Month: July 2021

Non-venomous
Common Name: CHECKERED KEELBACK 
Odia Name: ଧଣ୍ଡ ସାପ
Zoological Name: Xenocrophis piscator
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – I

Scales keeled. Glossy olive green, olive brown, yellow, brown, grey or black, with a checkered body pattern. Pattern may vary from light markings to bold, black, closely set spots or checks. Region between “checks” sometimes marked with varying shades of pink or red.

Purkayastha et al. 2018 (Zootaxa 4514:126–136) suggested to place this snake under the genus Fowlea. However, Dasmahapatra et al. 2020 (Herpetological Review 51(1):160) used the name X. piscator.

Look-alikes: Nil

Non-venomous
Common Name: INDIAN RAT SNAKE 
Odia Name: ଢମଣା
Zoological Name: Ptyas mucosa
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – I

Pale yellow, brown, grey or black colour. Scales smooth with keeled upper rows. Body lightly or strongly marked with black; markings usually prominent on tail. Lip scales usually separated by vertical black lines.

Look-alikes: Cobras
Banded Racer
King Cobra

Non-venomous
Common Name: STRIPED KEELBACK 
Odia Name: ମIଟିବିରାଡି
Zoological Name: Amphiesmastolatum
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – II

Slenderbody with keeled scales.Head light brown or olive above,lips and area in front and behind eye yellowish.Throat white or yellow. Brown back with two distinct ribbon-likeyellowish stripes from neck to tip of tail. Forebody has additional black or darkbrown cross-bars or spots that fade towards the tail.

Look-alikes: Common Trinket Snake

Non-venomous
Common Name: BRONZE-BACK TREE SNAKE 
Odia Name: କାଣ୍ଡନାଳ ସାପ
Zoological Name: Dendrelaphis tristis
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – II

Smooth-scaled. Long, slender body. Bronze-brown or purplish-brown back with a dark brown or black stripe on either side of body. Light blue tinges observed in the forebody region when aggressively flatten its body. Tail very long.

Look-alikes: Nil

Non-venomous
Common Name: RUSSELL’S KUKRI 
Odia Name: ରସେଲଙ୍କ କୁକ୍ରି ସାପ
Zoological Name: Oligodontaeniolatus
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – II

Smooth scaled. Typical ‘Ʌ’shaped marks seen as on other kukri snakes. Markings on head and back extremely variable. Pale brown with a series of thin black cross-lines formed by black scale edges on the back.

Look-alikes: Saw-scaled Viper
Common Cat Snake

Non-venomous
Common Name: Banded Kukri 
Odia Name: କୁକ୍ରି ସାପ
Zoological Name: Oligodon arnensis
Family: Colubridae
WL(P)A – Schedule – II

Non-venomous. Smooth scaled. Typical ‘Ʌ’ shaped marks seen as on other kukri snakes; round pupil in eyes. Pointed tip in short tail. Brown back with 10-20 distinct black or dark brown bands and three ‘Ʌ’ shaped marks of same color on head. The cross-bands with variable. Often mistaken as the Banded Krait with body – triangular in cross-section, enlarged hexagonal scales along the midback and distinctly rounded tail tip.

Look-alikes: Banded Krait