NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Shevaroy HilIs Earth Snake
Uropeltis shorttii (Beddome, 1863)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Uropeltis shorttii, also known commonly as the Shevaroy Hills earth snake and Shortt's shieldtail snake, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the southern Eastern Ghats of India. This species was first described as Silybura shorttii by British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome in 1863. It is found only in the Shevaroy Hills of Salem district in Tamil Nadu state in South India. For a long time, this species was misclassified into Uropeltis ceylanica, a snake endemic to the Western Ghats, till a recent taxonomic study proved it to be a distinct species with a very narrow geographic range. It is a burrowing snake, presumed to be nocturnal, feeding on soft-bodied worms. It becomes active during the rains. U. shorttii has most recently been assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2019, and is listed as "Critically Endangered" under criteria B1ab(iii).
Wikipedia contributors, Uropeltis shorttii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:43:45.054200+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Uropeltis shorttii (Beddome, 1863)
- Name authority
- (Beddome, 1863)
- Common name
- Shevaroy HilIs Earth Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Uropeltidae
- Genus
- Uropeltis
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyUropeltidae
- genusUropeltis
- speciesUropeltis shorttii (Beddome, 1863)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Uropeltis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Earth SnakeUropeltis pulneyensis (Beddome, 1863) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Phipson's ShieldtailUropeltis phipsonii (Mason, 1888) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Woodmason's Earth SnakeUropeltis woodmasoni (Theobald, 1876) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Spotted Earth SnakeUropeltis maculata (Beddome, 1878) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Madura Earth SnakeUropeltis madurensis (Beddome, 1878) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brougham's Earth SnakeUropeltis broughami (Beddome, 1878) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bicatenate UropeltisUropeltis bicatenata Günther, 1864 | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Beddome's Earth SnakeUropeltis beddomii (Günther, 1862) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tirunelveli Earth SnakeUropeltis arcticeps (Günther, 1875) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bombay Earth SnakeUropeltis macrolepis (Peters, 1862) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Smith's Earth SnakeUropeltis grandis (Beddome, 1867) | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rajendran’s Shieldtail snakeUropeltis rajendrani Ganesh & Achyuthan, 2020 | UropeltidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Silybura shorttii Beddome, 1863 Beddome, 1863 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Uropeltis&species=shorttii 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:7DXNV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.