About Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870)
Lycodon travancoricus is dark brown or black on its dorsal side, with white crossbands and white linear markings along the sides. Its ventral side is solidly white. This species is very similar to Lycodon striatus, but differs in that its upper lip is brown, or white with brown spots. Its dorsal scales are smooth, arranged in 17 rows. It has 175 to 202 ventral scales, an entire anal scale, and 56 to 76 subcaudal scales, which are usually double but sometimes single. Adult individuals can reach a total length of 60 cm (23+1⁄2 inches), with a tail length of 12.5 cm (4+7⁄8 inches); the maximum recorded total length is 742 mm (29 in). This species is endemic to Peninsular India, and is also found in the Maldives. It is a hill-dwelling species that prefers high-elevation wet forests, and occurs in the Western Ghats spanning Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, and southern Gujarat, as well as in the southern parts of the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu. Populations from the Eastern Ghats and Deccan Plateau in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka that were previously misidentified as this species are now classified as a separate species, Lycodon deccanensis. Lycodon travancoricus is a nocturnal, oviparous, non-venomous snake. It favours both evergreen and deciduous forests on windward plains and hills.
