NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Japanese odd-scaled snake
Achalinus spinalis Peters, 1869
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
Achalinus spinalis, commonly known as Peters' odd-scaled snake, the Japanese odd-scaled snake, the Japanese ground snake or the grey burrowing snake, is a species of snake in the family Xenodermidae.
The species is found in northern Vietnam, Japan (Kyūshū, Honshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Koshiki, Tokuno-shima: Kametoku and Inokawa), and central China (east to Fujian, west to Yunnan and Sichuan, and north to Gansu and Shaanxi, and in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Hubei) at an elevation of 1,230 m.
Wikipedia contributors, Achalinus spinalis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:22:50.540853+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Achalinus spinalis Peters, 1869
- Name authority
- Peters, 1869
- Common name
- Japanese 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyXenodermidae
- genusAchalinus
- speciesAchalinus spinalis Peters, 1869
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Achalinus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Emily’s Burrowing SnakeAchalinus emilyae Ziegler, Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Pham, Van Schingen, Nguyen & Le, 2019 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Julian’s Burrowing SnakeAchalinus juliani Ziegler, Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Pham, Van Schingen, Nguyen & Le, 2019 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trang An Burrowing SnakeAchalinus tranganensis Luu, Ziegler, Ha, Lo, Hoang, Ngo, Le, Tran & Nguyen, 2020 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Panzhihua Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus panzhihuaensis Hou, Wang, Guo, Chen, Yuan & Che, 2021 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dehua odd–scaled snakeAchalinus dehuaensis Li, Wu, Xu, Zhu, Ren, Guo & Dong, 2021 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Huang’s Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus huangjietangi Huang, Peng & Huang, 2021 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bourret's Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus ater Bourret, 1937 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Formosa Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus formosanus Boulenger, 1908 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hainan Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus hainanus Huang, 1975 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Zong's Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus jinggangensis (Zong & Ma, 1983) | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Szechwan Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus meiguensis Hu & Zhao, 1966 | XenodermidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Black Odd-scaled SnakeAchalinus niger Maki, 1931 | XenodermidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Ophielaps braconnieri Sauvage, 1877 Sauvage, 1877 | synonym |
| Achalinus spinalis weigoldi Mell, 1931 Mell, 1931 | 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=Achalinus&species=spinalis 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:9655. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.