SNAKE CHECKLIST

OF

ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS

INDIA. (as at April 2012)

Current Common Names are referred from Whitaker R. and A. Captain. 2004.

Current Genus and Species are referred from REPTILE DATABASE

Checklist Of 25 Species Of Snakes From Andaman Islands India. Belonging To 6 Families & 22 Genera.

( Specimens with *  are ENDEMIC )

FAMILY – TYPHLOPIDAE

• • Ramphotyphlops braminus ( Daudin, 1803 )
  • Brahminy Worm Snake
• • Gerrhopilus andamanensis ( Stoliczka, 1871 )*
  • Andaman Worm Snake*

  ( = Typhlops andamanensis)

• • Typhlops oatesii  Boulenger, 1890
  • Oates’ Worm Snake

FAMILY – ACROCHORDIDAE

• • Acrochordus granulatus ( Schneider, 1779 )
  • File Snake

FAMILY – COLUBRIDAE

• • Gonyosoma oxycephalum ( Boie, 1827 )
  • Red-tailed Trinket Snake
• • Coelognathus flavolineatus ( Schlegel, 1837 )
  • Black-tailed Trinket Snake
• • Ptyas mucosa ( Linnaeus, 1758 )
  • Indian Rat Snake
• • Dendrelaphis andamanensis ( Anderson, 1871 )*
  • Andaman Green Bronzeback Tree Snake*
• • Chrysopelea paradisi  Boie, 1827
  • Paradise Flying Snake
• • Lycodon hypsirhinoides  (Theobald, 1868) *
  • Andaman Wolf Snake*
• • Lycodon tiwarii   Biswas & Sanyal, 1965 *
  • Tiwari’s Wolf Snake*
• • Xenochrophis tytleri ( Blyth, 1863 )*
  • Andamans Keelback*
• • Boiga ochracea walli  Smith, 1943
  • Wall’s Tawny Cat Snake
• • Boiga andamanensis ( Wall, 1909 )*
  • Andaman Cat Snake*

FAMILY – HOMALOPSIDAE

• • Cerberus rynchops ( Schneider, 1799 )
  • Dog-faced Water Snake
• • Gerarda prevostiana ( Eydoux & Gervais, 1837 )
  • Glossy Marsh Snake
• • Cantoria violacea  Girard, 1857
  • Yellow-banded Mangrove Snake

FAMILY – ELAPIDAE

• • Bungarus andamanensis  Biswas & Sanyal, 1978*
  • Andaman Krait*
• • Naja sagittifera   Wall, 1913 *
  • Andaman Cobra*
• • Ophiophagus hannah ( Cantor, 1836 )
  • King Cobra

FAMILY – HYDROPHIDAE

• • Laticauda laticaudata ( Linnaeus, 1758 )
  • Common or Black-Lipped Sea Krait
• • Laticauda colubrina ( Schneider, 1799 )
  • Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait
• • Microcephalophis cantoris ( Gunther, 1864 )
  • Cantor’s Narrow-headed Sea Snake
• • Pelamis platurus ( Linnaeus, 1766 )
  • Black & Yellow Sea Snake

FAMILY – VIPERIDAE

• • Trimeresurus andersoni  Theobald, 1868 *
  • Andaman Pit Viper*

Checklist Of 25 Species Of Snakes From Nicobar Group Of Islands Belonging To 8 Families & 19 Genera.

( Specimens with *  are ENDEMIC )

FAMILY – TYPHLOPIDAE

• • Ramphotyphlops braminus ( Daudin, 1803 )
  • Brahminy Worm Snake

FAMILY-XENOPELTIDAE

• • Xenopeltis unicolor  Boie, 1827
  • Sunbeam Snake

FAMILY-PYTHONIDAE

• • Broghammerus reticulatus ( Schneider, 1801 )
  • Reticulated Python

  ( = Python reticulatus )

FAMILY-ACROCHORDIDAE

• • Acrochordus granulatus ( Schneider, 1779 )
  • File Snake

FAMILY-COLUBRIDAE

• Coelognathus sps. ( S. Harikrishnan, B.C. Choudhary & Karthikeyan Vasudevan , 2010 )

• • Gongylosoma nicobariense ( Stoliczka, 1870 )*
  • Nicobar Stripe-necked Snake*
• • Oligodon woodmasoni ( Sclater, 1891 )*
  • Yellow-Striped Kukri Snake*
• • Dendrelaphis humayuni  Tiwari & Biswas, 1973 *
  • Nicobar Bronzeback Tree Snake*
• • Lycodon subcinctus  Boie, 1827
  • Malayan wolfsnake
• • Lycodon tiwarii  Biswas & Sanyal, 1965 *
  • Tiwari’s Wolf Snake*
• • Sibynophis bistrigatus ( Gunther, 1868 )
  • Pegu Black-headed Snake
• • Amphiesma nicobarense ( Sclater, 1891 )*
  • Nicobar Keelback*
• • Xenochrophis tytleri ( Blyth, 1863 )*
  • Andaman Keelback Water Snake*

  ( Reported as Xenocrophis melanzostus ( Gravenhorst, 1807 ), by Vijayakumar and David, 2006. )

• • Xenochrophis trianguligerus ( Boie, 1827 )
  • Triangle-spotted Keelback
• • Boiga cyanea ( Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril, 1854 )
  • Green Cat Snake
• • Boiga wallachi  Das, 1997 *
  • Nicobar Cat Snake*

Family – HOMALOPSIDAE

• • Enhydris plumbea ( Boie, 1827 )
  • Plumbeous Smooth-scaled Water Snake
• • Cerberus rynchops ( Schneider, 1799 )
  • Dog-faced Water Snake
• • Fordonia leucobalia ( Schlegel, 1837 )
  • Crab-eating Water Snake

FAMILY-HYDROPHIDAE

• • Laticauda colubrina ( Schneider, 1799 )
  • Yellow-lipped Sea Krait
• • Pelamis platurus ( Linnaeus, 1766 )
  • Black & Yellow Sea Snake

FAMILY-VIPERIDAE

• • Trimeresurus cantori ( Blyth, 1846 )*
  • Cantor’s Pit Viper*
• • Trimeresurus andersoni  Theobald, 1868 *
  • Andaman Pit Viper*
• • Trimeresurus albolabris  Gray, 1842
  • White-Lipped Pit Viper
• • Trimeresurus labialis  Fitzinger, 1867 *
  • Nicobar Pit Viper*

Above checklist is based on pers.obs. and sources cited below

• Smith, 1943.
• Sclater, 1891.
• Biswas and Sanyal, 1965.
• Murthy and Chakrapani, 1983.
• Das and Chandra, 1994.
• Das, 1999.
• Ghodke S. and Andrews H. 2001b.
• Whitaker R. and A. Captain. 2004.
• Gernot Vogel, Patrick David, 2006.
• Vijayakumar and David, 2006.
• S. Harikrishnan, Karthikeyan Vasudevan and B.C.Choudhury, 2010.
• Vogel, Gernot and Johan van Rooijen, 2011.

• For details see
• References Page