Duméril's Kukri Snake

diagnosis

Diagnosis. Oligodon sublineatus shows sexual dimorphism in scalation (Table 2) and is distinguished from all congeners by the following characters: SVL 152 - 310 mm; TAL 20.0 - 42.0 mm; 130 - 161 ventrals; 23 - 42 subcaudals (divided); anal plate divided; loreal present; seven supralabials; temporals 1 + 2; ventral side with three series of dark brown points forming almost continuous stripes, with the middle series of points absent on the tail; dorsal coloration (live or in alcohol) greyish brown, speckled with small elongated spots irregularly placed; posterior part of the jaws has a large, oblique spot extending along the neck posteriorly; dorsally a " ˄ " shaped marking between the eyes, which continues laterally across them; an irregular, brown, transversal band from the frontal to the post-parietal region.

Systematics and ecology of Oligodonsublineatus Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril, 1854, an endemic snake of Sri Lanka, including the designation of a lectotype

distribution

Distribution. This species has never been recorded outside of Sri Lanka, hence we here restrict terra-typica to Sri Lanka. Wall (1921), Smith (1943), Deraniyagala (1955), De Silva (1980), de Silva (1990), Das and de Silva (2005), Somaweera (2006), Karunarathna and Amarasinghe (2010, 2011, 2012), Botejue and Wattavidanage (2012), and Karunarathna et al. (2010, 2013) recorded this species from Bellanwila-Attidiya, Beraliya, Colombo, Galle, Gammaduwa (Knuckles), Kitulgala, Kotmale, Kukulugala, Matugama, Nilgala, Peradeniya, Ratnapura, Veyangoda, Welimada, and Yatiyantota (Fig. 3). In addition to the above locations, during our fieldwork operations of the last decade we have recorded (not collected) Oligodon sublineatus from a 10 - 1600 m altitude range, including all vegetational zones of Sri Lanka: Ambalangoda (6 ° 14 ' 42.35 '' N, 80 ° 03 ' 44.56 '' E), Anuradhapura (8 ° 20 ' 46.43 '' N, 80 ° 25 ' 43.77 '' E), Atweltota (6 ° 31 ' 33.87 '' N, 80 ° 18 ' 12.02 '' E), Baduraliya (6 ° 30 ' 53.70 '' N, 80 ° 13 ' 41.81 '' E), Bibile (7 ° 10 ' 58.02 '' N, 81 ° 13 ' 43.61 '' E), Chilaw (7 ° 35 ' 11.49 '' N, 79 ° 49 ' 16.54 '' E), Deniyaya (6 ° 20 ' 11.54 '' N, 80 ° 34 ' 10.44 '' E), Elpitiya

Systematics and ecology of Oligodonsublineatus Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril, 1854, an endemic snake of Sri Lanka, including the designation of a lectotype