Beddome's Black Shieldtail, Melanophidium punctatum, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of shieldtail snake found in the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Description

Snout rounded; rostral small, just visible from above; frontal as long as its distance from the end of the snout j suture between the ocular and the frontal less than one third the length of the latter shield. Eye very small. Diameter of body 42 to 48 times in the total length. 15 scales round the middle of the body, 17 behind the head. Ventrals rather more than twice as broad as the contiguous scales, 184-198; subcaudals 15-18. Black above, beautifully iridescent; ventrals and the two lower series of scales on each side with a broad white border.

Type locality: "Travancore, [..] under a stone in the Muti-Kuli Vayal, a little valley on the Asamboo range (4,500 feet elevation)"

External links

• M. punctatum image 1/2 at Uetz Lab. Accessed 13 December 2007.
• M. punctatum image 2/2 at Uetz Lab. Accessed 13 December 2007.