Madurai Shieldtail
Uropeltis madurensis
Uropeltis madurensis, also known commonly as the Madura earth snake and the Madurai shieldtail, is an endangered species of small, fossorial, nonvenomous snake of the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.
From the article Uropeltis madurensis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Range & habitat
U. madurensis is endemic to the Cardamom Hills consisting of Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary and Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu state and the Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala state, both in the Western Ghats.
Wikipedia: “Geographic range”
What it does
A fossorial, nocturnal snake, U. madurensis is known to hide under stones, fallen logs, and rocks during day time. Active during rains, in the monsoon season, especially after dark, it comes to the surface to forage.
Wikipedia: “Behaviour”
In human culture
U. madurensis was first described by Richard Henry Beddome in 1878, when he collected the type specimen from the High Wavy Mountains or Meghamalai Hills.
Wikipedia: “History”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Uropeltis madurensis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 540302.