Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha

The Indian or Long-nosed vine snake (Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha) is a species of diurnal, mildly venomous, arboreal snake distributed in the lowlands of peninsular India.Often mistakenly believed to peck out peoples' eyes, this misconception has, sadly, led to widespread wanton killing of this species. [1][2][3]

Indian or Long-nosed vine snake
At Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Ahaetulla
Species:
A. oxyrhyncha
Binomial name
Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha
(Bell, 1825)
Ahaetulla oxyrhyncha, Ezhimala, Kerala, India. Note the distinct black and white interstices.

Description

A thin and slender-bodied snake that is usually bright grassy green in colour. A pair of white lines extend throughout its body length demarcating the back and under belly parts. Adults reach over 5 feet in length. They have unique horizontal pupil in the eye. Formerly mis-classified asA. nasuta, A. oxyrhyncha is actually a much larger-bodied species that also has a much longer snout.[3]

Geographic range

This species is distributed throughout the drier plains and low hilly tracts of Peninsular India, except the Western Ghats rainforest. [1]

Habitat

It is found in many types of vegetation including arid to semi-arid habitats and in dry deciduous forests, as well as open areas such as scrub forests, coastal forests, and Indian savannah. This species has been often sighted in and around human habitations in villages and countrysides and even in some city Parks. [1]

Taxonomy

It was described as a distinct species in 1825 based on drawings of snakes from Vishakapatnam, but later considered as same species and confused with A. nasuta, that is only endemic to Sri Lanka. A 2020 study found A. nasuta to be a species complex of A. nasuta sensu stricto and several species endemic to the Western Ghats (A. borealis, A. farnsworthi, A. isabellina, and A. malabarica).[1]


References
  1. Mallik, Ashok Kumar; Srikanthan, Achyuthan N.; Pal, Saunak P.; D’souza, Princia Margaret; Shanker, Kartik; Ganesh, Sumaithangi Rajagopalan (2020-11-06). "Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla ) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India". Zootaxa. 4874 (1): 1–62. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4874.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334.
  2. Staff Reporter (2020-11-14). "New species of vine snakes discovered". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  3. "The discovery of five new species of vine snakes in India". phys.org. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.