''Aspidura ceylonensis'', also known as the Ceylon keelback,
[ black-spined snake, or slender mould snake,]colubrid
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from , 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest fossil species of the family date back to the Late Eocene epoch, with earlier origins suspected. Colu ...
snake endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to Sri Lanka.
Distribution
''Aspidura ceylonensis'' is a semi-fossorial snake from submontane forests. Restricted to submontane forests and plantations of the Central Highlands, including Pussellawa, Gampola
Gampola (, ) is a town located in Kandy District, in Sri Lanka's Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province. The town is governed by an Urban Council. Gampola was made the capital of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four year ...
, Hatton, Knuckles, Balangoda, Pundaluoya, Ramboda, Kotagala, Namunukula, Mousakanda, Gammaduwa, and Kotmale, up to about of elevation.
Description
The head is long and the snout is broadly rounded. The neck is indistinct and the body is slender with cylindrical, short tail. The dorsal side is crimson brown with a black vertebral line, hence given the name. The dorsum of fore-body is brown. Laterally there are a series of black spots in a line and the neck region has a dark brown marking. The venter is crimson colored. Adults are in length.ventral scales
In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that cont ...
and 37–56 subcaudal scales
In snakes, the subcaudal scales are the enlarged plates on the underside of the tail. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. (7t ...
. The scales are smooth and iridescent.
Ecology
It is a nocturnal and terrestrial snake that lives in damp soil, silted-up drains, beneath heaps of decaying leaves, and in similar places where there are earthworms, its primary prey.
Reproduction
Clutches of two to five eggs are produced in the months of August to November.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3010292
ceylonensis
Snakes of Asia
Reptiles of Sri Lanka
Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka
Taxa named by Albert Günther
Reptiles described in 1858