Elaphe porphyracea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Red Mountain Racer, Red Bamboo Rat Snake, Black-banded Trinket Snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Genus: Elaphe Species: E. porphyracea
Binomial name
Elaphe porphyracea (Cantor, 1839)

The Black-banded Trinket Snake, Red Bamboo Snake or Red Mountain Racer (Elaphe porphyracea sp) refers to a group of rat snake species that is found in mid to upper-level elevations of forested hills in Asia, ranging from evergreen tropical to dry seasonal forests depending on the subspecies and locality.

Contents 1 Description 2 Distribution 3 Habitat 4 Diet 5 Subspecies 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Description

They are characterised by their small size, sharp squarish head, red or orange colours, and black banded or striped patterning. Terrestrial, they have a preference for cool climates which restricts their habitat to hills and mountain plateaus. They are known to be crepuscular, active during the late evenings till night and dawn till late mornings. In captivity, these are some of the most sought-after rat snake species.

[edit] Distribution

India (Darjeling, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh (Miao, Namdapha - Changlang district, Itanagar - Papum Pare district), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Tibet, Nepal, South China (Sichuan, Yunnan, Hong Kong, Hainan, northward to Henan and Gansu; south to Wei He river), Taiwan, West Malaysia (Cameron Highlands, Pahang), Indonesia (Sumatra).

[edit] Habitat

Porphyraceas are found only in altitudes exceeding 800-meters in evergreen moist rainforest or monsoon forests, depending on the subspecies and locality. These rat snakes thrive under cooling and very humid conditions.

[edit] Diet

Porphyraceas are known to eat primarily rodents and other small mammals in the wild. Frogs are a possibility. In captivity, they take mice readily.

[edit] Subspecies

Subspecies	Geographic range[1]
Elaphe porphyracea porphyracea	Type locality: India; Myanmar; Nepal; People's Republic of China.
Elaphe porphyracea kawakamii	Type locality: Taiwan.
Elaphe porphyracea laticincta	Type locality: Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra.
Elaphe porphyracea igrofasciata	Type locality: Hong Kong, China, Vietnam.
Elaphe porphyracea pulchra	Type locality: China.

Type locality: India: Assam, Mishmi [Mishmee] Hills (Cantor, 1839)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
• Cantor, T. E. 1839 Spicilegium serpentium indicorum [parts 1 and 2]. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 7: 31-34, 49-55.
• 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
• Gray, J. E. 1853 Descriptions of some undescribed species of reptiles collected by Dr. Joseph Hooker in the Khassia Mountains, East Bengal, and Sikkim Himalaya. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 12: 386 - 392
• Grossmann, Wolfgang and Klaus Dieter Schulz. 2000 Elaphe porphyracea laticincta Schulz & Helfenberger. Sauria 22 (2):2
• Gumprecht, A. 2003 Anmerkungen zu den Chinesischen Kletternattern der Gattung Elaphe (sensu lato) Fitzinger 1833. Reptilia (Münster) 8 (6): 37-41
• Lenk, P.; Joger, U. & Wink, M. 2001 Phylogenetic relationships among European ratsnakes of the genus Elaphe Fitzinger based on mitochondrial DNA sequence comparisons. Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (3): 329-339
• Schulz, Klaus-Dieter 1996 A monograph of the colubrid snakes of the genus Elaphe Fitzinger. Koeltz Scientific Books, 439 pp.
• Utiger, Urs, Notker Helfenberger, Beat Schätti, Catherine Schmidt, Markus Ruf and Vincent Ziswiler 2002 Molecular systematics and phylogeny of Old World and New World ratsnakes, Elaphe Auct., and related genera (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 9 (2): 105-124.

[edit] External links

• Elaphe porphyracea at the TIGR Reptile Database