Xylophis

Xylophis is a small genus of snakes in the family Pareidae. The genus contains five species, all of which are endemic to the Western Ghats in southern India.^[2][3] All five species are non-venomous. They constitute the monotypic subfamily Xylophiinae. They are the only pareid snakes found in India and the only snakes in the family found outside Southeast Asia.^[1]

Xylophis
Xylophis mosaicus from Munnar
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Pareidae
Subfamily:	Xylophiinae Deepak, Ruane & Gower, 2019[1]
Genus:	Xylophis Beddome, 1878
Type species
Geophis stenorhynchus Günther, 1875

Species

The following five species are recognized as being valid:^[2][4]

• Xylophis captaini Gower & Winkler, 2007 — Captain's wood snake, Captain's xylophis
• Xylophis deepaki Narayanan, Mohapatra, Balan, Das, & Gower, 2021 — Deepak's wood snake
• Xylophis mosaicus Deepak, Narayanan, Das, Rajkumar, Easa, Sreejith, & Gower, 2020 — Anamalai wood snake
• Xylophis perroteti (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) — Perrotet's mountain snake, striped narrow-headed snake
• Xylophis stenorhynchus (Günther, 1875) — Günther's mountain snake

References

1. Deepak, V.; Ruane, Sara & Gower, David J. (2019). "A new subfamily of fossorial colubroid snakes from the Western Ghats of peninsular India". Journal of Natural History. 52 (45–46): 2919–2934. doi:10.1080/00222933.2018.1557756. hdl:10141/622619. (Xylophiinae, new subfamily)
2. Xylophis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 2 July 2020.
3. Deepak, V.; Narayanan, Surya; Das, Sandeep; Rajkumar, K.P.; Easa, P.S.; Sreejith, K.A. & Gower, David J. (2020). "Description of a new species of Xylophis Beddome, 1878 (Serpentes: Pareidae: Xylophiinae) from the Western Ghats, India". Zootaxa. 4755 (2): 231–250. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4755.2.2. PMID 32230180. S2CID 214749359.
4. Narayanan, Surya; Mohapatra, Pratyush P.; Balan, Amirtha; Das, Sandeep; Gower, David J. (15 April 2021). "A new species of Xylophis Beddome, 1878 (Serpentes: Pareidae) from the southern Western Ghats of India". Vertebrate Zoology. 71: 219–230. doi:10.3897/vz.71.e63986. ISSN 2625-8498.

Further reading

• Beddome RH (1878). "Description of a new genus of snakes of the family Calamaridæ, from Southern India". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1878: 156. (Xylophis, new genus).