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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Formosa Odd-scaled Snake

Achalinus formosanus Boulenger, 1908

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.

Achalinus formosanus formosanus, a Colubridae snake.

Achalinus formosanus formosanus, a Colubridae snake.

Sin Syue Li · CC BY 2.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

Achalinus formosanus, common name Formosan odd-scaled snake or Taiwan burrowing snake, is a non-venomous snake in family Xenodermidae that is found in Taiwan and in the southern Ryukyu Islands (Japan).

Wikipedia contributors, Achalinus formosanus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:49:46.592301+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Achalinus formosanus Boulenger, 1908
Name authority
Boulenger, 1908
Common name
Formosa Odd-scaled Snake
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Xenodermidae
Genus
Achalinus
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. familyXenodermidae
  13. genusAchalinus
  14. speciesAchalinus formosanus Boulenger, 1908

Close classified relatives

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

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Emily’s Burrowing SnakeAchalinus emilyae Ziegler, Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Pham, Van Schingen, Nguyen & Le, 2019XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Julian’s Burrowing SnakeAchalinus juliani Ziegler, Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Pham, Van Schingen, Nguyen & Le, 2019XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Trang An Burrowing SnakeAchalinus tranganensis Luu, Ziegler, Ha, Lo, Hoang, Ngo, Le, Tran & Nguyen, 2020XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Panzhihua Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus panzhihuaensis Hou, Wang, Guo, Chen, Yuan & Che, 2021XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Dehua odd–scaled snakeAchalinus dehuaensis Li, Wu, Xu, Zhu, Ren, Guo & Dong, 2021XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Huang’s Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus huangjietangi Huang, Peng & Huang, 2021XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Bourret's Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus ater Bourret, 1937XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hainan Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus hainanus Huang, 1975XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Zong's Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus jinggangensis (Zong & Ma, 1983)XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Szechwan Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus meiguensis Hu & Zhao, 1966XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Black Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus niger Maki, 1931XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Japanese odd-scaled snakeAchalinus spinalis Peters, 1869XenodermidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 22 records assigned to Xenodermidae.

Names & synonyms

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

Recorded nameSource status
Achalinopsis sauteri Steindachner, 1913 Steindachner, 1913synonym

Documented distribution

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

Taiwan

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=Achalinus&species=formosanus 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.

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:964V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.