.7 – 12.6 % for females; all males have incomplete tails), robust at its base, tapering progressively to end; tip of tail pointed. Rostral small, slightly visible from above; nasal single, irregular pentagon shaped, with nostril positioned middle anteriorly; internasals 2, wider than long, in contact with nasal, loreals, rostral, and prefrontals; prefrontals 2, much larger than internasals, irregular pentagonal, wider than long, half as long as frontal; supraoculars narrow, long, 2 times longer than wide; frontal large, irregular hexagonal shaped, 1.5 times longer than wide; parietals large, longer than wide, 1.4 times longer than frontal; loreal scale 1 / 1, rectangular, 1.5 times longer than deep, in contact with nasal, internasal, prefrontal, preocular, and first two supralabials; supralabials 6 / 6, 2 - 2 - 2, first two in contact with nasal, third and fourth entering orbit, sixth largest; preocular 1 / 1,

Confirmation of Trachischium guentheri (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Tibet, China, with description of Tibetan T. monticola

distribution

Distribution. In China, Trachischium monticola is only known from a few localities in Medog County, Nyingchi Prefeture, Tibet (Fig. 2 E). It is also reported from northeast India, Bangladesh, and Nepal (Smith 1943; Schleich & Kästle 2002).

Confirmation of Trachischium guentheri (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Tibet, China, with description of Tibetan T. monticola