Common names: shield-tail snakes, earth snakes
Rhinophis is a genus of nonvenomous shield-tail snakes found in Sri Lanka and South India. Currently, 24 species (with no subspecies) are recognized in this genus. Of the 24 species, 18 are endemic to Sri Lanka, while six are endemic to South India.
Geographic range Found mainly in Sri Lanka and also in southern India. In Sri Lanka, this genus also occurs in low plains in the dry zone.
Species SpeciesTaxon authorCommon nameGeographic rangeRhinophis blythiiKelaart, 1853Blyth's earth snakeSri Lanka in the hills of the Central (Hatton and Pundluoya), Uva, Sabaragamuwa (Balangoda) and Southern Province.Rhinophis dorsimaculatusDeraniyagala, 1941polka-dot earth snakeThe Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality in the North Western Province.Rhinophis drummondhayiWall, 1921Drummond-Hay's earth snakeSri Lanka in the hills of the Central and Uva Provinces (Haldumulla, Nanunukula and Uva Patnas at 1,200 m elevation).Rhinophis erangavirajiWickramasinghe et al., 2009Eranga Viraj's shield-tail snakeSri Lanka.Rhinophis fergusonianusBoulenger, 1896Cardamom Hills shield-tail snakeSouthern India in the Western Ghats: the Cardamom Hills, Travancore.Rhinophis goweriAengals & Ganesh, 2013Gower's shield-tail snakethe Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in the Bodha Malai Hills of the Namakkal DistrictRhinophis gunasekaraiWickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Wickramasinghe, & Gower, 2020Gunasekara's shield-tail snake Sri Lanka (the Central Province)Rhinophis homolepis(Hemprich, 1820)Trevelyan's earth snakeSri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura, Yatiyantota and Balangoda Hills below 900 m), the Central and Uva ProvincesRhinophis karinthandaniSampaio et al., 2020Sri Lanka: WayanadRhinophis lineatusGower & Maduwage, 2011striped earth snakeSri Lanka Rhinophis melanogaster(Gray, 1858)Gray's earth snakeSri LankaRhinophis melanoleucusCyriac, Narayanan, Sampaio, Umesh, & Gower, 2020 India (Kerala)Rhinophis mendisiGower, 2020Mendis' shield-tail snake Sri LankaRhinophis oxyrynchusT(Schneider, 1801)Schneider's earth snakeSri Lanka in the dry zone of the Northern, Central and Eastern ProvincesRhinophis philippinus(Cuvier, 1829)Peters's earth snakeSri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa and the Central ProvincesRhinophis phillipsi(Nicholls, 1929)Phillips' earth snakeSri Lanka Rhinophis porrectusWall, 1921Willey's earth snakeSri Lanka, known only from the type locality in the North Western ProvinceRhinophis punctatusJ.P. Müller, 1832Müller's earth snakeSri Lanka in the Central (Kandy, Peradeniya) and Western Provinces (Puttalam)Rhinophis roshanpereraiWickramasinghe et al., 2017Roshan Perera's shield-tail snakeSri Lanka from the central hills around BadullaRhinophis saffragamus(Kelaart, 1853)large shield-tail snakeSri LankaRhinophis sanguineusBeddome, 1863salty earth snakeSouthern India in the Western Ghats: Mysore (Koppa, Kalsa), Waynad, the Nilgiris, Travancore and the Tinnevelly HillsRhinophis siruvaniensisCyriac, Umesh, Achyuthan, Vidisha Kulkarni & Ganesh, 2025Southern India in the Western Ghats: the Siruvani HillsRhinophis travancoricusBoulenger, 1893Travancore earth snakeSouthern India: Travancore, from sea level to an elevation of about 1,200 m in the hills. In Trivandrum, Peermade, Mahendragiri, Ernakulam and Chenganacherry.Rhinophis tricoloratusDeraniyagala, 1975Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality: "vicinity of the rain forest of Sinha Raja to the south west of Ratnapura at an elevation of 1,500 feet with a rainfall of over 200 inches per annum".Rhinophis zigzagGower & Maduwage, 2011zigzag shield-tail snakeSri Lanka ) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type species.
References
External links
Aengals, R.; S. R. Ganesh 2013. Rhinophis goweri — A New Species of Shieldtail Snake from the Southern Eastern Ghats, India. Russ. J. Herpetol. 20 (1): 61-65. Ganesh, S. R. 2015. Shieldtail snakes (Reptilia: Uropeltidae)– the Darwin's finches of south Indian snake fauna? Manual on Identification and Preparation of Keys of Snakes with Special Reference to their Venomous Nature in India., Govt. Arts College, Ooty, 13-24. Pyron, R. A., Ganesh, S. R., Sayyed, A., Sharma, V., Wallach, V., & Somaweera, R. 2016. A catalogue and systematic overview of the shield-tailed snakes (Serpentes: Uropeltidae). Zoosystema, 38(4), 453-506.