Lycodon travancoricus

<h2 id="description">Description</h2>

<p><i>Lycodon travancoricus</i> is dark brown or black dorsally, with white crossbands and white lineolations on the sides. Ventrally it is uniform white. It is very similar to <i><a href="/facts/Lycodon_striatus/KeApHvet">Lycodon striatus</a></i>, but the upper lip is brown, or white spotted with brown.
</p><p>The dorsal scales are smooth, in 17 rows. The ventrals number 175-202; the anal is entire; and the subcaudals are 56–76, usually double, but sometimes single.
</p><p>Adults may attain 60 cm (23+1⁄2 inches) in total length, with a tail 12.5 cm (4+7⁄8 inches) long Maximum 742mm (29 in).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
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<h2 id="geographic-range">Geographic range</h2>
<p>It is <a href="/facts/Endemic/xt4IpIsl">endemic</a> to <a href="/facts/Peninsular_India/XqkE3NdU">Peninsular India</a>. It is a hill-dwelling species, preferring high-elevation wet forests. It occurs in the <a href="/facts/Western_Ghats/KzX5UdRo">Western Ghats</a> across <a href="/facts/Kerala/DMP5u40q">Kerala</a>, <a href="/facts/Tamil_Nadu/ouqcjUKE">Tamil Nadu</a>, <a href="/facts/Karnataka/NhJAc4t9">Karnataka</a>, <a href="/facts/Goa/KKXvbLSS">Goa</a>, southern <a href="/facts/Gujarat/HwmVfMwr">Gujarat</a> and southern parts of the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Ghats/Et3HNaYz">Eastern Ghats</a> in <a href="/facts/Tamil_Nadu/ouqcjUKE">Tamil Nadu</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> and also in the <a href="/facts/Maldives/sC2HeXby">Maldives</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p><p>Populations from the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Ghats/Et3HNaYz">Eastern Ghats</a> and <a href="/facts/Deccan_Plateau/dDtSAQnd">Deccan Plateau</a> in <a href="/facts/Andhra_Pradesh/d51Lb0kX">Andhra Pradesh</a> and <a href="/facts/Karnataka/NhJAc4t9">Karnataka</a> previously mistaken to be this species, have now been classified as a distinct species <a href="/facts/Lycodon_deccanensis/NcB943Wn">Lycodon deccanensis</a>.
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<h2 id="habits-and-habitat">Habits and Habitat</h2>
<p>It is a <a href="/facts/Nocturnal/PqAkbpKf">nocturnal</a>, <a href="/facts/Oviparous/oSgSIVHY">oviparous</a>, non-venomous snake. It prefers <a href="/facts/Forest/RnMtb31v">forests</a>, both <a href="/facts/Evergreen_forest/MFmRRUcR">evergreen</a> and <a href="/facts/Deciduous/7jQHVtdd">deciduous</a>, on windward <a href="/facts/Plain/yM1ghtmc">plains</a> and <a href="/facts/Hill/wnUG3lUL">hills</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lycodon travancoricus.

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Richard_Henry_Beddome/MuozcLsX">Beddome, R. H.</a> 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]</li>
<li>Chandramouli, S. R. and S. R. Ganesh 2010. Herpetofauna of southern Western Ghats, India – Reinvestigated after decades. Taprobanica 2 (2): 72-85 - get paper here</li>
<li>Constable, JOHN D. 1949. Reptiles from the Indian Peninsula in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 103: 59–160. - get paper here</li>
<li>Ganesh SR, Amarasinghe AAT, Vogel G. 2020a. Redescription of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Colubridae), an Indian endemic snake, with a review of its geographic range. Taprobanica 9(1): 50–58.</li>
<li>Ganesh, SR; Deuti, K; Punith, KG; Achyuthan, NS; Mallik, AK; Vogel, Gernot (2020). "A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms". Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. 17 (3): 74–84.</li>
<li>Inger, Robert F.;Shaffer, H. Bradley;Koshy, Mammen;Bakde, Ramesh 1984. "A report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from the Ponmudi, Kerala, South India." <i>J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.</i> 81 (3): 551–570.</li>
<li>Smith, M.A. 1943. <i>The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes)</i>. Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.</li>
<li>Wall, F. 1905. "Notes on Snakes collected in Cannanore from 5th November 1903 to 5th August 1904". <i>J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.</i> 16: 292.</li>
<li>Wall,F. 1919. "Notes on a collection of Snakes made in the Nilgiri Hills and the adjacent Wynaad." <i>J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.</i> 26: 552–584.</li>
<li>Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. <i>Snakes of India.</i> Draco Books, 500 pp.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. p. 355 & Plate XXIV., figure 3. <a href="/wiki/George_Albert_Boulenger" target="_blank">/wiki/George_Albert_Boulenger</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Das, Indraneil. 2002. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of India. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. 144 pp. (Lycodon travancoricus, p. 39) <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Das, 2002, p. 39. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Lycodon travancoricus open-in-new

Lycodon travancoricus