Green Cat Snake

description

(Fig. 12 A) Material studied: One adult, ZSI / ANRC / T / 13497, an adult from Narcondam (Fig. 4 F). Morphology: Dorsal scales in 22: 21: 15 rows, vertebrals enlarged; ventrals 251; subcaudals 126, divided; anal single; preoculars 2; postoculars 2; supralabials 8 (3 – 5 entering orbit); infralabials 11; temporals 2 + 3; loreal 1. Bright grassy green dorsally and ventrally with a black inter-scalar skin; interior of mouth black. Distribution: Restricted to Narcondam Island; widespread outside in the Southeast Asian mainland. A nocturnal species, seen only occasionally in the isolated volcanic island of Narcondam. Not found in islands of the Main Andaman chain. Found in low-lying bushes and shrubs. Two individuals, a live and a dead one were reported recently for the first time from the Andaman Archipelago. Also occurs in the continental parts of Southeast Asia including Northeast India (Eastern Himalayas), Myanmar and further eastwards in Indochina (Whitaker and Captain, 2008). Remarks: Reported for the first time from Narcondam Island by Gokulakrishnan et al. (2021). The earlier report of B. cyanea from Great Nicobar Island within the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago was shown to be

Snake fauna of the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal-A review of species richness taxonomy, distribution, natural history and conservation status

Description

Morphological characters of the voucher specimen from Son La Province agreed well with the descriptions of Smith (1943), Tillack (2006) and Ziegler et al. (2010): SVL 1100 mm; TaL 380 mm (n = 1); head distinct from neck; eye large, pupil round; rostral broader than high; internasal not in contact with loreal; prefrontal longer than half of frontal; frontal pentagonal; parietals longer than wide; nasal divided; loreal 1/1, not in contact with orbit; preocular 1/1; postoculars 2/2, bordering anterior temporals; anterior temporals 2/2, posterior temporals 3/3; subpralabials 8/8, third to fifth touching the eye, seventh largest; infralabials 11/11, first to fifth bordering chin shields; dorsal scale rows 23-21-15, smooth; ventrals 242; cloacal scale undivided; subcaudals 128, paired. Colouration in preservative: dorsal surface greenish-grey; belly whitish-grey (Fig. 2).

New records and an updated checklist of snakes from Son La Province, Vietnam

Ecology

The voucher specimen was collected at 19:30 h on the ground. The surrounding habitat was secondary forest, composed of small hardwoods, lianes and shrub. Air temperature was 25-30 o C and relative humidity was 70-75%.

New records and an updated checklist of snakes from Son La Province, Vietnam

Distribution

In Vietnam, this species has been recorded from Lao Cai Province in the north, southwards to Ho Chi Minh City (Nguyen et al. 2009, Ziegler et al. 2010). Elsewhere, this species is known from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia (Nguyen et al. 2009, Ziegler et al. 2010).

New records and an updated checklist of snakes from Son La Province, Vietnam