The Western Kukri is a species of snake found in the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 of India south of the Goa Gap

Goa Gap

The Goa Gap is one of the major passes in the Western Ghats, between the Maharashtra and Karnataka sections....

. They are brown above with a reddish patch appearing like a bird silhouette on the head. The underside is patterned in yellow and black.

Description

See snake scales

Snake scales

Snakes, like other reptiles, have a skin covered in scales. Snakes are entirely covered with scales or scutes of various shapes and sizes. Scales protect the body of the snake, aid it in locomotion, allow moisture to be retained within, alter the surface characteristics such as roughness to aid in...

for terminology used

Scales smooth. 17 mid body scales rows. Ventrals 128-133 in males, 130-145 in females. Anals 2, paired subcaudals 31-36 in males and 23-30 in females. 7 Subralabials with 3 and 4 touching eye. Loreal absent.
Nasal divided; portion of rostral seen from above half as long as its distance from the frontal; suture between the internasals as long as that between the prefrontals, or a little shorter; frontal much longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals; no loreal, the posterior nasal sometimes forming a suture with the preocular; preocular single, two postoculars, temporals 1+2 or 1+1+2; upper labials 7, third and fourth touching the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields; posterior chin-shields about two thirds the length of the anterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 129-142; anal divided; subcaudals 25-36. Brown above, with more or less distinct darker cross-lines; head with dark symmetrical transverse markings, which are usually connected by a median longitudinal streak. Lower surface white ( in spirit) with square black spots, both colours being distributed in nearly equal proportion.

Total length 13 inches; tail 2.

External links

• http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Oligodon_affinis1.jpg
• http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Oligodon_affinis2.jpg