Saturday, August 27, 2016

Sri Lanka wolf snake (Lycodon carinatus)

Scales are identical in size and keeled.

English: Sri Lanka wolf snake
Binomial: Lycodon carinatus
Sinhala: දාර රදනකයා[Dara Radanakaya]

Sri Lanka wolf snake is an endemic and nocturnal species of snakes found in Sri Lanka. They mainly live in lowland wet and submontane zones and prefer damp forest areas. Above photographed one also found while it was in a wet place of the forest ground. This species is non-venomous. But it greatly mimics deadly venomous Sri Lankan krait in morphology and coloration. This snake has identically sized rough scales on the back and those have been keeled. But Kraits have large hexagonal line of scales running down the spine and the body of the Krait is shiny compared to the Sri Lankan wolf snake.

Referaces: 
  •  L. J Mendis Wickramasinghe: Recognizing Deadly Venomous Snakes form Harmless Snakes of Sri Lanka – Dilmah conservation
  •  Richira Somaweera : Snakes of Sri Lanka[in Sinhala]

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