Abstract

The sawscaled viper, Echis carinatus is a desert form preferring arid sandy soil. It is also reported from semidesert and broken scrublands of the country. Sawscaled viper was not recorded in the erstwhile Cochin and Travancore areas of Kerala. Recently, in July 1996 while conducting a survey of reptiles in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, a female sawscaled viper was collected from the rocks in Palappetty area at an altitude of 720 mts. The area is mostly of scrub jungle with rocky patches. The total length of this specimen was 30 cm and snout-vent length 27 cm. The posterior part was bulging and on dissection, four embryos which were not well developed were seen. This is the first report of the occurrence of sawscaled viper from this part of Kerala