Platyceps ventromaculatus

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Infraordo: Caenophidia
Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Colubrinae
Genus: Platyceps
Species: Platyceps ventromaculatus
Subspecies: P. v. bengalensis – P. v. indusai – P. v. ventromaculatus
Name

Platyceps ventromaculatus (Gray, 1834)

Type locality: Upper and lower Indus Valley.
Synonyms

Coluber ventromaculatus Gray, 1834: 80
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — Günther, 1859: 223
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — Boulenger, 1887: 408
Zamenis ventrimaculatus — Boulenger, 1893: 399
Zamenis ventrimaculatus Boulenger, 1920
Coluber ventrimaculatus Corkill, 1932
Coluber ventromaculatus — Haas, 1957: 79
Coluber ventromaculatus —Schätti & Wilson, 1986
Coluber ventromaculatus — Das, 1996: 55
Platyceps ventromaculatus — Schätti & Monsch, 2004
Argyrogena ventromaculatus — Sharma, 2004
Platyceps ventromaculatus — Nagy et al., 2004

References

Gray. J.E. 1835: Illustrations of Indian Zoology, chiefly selected from the collection of Major - General Hardwicke. Vol. 2. London (1833-1834): 263 pp., 95 plates.
Schätti B. & Monsch, P. 2004: Systematics and phylogenetic relationships of Whip snakes (Hierophis Fitzinger) and Zamenis andreana Werner 1917 (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubrinae). Rev. Suisse Zool. 111 (2): 239–256.
Nagy, Z.T.; R. Lawson, U. Joger, M. Wink 2004: Molecular systematics of racers, whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 42 (3): 223–233.
Platyceps ventromaculatus at the New Reptile Database. Accessed on 6 nov 2008.

Vernacular names
English: Hardwicke's Rat Snake

Platyceps ventromaculatus, the glossy-bellied racer or Hardwicke's rat snake or Gray's rat snake, is a species of rat-snake or racer.

Distribution

SW Asia from north India to south Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan (Leviton 1959: 461), Uzbekistan, Iraq, Iran, Jordan (Disi 1993), Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (along the Arabian Sea) to Israel.

Recorded in South Asia from Chitral in the north to Almora in Kumaon, Uttarakhand state, south to the Khandesh area in Maharashtra.
Status

Not uncommon.
Closeup of head of glossy-bellied racer
Description

It is a graceful snake with smooth, round, elongate, gradually tapering body with the tail more than one-fourth the total length. It has a moderately narrow head. It ranges from grey, olive-brown, olive-green or dirty yellow. It has a series of black rhomboidal cross-bars on the back. The scales forming the cross-bars normally have colour on the edges only. The sides have similar smaller spots alternating with interspaces which may be broader or narrower than them. The belly is yellow to white with glossy scales.

The head is of the body-colour with or without symmetrical darkish markings. These would consist of :-

Blackish spot between lores. A black streak obliquely placed below the eye. A black stripe from the temporal area to the gape.
A cross-bar and two stripes on the nape.

Size

Adults are usually 90 to 120 cm in length and have been recorded to grow up to 1.28 m (Smith, 1943).
Body markings of glossy-bellied racer
Identifying characteristics

Costals in 19:19:15 or 13 rows.
Anal 2.
Supralabials (upper lip scales).
The 4th, 5th and 6th touch the eye. The 4th and 9th are divided.
In some rare cases, the 3rd and 8th may be divided in some case, with the 3rd, 4th and 5th touching the eye.
The nostril occupies two-thirds of the suture between the nostrils.
The tail is more than one-fourth the total length.

Races

bengalensis
India; Type locality: Bengal, description from fig 1 Plate 80 of Gray 1830–35; holotype destroyed.
indusai
Pakistan; Type locality: Upper and lower Indus Valley; no holotype specified [indusai].

Yellow to white belly of glossy-bellied racer
Habitat

Inhabits mainly stony hillsides, open or cultivated land and sometimes in congested urban areas. It has been recorded in Pokaran district in the Thar desert also.
Habits

A fast active snake which gives rise to its name - racer. Normally seen in open country. When alarmed it quickly retreats into cover. It hibernates in winter. These snakes have been known to live as long as five years.
Diet

Largely feeds on lizards.
Reproduction

Oviparous. Gravid female racers have been obtained in early summer. About 9 eggs are laid. They hatch around September. The young snakes are 30–33 centimetres (12–13 in) long.
Local names

Arabic – Dawaid-al-khail.
Urdu – Sagi.

The racer held in the hand
References

Daniels, J.C. (2002). Book of Indian Reptiles and Amphibians. Mumbai: Bombay Natural History Society/Oxford University Press.
Barabanov, Andrei (2003). "Taxonomic status of Coluber ventromaculatus bengalensis Khan et Khan, 2000 (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae)". Russian J. Herpetol. 9 (3):255. [2002]
Gray, J.E. (1835). Illustrations of Indian Zoology, Chiefly Selected from the collection of Major-General Hardwicke. Vol. 2. London. 263 pp. + 95 plates.
Günther, A. (1859). "On the geographical distribution of reptiles". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Third Series 3: 221–237.
Schätti, B; Wilson, L.D. (1986). "Coluber Linnaeus. Holarctic racers". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (399) : 1-4
Schätti, B.; Monsch, P. (2004). "Systematics and phylogenetic relationships of Whip snakes (Hierophis Fitzinger and Zamenis andreana Werner 1917) (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubrinae)". Rev. Suisse Zool. 111 (2): 239–256.
Smith, Malcolm A. (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp.
Whitaker, Romulus (2006). Common Indian Snakes: A Field Guide. Revised edition. New Delhi: MacMillan India Ltd.