Lytorhynchus paradoxus
Encyclopedia
Sind Longnose Sand Snake (Lytorhynchus paradoxus) is a species of snake found in the desert areas of Pakistan
and India
(Rajasthan
).
Snout long and acutely pointed; rostral with a lateral deft; suture between the internasals shorter than that between the pre-frontals and shorter than the upper part of the rostral; frontal nearly as long as its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals: supraocular narrow; three preoculars; two post-oculars; temporals 2+2 or 2+3; upper labials 8, fifth entering the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter but much broader than the posterior. Scales in 19 rows. Ventrals slightly angulate laterally, 169-175; anal divided; sub-caudals 40-53. Cream-colour above, with a dorsal series of transverse brown spots and a less distinct lateral series of smaller spots on each side; a large rhomboidal brown spot on the back of the head, and a brown band behind the eye; lower parts white.
Total length of 14 inches; tail 2-3.
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
).
Description
Maxillary teeth 6 to 9 posterior much longer than anterior; mandibular teeth subequal. Head slightly distinct from neck, with cuneiform projecting snout; eye moderate, pupil vertically elliptical; rostral large, four-sided, projecting, concave inferiorly; nostril an oblique slit between two nasals. Body elongate, cylindrical; scales smooth, without apical pits, in 19 rows; ventrals obtusely angulate laterally; tail moderate; subcaudals in two rows. Distribution. Three species are known in the genus L. diadema, ranging from Algeria to Persia; L. ridgewayi, Blgr., from Afghanistan and Turkestan; and L. paradoxus from Sind. Desert snakes, adapted for burrowing in the sand.Snout long and acutely pointed; rostral with a lateral deft; suture between the internasals shorter than that between the pre-frontals and shorter than the upper part of the rostral; frontal nearly as long as its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals: supraocular narrow; three preoculars; two post-oculars; temporals 2+2 or 2+3; upper labials 8, fifth entering the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter but much broader than the posterior. Scales in 19 rows. Ventrals slightly angulate laterally, 169-175; anal divided; sub-caudals 40-53. Cream-colour above, with a dorsal series of transverse brown spots and a less distinct lateral series of smaller spots on each side; a large rhomboidal brown spot on the back of the head, and a brown band behind the eye; lower parts white.
Total length of 14 inches; tail 2-3.