Citation: Midtgaard, Rune. RepFocus - A Survey of the Reptiles of the World. (www.repfocus.dk).
Latest update:
September 10th, 2025.
 
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Genus
Xylophis
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Narrow-headed Snakes, Small-headed Snakes
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Schmalkopfnattern
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Smalhovedsnoge
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1853 |  |
Platypteryx Dumeril [not Platypteryx Laspeyres 1803 (Insecta)] (type species: Platypteryx perroteti Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril 1854) |
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1878 | |
Xylophis Beddome (type species: Xylophis indicus Beddome 1878) |
Contents:
6 species, all of which are endemic.
Endemism: 0%  100%
Remarks:
Suprageneric taxonomy of this genus has been confused.
Previously assigned to Dipsadidae (Dipsadinae) (e.g., Underwood 1967),
Xenodermidae (e.g., McDowell 1987; Wallach 1998; Zaher 1999; Vidal 2002; Lawson, Slowinski, Crother & Burbrink 2005; Cundall & Irish 2008, p. 556, 576;
Zaher, Grazziotin, Cadle, Murphy, Moura-Leite & Bonatto 2009; Pyron, Burbrink & Wiens 2013; Dowling & Pinou 2003),
Colubrinae (Cundall & Irish 2008, p. 645),
or it has been regarded as an elapoid genus incertae sedis (Wallach, Williams & Boundy 2014).
Transferred to the family Pareidae by Deepak, Ruane & Gower (2018).
Distribution:
India
(Kerala,
Tamil Nadu).
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Meristic and other data
of the world's snakes.
Compiled by
V. Wallach
Key to abbreviations
Head drawings of the
genus Xylophis.
Compiled by V. Wallach
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Xylophis captaini
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Kannam Narrow-headed Snake
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Kannam-Schmalkopfnatter
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Kannam-smalhovedsnog
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2008 | |
Xylophis captaini Gower & Winkler |
Remarks:
Previously confused with deepaki.
Distribution:
India
(Kerala,
Tamil Nadu).
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Xylophis chenkaruppan
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Wayanad Narrow-headed Snake, Red-and-Black Woodsnake
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Wayanad-Schmalkopfnatter
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Wayanad-smalhovedsnog
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2025 | |
Xylophis chenkaruppan Narayanan, Das, Ghosh, Palot, Umesh, Gower & Deepak |
Distribution:
India
(Kerala).
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Xylophis deepaki
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Marthandam Narrow-headed Snake, (Deepak's Wood Snake)
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Marthandam-Schmalkopfnatter
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Marthandam-smalhovedsnog
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2021 | |
Xylophis deepaki Narayanan, Mohapatra, Balan, Das & Gower |
Remarks:
Previously regarded as a population of captaini.
Distribution:
India
(Tamil Nadu).
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Xylophis mosaicus
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Anaimalai Narrow-headed Snake, Anaimalai Wood Snake
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Anaimalai-Schmalkopfnatter
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Anaimalai-smalhovedsnog
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2020 | |
Xylophis mosaicus Deepak, Narayanan, Das, Rajkumar, Easa, Sreejith & Gower |
Remarks:
Previously regarded as a population of perroteti.
Distribution:
India
(Kerala,
Tamil Nadu).
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Xylophis perroteti
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Spotted Narrow-headed Snake, (Striped Narrow-headed Snake)
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Gefleckte Schmalkopfnatter
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Plettet Smalhovedsnog
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1854 | |
Platypteryx perroteti Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril |
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Xylophis perroteti Boulenger 1890 |
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1858 | |
Rhabdosoma microcephalum Günther (Smith 1943) |
Remarks:
Previously included the population now assigned to mosaicus.
Distribution:
India
(Kerala,
Tamil Nadu).
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Xylophis stenorhynchus
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Striped Narrow-headed Snake, (Günther's Narrow-headed Snake)
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Gestreifte Schmalkopfnatter
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Stribet Smalhovedsnog
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1875 | |
Geophis stenorhynchus Günther |
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Xylophis stenorhynchus Boulenger 1890 |
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1878 | |
Xylophis indicus Beddome (Smith 1943) |
Remarks:
Although reported from Kerala (e.g., Easa & Ramachandran 2004; Inger, Shaffer, Koshy & Bakde 1984; Palot & Radhakrishnan 2003), the only exact record is in Tamil Nadu (Gower & Winkler 2007).
Distribution:
India
(Tamil Nadu).
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