Guangxi Cat Snake

Description

Morphological characters of the voucher specimen from Son La Province agreed well with the descriptions of Das (2010) and Ziegler et al. (2010): SVL 1395 mm, tail tip lost, TaL 161 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; supralabials 8/9, third to fifth touching the eye, seventh largest; infralabials 12/12, first to third bordering chin shields; dorsal scale rows 23-21-15, smooth; ventrals 262; cloacal scale undivided; subcaudals 55+, paired. Colouration in life: dorsal surface grey, with dark spots on the anterior body; dorsolateral side light brown on anterior body; belly whitish anteriorly, grey posteriorly (Fig. 3).

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

Ecology

The voucher specimen was collected at 20:50 h on a tree branch, approximately 1.0 m above the ground. The surrounding habitat was disturbed evergreen karst forest of medium hardwood and shrub. Air temperature was 25-30°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 Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces in the north, southwards to Kon Tum and Lam Dong provinces (Nguyen et al. 2009). Elsewhere, this species is known from China and Laos (Nguyen et al. 2009).

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

Description

Morphological characteristics of the specimens from Ha Tinh Province agreed well with the descriptions of Ziegler et al. (2010) and Pham et al. (2020): SVL 941-1172 mm, TaL 298-368 mm (n = 2, one adult male and one adult female); 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 shaped; parietals two, longer than wide; nasal divided; loreal 1/1, not in contact with orbit; preoculars 1-2/1; postoculars 2/2, bodering anterior temporals; anterior temporals 1-2/2, posterior temporals 3/3; subpralabials 8/8, third to fifth touching the eye, seventh largest; infralabials 11-12/11, first to fifth bordering chin shields; dorsal scale rows 21-21-15, smooth; ventrals 266-273; cloacal scale undivided; subcaudals 141-145, paired. Colouration in life. Dorsal surface of body light brown to grey, with 22 irregular dark cross-bands; the ventral surface cream to whitish anteriorly, becoming grey posteriorly (Fig. 2).

New records and an updated list of snakes from Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam