Common names: shield-tail snakes, earth snakes
Rhinophis is a genus of nonvenomous shield-tail snakes found in Sri Lanka and South India. Currently, 24 species (with no subspecies) are recognized in this genus. Of the 24 species, 18 are endemic to Sri Lanka, while six are endemic to South India.[1]
Found mainly in Sri Lanka and also in southern India. In Sri Lanka, this genus also occurs in low plains in the dry zone.
| Species | Taxon author | Common name | Geographic range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhinophis blythii | Kelaart, 1853 | Blyth's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the hills of the Central (Hatton and Pundluoya), Uva, Sabaragamuwa (Balangoda) and Southern Province. |
| Rhinophis dorsimaculatus | Deraniyagala, 1941 | polka-dot earth snake[2] | Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality in the North Western Province. |
| Rhinophis drummondhayi | Wall, 1921 | Drummond-Hay's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the hills of the Central and Uva Provinces (Haldumulla, Nanunukula and Uva Patnas at 1,200 m elevation). |
| Rhinophis erangaviraji | Wickramasinghe et al., 2009 | Eranga Viraj's shield-tail snake | Sri Lanka. |
| Rhinophis fergusonianus | Boulenger, 1896 | Cardamom Hills shield-tail snake | Southern India in the Western Ghats: the Cardamom Hills, Travancore. |
| Rhinophis goweri | Aengals & Ganesh, 2013 | Gower's shield-tail snake | the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in the Bodha Malai Hills of the Namakkal District |
| Rhinophis gunasekarai | Wickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Wickramasinghe, & Gower, 2020 | Gunasekara’s shield-tail snake | Sri Lanka (the Central Province) |
| Rhinophis homolepis | (Hemprich, 1820) | Trevelyan's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura, Yatiyantota and Balangoda Hills below 900 m), the Central and Uva Provinces |
| Rhinophis karinthandani | Sampaio et al., 2020[3] | Sri Lanka: Wayanad | |
| Rhinophis lineatus | Gower & Maduwage, 2011[4] | striped earth snake | |
| Rhinophis melanogaster | (Gray, 1858) | Gray's earth snake | Sri Lanka |
| Rhinophis melanoleucus | Cyriac, Narayanan, Sampaio, Umesh, & Gower, 2020 | India (Kerala) | |
| Rhinophis mendisi | Gower, 2020 | Mendis' shield-tail snake | Sri Lanka |
| Rhinophis oxyrynchusT | (Schneider, 1801) | Schneider's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the dry zone of the Northern, Central and Eastern Provinces |
| Rhinophis philippinus | (Cuvier, 1829) | Peters's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the hills of Sabaragamuwa and the Central Provinces |
| Rhinophis phillipsi | (Nicholls, 1929) | Phillips' earth snake | |
| Rhinophis porrectus | Wall, 1921 | Willey's earth snake | Sri Lanka, known only from the type locality in the North Western Province |
| Rhinophis punctatus | J.P. Müller, 1832 | Müller's earth snake | Sri Lanka in the Central (Kandy, Peradeniya) and Western Provinces (Puttalam) |
| Rhinophis roshanpererai | Wickramasinghe et al., 2017[5] | Roshan Perera's shield-tail snake | Sri Lanka from the central hills around Badulla |
| Rhinophis saffragamus | (Kelaart, 1853) | large shield-tail snake | Sri Lanka |
| Rhinophis sanguineus | Beddome, 1863 | salty earth snake | Southern India in the Western Ghats: Mysore (Koppa, Kalsa), Waynad, the Nilgiris, Travancore and the Tinnevelly Hills |
| Rhinophis travancoricus | Boulenger, 1893 | Travancore earth snake | Southern India: Travancore, from sea level to an elevation of about 1,200 m in the hills. In Trivandrum, Peermade, Mahendragiri, Ernakulam and Chenganacherry. |
| Rhinophis tricoloratus | Deraniyagala, 1975 | Sri Lanka. Known only from the type locality: "vicinity of the rain forest of Sinha Raja to the south west of Ratnapura at an elevation of 1,500 feet with a rainfall of over 200 inches per annum". | |
| Rhinophis zigzag | Gower & Maduwage, 2011 | zigzag shield-tail snake | |