Ahaetulla perroteti

Ahaetulla perroteti
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Suborder:Serpentes
Family:Colubridae
Genus:Ahaetulla
Species: A. perroteti
Binomial name
Ahaetulla perroteti
Synonyms[2]
  • Psammophis perroteti
    A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron &
    A.H.A Duméril, 1854
  • Dryophis tropidococcyx
    Günther, 1858
  • Psammophis perroteti
    — Günther, 1860
  • Tropidococcyx perroteti
    — Theobald, 1868
  • Dryophis perroteti
    — Boulenger, 1890
  • Ahaetulla perroteti
    — Das, 1996

Ahaetulla perroteti, commonly known as the bronze-headed vine snake or the Western Ghats bronzeback, is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is 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.

Etymology

The specific name, perroteti, is in honor of French naturalist Gustave Samuel Perrotet (1793–1867).[3]

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.[4]

Dorsal scales in 15 rows at mid body, those on sacral region keeled. Ventrals 138-140; anal divided; subcaudals 70-82.[4]

Bright green above; yellowish or pale green beneath, with a green lateral line.[4]

Total length 2 feet (0.61 m); tail 5.5 inches (140 mm).[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Srinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B, Deepak V, Achyuthan NS (2013). "Ahaetulla perroteti ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2013: e.T172654A1360027. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ahaetulla perroteti ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Ahaetulla perroteti, p. 203).
  4. 1 2 3 4 Boulenger GA (1890).

Further reading

  • Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor & Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Dryophis perroteti, p. 368).
  • Duméril AMC, Bibron G, Duméril AHA (1854). Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, Comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret. xii + 781-1536. (Psammophis perroteti, new species, pp. 899–900). (in French).
  • Ganesh SR, Chandramouli SR (2011). "On the nomenclature and taxonomy of a south Indian colubrid snake Ahaetulla perroteti (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)". Herpetological Bulletin (117): 19-24.
  • Günther A (1860). "Note on Psammophis perroteti ". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Third Series 6: 428-429.
  • Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Dryophis perroteti, p. 373).


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