Lycodon aulicus
species of reptile
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.
Description
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 and praeocular; occipitals elongate. Nostril small, directed upwards, between two nasals, the anterior of which is situated on the foremost part of the snout.
“Lycodon aulicus” enters the record as species of reptile. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lycodon, aulicus and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lycodon aulicus” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lycodon, aulicus and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
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 Q2717379. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1864.
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 “Lycodon aulicus” 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.