Ahaetulla perroteti
| Bronze-headed vine snake | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Colubrinae |
| Genus: | Ahaetulla |
| Species: | A. perroteti |
| Binomial name | |
| Ahaetulla perroteti (DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1854) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Dryophis perroteti | |
The bronze-headed vine snake, Ahaetulla perroteti, is a species of snake found largely in the Nilgiri Hills of the Western Ghats, in south India. It is mainly a grassland snake. It feeds mainly on small lizards and frogs. It is active by day and often basks in open, sun-lit patches for warmth. Like others of its genus, it is rear-fanged, with a toxic saliva.
Description
- See snake scales for terminology
Snout obtusely pointed and projecting, without dermal appendage, not quite twice as long as the eye. No loreal, internasals and prefrontals in contact with the labials; frontal longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals; one preocular, in contact with the frontal; one postocular; temporals 1+2 or 2 + 2; 8 (rarely 9) upper labials, fourth and fifth entering the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are as long as the posterior. Scales in 15 rows, those on sacral region keeled. Ventrals 138-140 ; anal divided; subcaudals 70-82. Bright green above; yellowish or pale green beneath, with a green lateral line.[2]
Total length 2 feet; tail 5.5 inches.
Notes
- ↑ Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B., Deepak, V. & Achyuthan, N.S. (2013). "Ahaetulla perroteti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) 2013: e.T172654A1360027. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ↑ Boulenger, G. A. 1890. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.
References
- Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
- Duméril, A. M. C., Bibron, G. & Duméril, A. H. A., 1854 Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536
- Günther,A. 1860 Note on Psammophis perroteti. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 6: 428-429
- Ganesh S. R., Chandramouli S. R. (2011) On the nomenclature and taxonomy of a south Indian colubrid snake Ahaetulla perroteti (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854). Herpetological Bulletin (117): 19-24.