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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Purple-red Earth Snake

Teretrurus sanguineus (Beddome, 1867)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Teretrurus sanguineus (Beddome, 1867)
Name authority
(Beddome, 1867)
Common name
Purple-red Earth Snake
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Uropeltidae
Genus
Teretrurus
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
  11. infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
  12. familyUropeltidae
  13. genusTeretrurus
  14. speciesTeretrurus sanguineus (Beddome, 1867)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Teretrurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Travancore Earth SnakeTeretrurus travancoricus Beddome, 1886UropeltidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Palni Mountain Burrowing SnakeTeretrurus rhodogaster (Wall, 1921)UropeltidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Teretrurus periyarensis Cyriac, Ganesh, Madani, Ghosh, Kulkarni & Shanker, 2024UropeltidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Teretrurus albiventer Cyriac, Ganesh, Madani, Ghosh, Kulkarni & Shanker, 2024UropeltidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 48 records assigned to Uropeltidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Plectrurus scabricauda Theobald, 1876 Theobald, 1876synonym
Teretrurus travancoricus Beddome, 1886 Beddome, 1886ambiguous synonym
Plectrurus sanguineus Beddome, 1867 Beddome, 1867synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

S India (Wynaad; Anaimalai hills, Travancore, 3,000— 7,400 feet, Kerala).

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Teretrurus&species=sanguineus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:55FFY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.