Sexual Dimorphism in Bhupathy's Shieldtail Snake

Abstract: The Sexual dimorphism in Shieldtail snake Uropeltis bhupathyi an endemic to Anaikatty hills, Southern Western Ghats of India, has been morphometrically analyzed with respect to variations such as Snout-Vent Length (SVL), Tail Length (TL), Caudal Disc Length (DL) & Width (DW), ventral and subcaudal scale counts. Females (mean SVL = 299.2 + 93.92 mm, n = 19) were found larger as compared to males (230.3 + 61.24 m, n = 13) and variation was statistically significant (F = 5.387, P = 0.027). Significant variations being also observed in TL, DW and in ventral and subcaudal count. The principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that SVL, DW and DL had high loadings in factor 1, and these may be important parameters in identifying sexes. Keywords: sexual dimorphism, Bhupathy’s Shieldtail Snake, Anaikatty hills, Western Ghats. Title: Sexual Dimorphism in Bhupathy’s Shieldtail Snake Author: Debanik Mukherjee, M. Vijay, Pulkit Sharma International Journal of Life Sciences Research ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online) Vol. 12, Issue 3, July 2024 - September 2024 Page No: 28-32 Research Publish Journals Website: www.researchpublish.com Published Date: 21-September-2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13823060 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.researchpublish.com/papers/sexual-dimorphism-in-bhupathys-shieldtail-snake