Wildlifeof India
Russell's Wolf Snake
Colubrid Snakes
Photo: Chayant Gonsalves · CC BY 4.0 (May be cropped or resized)
Lycodon fasciolatus
Basic stats
Range
India (except North Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir, per the account), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh
Size
Up to about 106cm
The banded wolf snake, listed here as Russell's wolf snake, is a non-venomous colubrid of southern Asia. The original description was based on a plate in Russell's An Account of Indian Serpents (1796). The snout is blunt, curved and prominent, and the underside is uniformly yellowish. It is sometimes called the banded racer, a name also used for snakes of the genus Platyceps (Wikipedia, general species account).
It may attain a total length of 106 cm, including a tail of 22 cm. The account gives its range as India, apart from some regions, with the Reptile Database listing Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Quick answers
- Where is the Russell's Wolf Snake found?
- India (except North Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir, per the account), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh
- How big is the Russell's Wolf Snake?
- Up to about 106cm