Oligodon woodmasoni

Oligodon woodmasoni
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Oligodon
Species:	O. woodmasoni
Binomial name
Oligodon woodmasoni (Sclater, 1891)[2]
Synonyms[3]
Simotes wood-masoni Sclater, 1891 Oligodon woodmasoni — Wall, 1923 Oligodon woodmasoni — Wallach et al., 2014

Oligodon woodmasoni, the yellow-striped kukri snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Nicobar Islands of India.

Etymology

The specific name, woodmasoni, is in honor of English zoologist James Wood-Mason.[4]

Description

M.A. Smith reported that the holotype of this species was missing from the ZSI Kolkata collections. The species was rediscovered in 2002 and a new specimen was deposited at the ZSI.[5]

The details of the specimen, ZSI25503 are as follows:

Snout-to-vent length: 440 mm (17 in). Tail length: 80 mm (3.1 in).
Dorsal scale rows: at neck 18; at midbody 17.
Ventrals: 185. Subcaudals: 46.
Supralabials: 6 (4th in contact with the eye). Infralabials: 7.

Reproduction

O. woodmasoni is oviparous.[3]

References

1. Mohapatra, P. (2021). "Oligodon woodmasoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T202847A2757306. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T202847A2757306.en. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
2. Sclater WL (1891). "Notes on the Collection of Snakes in the Indian Museum, with descriptions of several new species". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 60: 230-250 + Plate VI. (Simotes wood-masoni, new species, pp. 235-236 + Plate VI, figures 2a-2d).
3. Species Oligodon woodmasoni at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
4. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Oligodon woodmasoni, p. 289).
5. Krishnan S (2003). "The distribution of some reptiles in the Nicobar Islands, India". ANET technical report - May 2003.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (Simotes woodmasoni, p. 223).
• Sharma RC (2003). Handbook: Indian Snakes. Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India. 292 pp. ISBN 978-8181711694.
• Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Oligodon woodmasoni, pp. 218–219, Figure 73).
• Vijayakumar SP, David P (2006). "Taxonomy, Natural History, and Distribution of the Snakes of the Nicobar Islands (India), Based on New Materials and with an Emphasis on Endemic Species". Russian Journal of Herpetology 13 (1): 11–40.