Dendrelaphis pictus, commonly known as either the common bronzeback, painted bronzeback, or Indonesian bronzeback, is a species of colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia.
| Dendrelaphis pictus | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Ahaetuliinae |
| Genus: | Dendrelaphis |
| Species: | D. pictus
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| Binomial name | |
| Dendrelaphis pictus (Gmelin, 1789)
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| Synonyms | |
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Dendrophis pictus | |
Taxonomy
editDendrelaphis pictus belongs to the genus Dendrelaphis, which contains 48 other described species.[2]
Dendrelaphis is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Dendrelaphis is most closely related to Chrysopelea, as shown in the cladogram below:[3]
| Ahaetuliinae |
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Distribution and habitat
editIt if found throughout Southeast Asian forests in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. Populations from India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar are now considered to belong to the separate species Dendrelaphis proarchos.[4]
Description
edit
The snake's 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 breaks 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 740 mm and the tail 440 mm.
The maxillary teeth number from 23 to 26, the eye is as long as the distance between the nostril and eye. The rostral scale is more broad than deep, and is visible from above. Internasal scales are as long as, or slightly shorter than, the prefrontal scales. The frontal scale is as long as its distance from the rostral or the tip of the snout, but shorter than the parietal scales. The loreal is long and there is one preocular and two postoculars. The temporal scales are 2+2, 1+1, or 1+2. There are nine (seven or eight) upper labials, with the fifth and sixth (or fourth to sixth) entering the eye. This snake has 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 are in 15 rows, vertebrals about as large as the outer. Ventrals number 151–204, the anal scale is divided, and subcaudals number 103–174.[5]
Behavior
editIt is a fully arboreal and diurnal, with oviparous reproduction.[4]
Notes
edit- ^ Vogel, G.; Wogan, G.; Dehling, M.; Srinivasulu, C.; Srinivasulu, B.; Mohapatra, P.; Deepak, V.; Giri, V.; Tshewang, S. (2021). "Dendrelaphis ngansonensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T172697A1368812. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ Genus Dendrelaphis at The Reptile Database.
- ^ Mallik, Ashok Kumar; Achyuthan, N. Srikanthan; Ganesh, Sumaithangi R.; Pal, Saunak P.; Vijayakumar, S. P.; Shanker, Kartik (27 July 2019). "Discovery of a deeply divergent new lineage of vine snake (Colubridae: Ahaetuliinae: Proahaetulla gen. nov.) from the southern Western Ghats of Peninsular India with a revised key for Ahaetuliinae". PLOS ONE. 14 (7): e0218851. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1418851M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0218851. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6636718. PMID 31314800.
- ^ a b Dendrelaphis pictus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 14 June 2024.
- ^ Rooij, Nelly de. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Volume 2. Leiden.
References
edit- Anderson, J., 1871 On some Indian reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc., London: pp. 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): pp. 351–363.
- Meise, Wilhelm & Hennig, Willi 1932 Die Schlangengattung Dendrophis. Zool. Anz. 99 (11/12): pp. 273–297
- Stejneger, Leonhard 1933 The ophidian generic names Ahaetulla and Dendrophis. Copeia 1933 (4): pp. 199–203
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