View source for Lycodon travancoricus

{{Short description|Species of snake}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Speciesbox 
| image = Travancore wolf snake Lycodon travancoricus by Krishna Khan.jpg
| status = LC 
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |author=Srinivasulu, C. |author2=Srinivasulu, B. |year=2013 |title=''Lycodon travancoricus'' |volume=2013 |page=e.T172643A1357787 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T172643A1357787.en |access-date=2 June 2023}}</ref> 
| genus = Lycodon
| species = travancoricus
| authority = ([[Richard Henry Beddome|Beddome]], 1870)
| synonyms = *''Cercaspis travancoricus'' <small>[[Richard Henry Beddome|Beddome]], 1870</small>
*''Lycodon travancoricus'' <br />&ndash; <small>[[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger]], 1890</small>
*''Lycodon aulicus travancoricus'' <br />&ndash; <small>Constable, 1940</small>
*''Lycodon travancoricus'' <br />&ndash; <small>[[Malcolm Arthur Smith|M.A. Smith]], 1943</small><ref>The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.com.</ref>
}}

'''''Lycodon travancoricus''''', commonly known as the '''Travancore wolf snake''', is a [[species]] of [[colubrid]] snake [[endemic]] to south [[India]].

==Description==
[[File:Lycodon travancoricus.jpg|thumb|left|Head]]
''Lycodon travancoricus'' is dark brown or black dorsally, with white crossbands and white lineolations on the sides. Ventrally it is uniform white. It is very similar to ''[[Lycodon striatus]]'', but the upper lip is brown, or white spotted with brown.

The dorsal scales are smooth, in 17 rows. The ventrals number 175-202; the anal is entire; and the subcaudals are 56–76, usually double, but sometimes single.

Adults may attain 60&nbsp;cm ({{frac|23|1|2}} inches) in total length, with a tail 12.5&nbsp;cm ({{frac|4|7|8}} inches) long Maximum 742mm (29&nbsp;in).<ref>[[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger, G.A.]] 1893. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ...'' Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. p. 355 & Plate XXIV., figure 3.</ref>

==Geographic range==
It is [[endemic]] to [[Peninsular India]]. It is a hill-dwelling species, preferring high-elevation wet forests. It occurs in the [[Western Ghats]] across [[Kerala]], [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Karnataka]], [[Goa]], southern [[Gujarat]] and southern parts of the [[Eastern Ghats]] in [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref> and also in the [[Maldives]].<ref>Das, Indraneil. 2002. ''A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of India''. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. 144 pp. (''Lycodon travancoricus'', p. 39)</ref>

Populations from the [[Eastern Ghats]] and [[Deccan Plateau]] in [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Karnataka]] previously mistaken to be this species, have now been classified as a distinct species [[Lycodon deccanensis]].

==Habits and Habitat==
It is a [[nocturnal]], [[oviparous]], non-venomous snake. It prefers [[forest]]s, both [[Evergreen forest|evergreen]] and [[deciduous]], on windward [[plain]]s and [[hill]]s.<ref>Das, 2002, p. 39.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Lycodon travancoricus}}
* [[Richard Henry Beddome|Beddome, R. H.]] 1870 Descriptions of new reptiles from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci., 2: 169-176 [Reprint.: J. Soc. Bibliogr. Nat. Sci., London, 1 (10): 327–334, 1940]
* Chandramouli, S. R. and S. R. Ganesh 2010. Herpetofauna of southern Western Ghats, India – Reinvestigated after decades. Taprobanica 2 (2): 72-85 - get paper here
* Constable, JOHN D. 1949. Reptiles from the Indian Peninsula in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 103: 59–160. - get paper here
* Ganesh SR, Amarasinghe AAT, Vogel G. 2020a. Redescription of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) (Reptilia: Colubridae), an Indian endemic snake, with a review of its geographic range. Taprobanica 9(1): 50–58.
* Ganesh, SR; Deuti, K; Punith, KG; Achyuthan, NS; Mallik, AK; Vogel, Gernot (2020). "A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms". Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. 17 (3): 74–84.
* Inger, Robert F.;Shaffer, H. Bradley;Koshy, Mammen;Bakde, Ramesh 1984. "A report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from the Ponmudi, Kerala, South India." ''J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.'' 81 (3): 551–570.
* Smith, M.A. 1943. ''The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes)''. Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
* Wall, F. 1905. "Notes on Snakes collected in Cannanore from 5th November 1903 to 5th August 1904". ''J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.'' 16: 292.
* Wall,F. 1919. "Notes on a collection of Snakes made in the Nilgiri Hills and the adjacent Wynaad." ''J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.'' 26: 552–584.
* Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. ''Snakes of India.'' Draco Books, 500 pp.

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2713955}}

[[Category:Lycodon|travancoricus]]
[[Category:Reptiles of India]]
[[Category:Reptiles described in 1870]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Richard Henry Beddome]]