Predation of a Brahminy Blind Snake, Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin 1803) (Typhloidae), by a Bibron’s Coral Snake, Calliophis bibroni (Jan 1858) (Elapidae), from the Western Ghats, Kerala, India

during a faunal sur- vey in the southern Western Ghats, we encountered a near-fresh roadkilled Bibron's Coralsnake (Calliophis bibroni) on the Mananthavady-Mysore highway at the Tholpetty Range of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, India (11.8701, 76.0727; elev.740 m asl).Bibron's Coralsnake, an exceedingly rare snake known only from a few specimens, is endemic to the Western Ghats (Shankar and Ganesh 2009;Deepak et al. 2010).We found a recently ingested Brahminy Blindsnake (Indotyphlops braminus) (~16 cm total length) in the coralsnake (Fig. 1).These parthenogenetic blindsnakes are the smallest species of snake in India and among the most com-mon snakes found in the region (Palot and Srivalsan 2017).Both predator and prey species are nocturnal and very difficult to find during the day.Like most coralsnakes, Bibron's Coralsnake is ophiophagus and is known to feed on smaller snakes, especially uropeltids (Whitaker and Captain 2004).This is the first record of a typhlopid snake in the diet of Bibron's Coralsnake.