Ptyas korros

Ptyas korros, commonly known as the Chinese ratsnake or Indo-Chinese rat snake, is a species of colubrid snake endemic to Southeast Asia.

Ptyas korros
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Ptyas
Species:
P. korros
Binomial name
Ptyas korros
(Schlegel, 1837)
Synonyms

Description

Snout obtuse, projecting; eye very large. Rostral visible from above; internasals shorter than the prefrontals; frontal as long as its distance from the tip of the snout or a little longer, as long as the parietals; two or three loreals; a large preocular, sometimes touching the frontal; a small subocular below; two postoculars; temporals 2 + 2; eight upper labials, fourth and fifth entering the eye; five lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior.

Dorsal scales smooth or feebly keeled on the posterior part of the body, in 15 rows at midbody; ventrals 160-177; anal divided; sub-caudals 122–145.

Brown or olive above; the scales on the posterior part of the body and on the tail often yellow and edged with black. Lower surface yellow. Young specimens with transverse series of round whitish spots or with narrow yellow transverse bars.

Length of head and body 1,080 mm (43 in); tail 700 mm (28 in).[3]

Distribution

Nepal, Myanmar; Cambodia, China (Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Hong Kong), Taiwan, India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh (Namdapha - Changlang district, Chessa, Chimpu, Itanagar - Papum Pare district), Bangladesh, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, West Malaysia, Singapore Island

References
  1. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers). London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.- XXVIII. (Zamenis korros, pp. 384-385.)
  2. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. Rooij, Nelly de. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Volume 2. Leiden. 360 pp.

Further reading
  • Ahsan, M. Farid, and Shayla Parvin. 2001. The first record of Ptyas korros (Colubridae) from Bangladesh. Asiatic Herpetological Research 9: 23–24.
  • Jan, G., and F. Sordelli. 1867. Iconographie générale des Ophidiens: Vingt-quatrième livraison. Baillière. Paris. Index + Plates I.- VI. (Coryphodon korros, Plate IV., Figure 2.)
  • Lazell, J.D. 1998. Morphology and the status of the snake genus Ptyas. Herpetological Review 29 (3): 134.
  • Schlegel, H. 1837. Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Général xxviii + 251 pp. + Partie Descriptive 606 + xvi pp. Schonekat. Amsterdam.


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