Aspidura Drummondhayi
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''Aspidura drummondhayi'', commonly known as Drummond-Hay's rough-sided snake or කෙටිවල් මැඩිල්ලා (''ketiwal medilla'') in Sinhala, is a
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of snake in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Colubridae 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. C ...
. The species is
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 Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
.


Etymology

The
specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''drummondhayi'', is in honor of Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (1869-1932), who was a planter and
naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and who was the son of
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
Colonel Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (1814-1896). Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Aspidura drummondhayi'', p. 76).


Geographic range

''A. drummondhayi'' is a burrowing snake from the low hills of southwestern Sri Lanka. Localities recorded are
Balangoda Balangoda is a town in Ratnapura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an urban council located away from Colombo and from Ratnapura on Colombo - Batticaloa Highway(A4). It is one of the largest towns of the Sabaragamuwa Pro ...
region, and from Sinharaja, at elevations over .


Description

The head of ''A. drummondhayi'' is indistinct from the neck, and the body is cylindrical. The dorsum is chocolate-brown with faint mottling. A dark vertebral stripe, one scale wide, runs from the snout to the tail tip. There are two pairs of faint dark stripes on the paravertebral region of each side. The forehead is dark. The venter is light brown with faint mottling.


Scalation

''A. drummondhayi'' has
dorsal scales In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales. Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publis ...
arranged in 15 rows at midbody. Preoculars are absent. There are 2 postoculars which are in contact with the parietal.
Ventrals 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 ...
number 113-119.
Subcaudals 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 ...
number 18-26.


Reproduction

Drummond-Hay's rough-sided snake is known to lay 4
eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...
at a time.


References


Further reading

* Boulenger GA (1904). "Description of a New Snake". ''Spolia Zeylanica, Colombo Museum'' 2: 95-96 + one plate. (''Aspidura drummondhayi'', new species). * 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. (''Aspidura drummondhayi'', p. 338). * Wall F (1921). ''Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon''. Colombo, Ceylon ri Lanka Colombo Museum. (H.R. Cottle, Government Printer). xxii + 581 pp. (''Aspidura drummondhayi'', pp. 213–214).


External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2866866 drummondhayi Reptiles described in 1904 Reptiles of Sri Lanka Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger