Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: and possibly eastern Afghanistan (Wüster and Thorpe 1992;Wüster 1998;Daniel 2002;Das 2002;Das and de Silva 2005;Wallach et al. 2014;Wüster and Tillack 2023).This species usually sports a binocellate or spectacle-like mark on the dorsal side of the neck that dilates into a hood when the snake is excited or scared (Cuylenberg 1961;Whitaker 1976; Young and Kardong 2010).This hoodmark is typical but not always constant in N. naja (Daniel 2002;Das 2002;Whitaker 1976;Whitaker and Captain 2004).We herein report a curious case of aberrant hood-like markings on the posterior body of a N. naja from India.At 0730 h on 14 June 2024, PR rescued a young Spectacled Cobra (Fig. 1) (~400 mm total length) from a house in Mahbubnagar, Telangana, in southern India (16.748, 77.983; 500 m asl).This snake had a typically spectacled hood but also had distinctive hood-like markings on its posterior body.The typical markings were present at the levels of ventral scales 17-23, 28-30, and 35 (forebody and neck), whereas the aberrant hood-like markings were at the levels of ventral scales 116-121, 123-126, 134-143, 152-162, and 178-180 on the posterior body.Eye-spot- Aberrant Hood-like Markings on the PosteriorBody of a Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja)
Source: Reptiles & Amphibians
Authors: P. Rahul, B. Sadasivaiah, S.R. Ganesh
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411842555