Platyceps Edward Blyth erected the genus Platyceps in 1860. The genus name “Platyceps” was inadvertently used for a fossil species in 187...
Platyceps
Edward Blyth erected the genus Platyceps in 1860. The genus name “Platyceps” was inadvertently used for a fossil species in 1877 now recognized as “Platycepsion wilkinsoni”.
Currently 26 species come under this genus which is: Platyceps afarensis (Schätti & Ineich, 2004); Platyceps bholanathi (Sharma, 1976); Platyceps noeli (Schätti, Tillack & Kucharzewski, 2014); Platyceps brevis (Boulenger, 1895); Platyceps rhodorachis (Jan, 1865); Platyceps rogersi (Anderson, 1893); Platyceps collaris (F. Müller, 1878) ; Platyceps saharicus (Schätti & McCarthy, 2004); Platyceps scortecci (Lanza, 1963); Platyceps elegantissimus (Günther, 1878); Platyceps florulentus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827); Platyceps sinai (Schmidt & Marx, 1956); Platyceps sindhensis (Schätti, Tillack & Kucharzewski, 2014); Platyceps gracilis (Günther, 1862); Platyceps insulanus (Mertens, 1965); Platyceps karelini (Brandt, 1838); Platyceps ladacensis (Anderson, 1871); Platyceps somalicus (Boulenger, 1896); Platyceps taylori (Parker, 1949); Platyceps tessellata (F. Werner, 1910); Platyceps thomasi (Parker, 1931); Platyceps variabilis (Boulenger, 1905); Platyceps largeni (Schätti, 2001) & Platyceps messanai (Schätti & Lanza, 1989)
Platyceps rhodorachis (Source: reptile-database)Jan's Cliff racer | Platyceps rhodorachis Jan, 1865
Platyceps rhodorachis is commonly known as Jan's Cliff racer or Braid snake. It is a species of snake which fall under family colubridae & found in Central Asia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Oman, Afghanistan, S Uzbekistan, Yemen, S Kazakhstan, W Kyrgyzstan, NW Tajikistan, S Turkmenistan, Iran (Kavir Desert), W Pakistan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Chad & Eritrea.
Scientific classification
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Kingdom:
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Animalia
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Phylum:
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Chordata
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Class:
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Reptilia
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Order:
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Squamata
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Suborder:
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Serpentes
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Family:
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Colubridae
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Genus:
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Platyceps
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Species:
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rhodorachis
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Binomial name
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Platyceps
rhodorachis (Jan, 1865)
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It is the most controvert species between researchers regarding its taxonomy, species namely Platyceps r. subniger distributed from Eritrea to Somalia, Platyceps r. ladacensis distributed in Iran, east to Afghanistan, north to S Turkmenistan, S Uzbekistan, W Tajikistan., Pakistan, Platyceps r. kashmirensis reported from Pakistan are considered the sub species of Platyceps rhodorachis.
Platyceps rhodorachis (Source: reptile-database)Scalation in P.rhodorachis is as: Supralabial 9, usually 5th-6th touches the (rarely 4th-6th) eye, there are 9-11 infralabials acknowledged, midbody scale are arranged as 19: 19:13/15; ventral’s are 195-277 angulated laterally, where subcaudals are between 108-144. The total length (snout to vent) of the specimens recorded are 859-1043 mm, while that of tail is 244-354 mm. Distinctive pre and post oculo-labial stripes are present in the species. The colour of the species shows variation such as: Head was recorded as gray to brownish colour having light yellowish preocular and postocular bar; while that of body it is light to average gray & sometimes may be brownish or greenish in colour, where anterior half of body have small traverse bars, posterior unicolour.
Reproduction: oviparous
Literature Cited:
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Platyceps rhodorachis at Reptile-database.reptarium.cz retrieved on 29 August 2019
Glossy-bellied-racer at Indiansnakes.org retrieved on 29 August 2019
Platyceps at Wikipedia.org retrieved on 29 August 2019
Platyceps rhodorachis at Wikipedia retrieved on 29 August 2019
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Mulder, J. 2002. The Thread Snake, Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus (Reptilia: Leptotyphlopidae) as a presumed prey item for the racer Coluber rhodorachis (Reptilia: Colubridae). Zoology in the Middle East, 26: 89 - get paper here
Murthy, T.S.N. 1990. Illustrated Guide to the Snakes of the Western Ghats, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper No. 114
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Ramesh, C., Balraj, S., Arun, P. R., Ramapurath, K.S., Murugesan, M., Abhijit, D. and Subramanian, B. 2015. Further confirmation for Platyceps rhodorachis (Jan, 1865), from India, with a note on feeding on Cyrtodactylus fasiolatus (Blyth, 1861). Herpetozoa, 28 (1/2): 109-112 - get paper here
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