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Twin-spotted wolf snake facts for kids

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Lycodon jara
AB117 Lycodon jara.JPG
A twin-spotted wolf snake from North Bengal.
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Genus:
Lycodon
Species:
jara
Synonyms

Coluber jara Shaw, 1802
Lycodon jara - Schlegel, 1837
Coluber bipunctatus Cantor, 1839
Leptorhytaon jara - Günther, 1858
Lycophidion bipunctatum - Peters, 1863
Lycodon jara - Stoliczka, 1871

Lycodon jara, commonly known as the twin-spotted wolf snake, is a species of colubrid snake. It is endemic to Asia.

Distribution

AB119 Lycodon jara - scales
Dorsal scales of Lycodon jara showing the yellow "twin spots" to which the common name refers

Found in Bangladesh, India (Assam, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, West Bengal and parts of Uttar Pradesh) and Nepal.

Description

Snout much depressed; eye rather small. Rostral much broader than long, just visible from above; internasals much shorter than the prefrontals; frontal as long as or a little shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals; loreal elongate, not entering the eye; one pre-ocular; two post-oculars; temporals small, 1 + 2; 9 or 10 upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are longer than the posterior.

Dorsal scales smooth, in 17 rows. Ventrals 167–175, not angulate laterally; anal divided; subcaudals 56–63, in two rows.

Coloration in alcohol (for preserved specimens): brown above, each scale with two white dots or short longitudinal lines; labials white; usually a white collar; lower surface uniform white.

Total length 35 cm (1334 inches); tail 6 cm (238 inches).

AB118 Lycodon jara - annotated scale diagram

Gallery

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