Sahyadriophis uttaraghati is brown to dark gray in coloration with black and white markings that are randomly found toward the posterior of the body.
Researchers with the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation in India, the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the The Natural History Museum of London have created a new genus for two snake species, the Nilgiri keelback, (Sahyadriophis beddomei) formerly of the genus Hebius, and a new snake species, Sahyadriophis uttaraghati, also known as the Northern Sahyadri keelback.
Sahyadri means Western Ghats in Sanskrit, and ophis is Greek for snakes. Uttaraghati also comes from the Sanskrit language, ‘uttara’ for north and ‘ghati’ which means of the mountains/Ghats.
Sahyadriophis uttaraghati is brown to dark gray in coloration with black and white markings that are randomly found toward the posterior of the body. It is white in the anterior and turns what the researchers say is a cream and yellow coloration on the posterior. The head is sometimes seen with a light colored bar at the nape and a post ocular white or lighter colored edged with black that reaches downward from the nape. It has a snout to vent length that ranges from 365 to 425mm with 19 keeled dorsal scales at its mid body.
Images of Sahyadriophis gen. nov. in life, (a) Sahyadriophis uttaraghati gen. et. sp. nov. holotype ♂ NCBS NRC-AA-0024, (b) juvenile Sahyadriophis beddomei gen. et. comb. nov. (uncollected) from Madikeri, (c) adult male Sahyadriophis beddomei gen. et. comb. nov. Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala; photos by Harshil Patel (a), Zeeshan A. Mirza (b,c).
Sahyadriophis uttaraghati was found in a dry stream bed during the day, appearing diurnal. It was observed feeding on frogs of the Indirana genus, as well as eggs of Nyctibatrachus, another frog species endemic to the Western Ghats. The researchers say the new species is known to occur from the northern and central areas of the Western Ghats, while Sahyadriophis beddomei can be found in the remaining area of the Western Ghats. Based on the data the researchers have collected, the researchers propose to treat both species as data deficient until more distribution and biology data is available.
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The complete paper, “Systematic Assessment of Hebius beddomei (Günther, 1864) (Serpentes: Colubridae: Natricinae) with Description of a New Genus and a New Allied Species from the Western Ghats, India” can be read on the MDPI Journal website.
