banded cat-eyed snake | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Colubridae |
Subfamily: | Dipsadinae |
Genus: | Leptodeira |
Species: | L. annulata |
Binomial name | |
Leptodeira annulata (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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Synonyms | |
Coluber annulatus Linnaeus, 1758 |
Leptodeira annulata is a medium-sized, mildly venomous, colubrid snake.
Contents |
Banded cat-eyed snake, cat-eyed night snake, machete savane.
It is found in northern South America, Margarita, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Adults are about 750 mm (30 in.) long and very slender. The head is distinct from the neck, and the large eyes have vertically elliptic pupils. The back is yellowish or brown with a series of dark brown or blackish spots often confluent into an undulous or zigzag stripe.[1] It has a pair of enlarged grooved teeth at the rear of the upper jaw, and produces a mild venom.
It feeds on frogs and small reptiles and may feed on fledgling birds.
Snakes of the genus Leptodeira are oviparous, sometimes exhibiting delayed fertilization.[2]
Boos, Hans E.A. (2001). The snakes of Trinidad and Tobago. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX.. ISBN 1-58544-116-3.