Indian Wolf Snake

About the Indian Wolf Snake

Lycodon aulicus, commonly known as the Indian wolf snake and the common wolf snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Early naturalists suggested its resemblance to the venomous common krait, an instance of Batesian mimicry.

The colouration of this snake is variable. This snake is often confused with the common krait. The presence of a loreal shield can be used to distinguish it from kraits. The following is a description of various forms from Albert Günther's Reptiles of British India (1864).

Snout broad, much depressed, long, spatulate, with the upper lip swollen, and without canthus rostralis. Rostral shield very low, broad, slightly bent backwards on the upper surface of the snout; anterior frontals [= internasals] very small; posterior frontals [= prefrontals] longer than broad, much more so in adult specimens than in young ones; there is a lateral notch between the anterior and posterior frontals, in which the inner anterior angle of the loreal is received; the posterior frontals have an obtuse lateral angle corresponding to the suture between loreal... Wikipedia →