Rosebelly Worm-eating Snake

description

Description. Body elongated, SVL 341 mm, cylindrical, slender; tail short, TAL 62 mm, TAL / TOL 15.4 %, relatively thick, only tapering close to most posterior end; tip of tail pointed with sharp end. Head short (HL / SVL 3.1 %), ovoid, indistinguishable from neck; snout rounded, extended slightly beyond lower jaw; eye rather small, pupil rounded; head scalation complete, smooth; rostral small, slightly visible from above; nasal single, somewhat rectangular shaped, with nostril located middle anteriorly; internasals 2, narrow, wider than long, in contact with loreals; prefrontals 2, large, pentagonal, nearly as broad as long, 0.5 times as long as frontal, contacting loreals, preocular, supraoculars, and frontal; supraocular singular on each side, elongated, twice longer than wide; frontal in irregular hexagon shape, about 1.3 times longer than wide; parietals 2, large, longer than wide, about 1.5 times longer than frontal; loreal 1 / 1, rectangular, 2 times longer than deep, in contact with nasal, internasal, prefrontals, supralabials, and preoculars; supralabials 2 - 2 - 2, first and second in contact with nasal, second and third in contact with loreal, sixth largest; preocular 1

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

distribution

Distribution. In China, this species is only known from Zhangmu, a small town at the China-Nepal border in Nyalam County, southeastern Tibet (Fig. 1). It was also reported from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal (Chettri et al. 2009). Suggested Chinese Name. According to the scientific and common names (Guenther’s Worm-eating Snake), we suggest the Chinese name as “ Geng Shi Ni She (ṞKaeẘ) ”.

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