Dendrelaphis pictus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (November 2007)
Painted Bronzeback
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Dendrelaphis
Species: D. pictus
Binomial name
Dendrelaphis pictus
(Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms

Dendrophis pictus

Painted Bronzeback Dendrelaphis pictus is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia and India.

Contents

[edit] Description

Maxillary teeth number 23 to 26, the eye is as long as the distance between the nostril and eye. Rostral more broad than deep, visible from above. Internasals as long as or slightly shorter than the praefrontals; frontal as long as its distance from the rostral or the tip of the snout, shorter than the parietals; loreal long; one prae- and two postoculars; temporals 2 + 2, 1 + 1 or 1 + 2; nine (seven or eight) upper labials, fifth and sixth or fourth to sixth entering the eye; five (four) lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields the latter shorter than the posterior, which are separated by one anterior and two posterior scales. Scales in 15 rows, vertebrals about as large as the outer; ventrals 151-204; anal divided; subcaudals 103-174.

Colouration is olive or brown above with a yellow lateral stripe, bordered below by a dark line between the outer scales and the ventrals. A black stripe on each side of the head passes through the eye, widens or brakes up into spots, separated by bluish-green bands on the nape. The upper lip is yellow, and the lower surface yellowish or greenish. Length of head and body approximately 740mm, tail 440mm.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Rooij, Nelly de. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Volume 2. Leiden.

[edit] References

  • Anderson, J., 1871 On some Indian reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc., London: 149-211
  • Das, I. 1999 Biogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. In: Ota,H. (ed) Tropical Island herpetofauna.., Elsevier, pp. 43-77
  • Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789): [Description of Dendrelaphis pictus]. In: Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (13th ed.) 1, part II. Georg Emanuel Beer, Lipsiae [Leipzig]
  • How R A. Schmitt L H. Maharadatunkamsi. 1996 Geographical variation in the genus Dendrelaphis (Serpentes: Colubridae) within the islands of south-eastern Indonesia. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY (LONDON) 238 (2): 351- 363.
  • Meise,Wilhelm & Hennig,Willi 1932 Die Schlangengattung Dendrophis. Zool. Anz. 99 (11/12): 273-297
  • Stejneger, Leonhard 1933 The ophidian generic names Ahaetulla and Dendrophis. Copeia 1933 (4): 199-203

[edit] External links

 This snake article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.