Uropeltis ceylanica
species of reptile
Common names: Ceylon earth snake, Cuvier's shieldtail, Kerala shieldtail.
Uropeltis ceylanica is a species of nonvenomous shieldtail snake in the family Uropeltidae. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. No subspecies are currently recognized as being valid, but the presence of several synonyms, many recently resurrected, calls for further taxonomic studies of this species complex. It is a burrowing snake with a pointy head equipped to penetrate the soil. It has a thick tail which looks as if it has been cut at an angle. In Kerala it's called iru thala moori, which means two headed organism, as the tail end looks like another head. It primarily eats earth worms.
Geographic range
U. ceylanica is found in the Western Ghats of southern India from Goa, Castle Rock southwards to Travancore (Agasthyamalai) near Trivandrum. The type locality given as "Ceylan"— is a mistake, since this species has never been found in Sri Lanka.
The public source identifies “Uropeltis ceylanica” as species of reptile. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Uropeltis, ceylanica and species.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Uropeltis ceylanica”, the useful work is to connect “species of reptile” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3005231. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Uropeltis ceylanica” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.