Banded flying snake

Twin-barred tree snake
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Ahaetuliinae
Genus:	Chrysopelea
Species:	C. pelias
Binomial name
Chrysopelea pelias (Linnaeus, 1758)

The twin-barred tree snake ^[2] (Chrysopelea pelias) is a species of colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia. It is also called the banded flying snake. It can glide, as with all species of its genus Chrysopelea , by stretching the body into a flattened strip using its ribs. It is fully arboreal, mostly found in moist forests, and can cover a horizontal distance of about 100 metres in a glide from the top of a tree. It is an oviparous snake.

Taxonomy

Chrysopelea pelias belongs to the genus Chrysopelea , which contains four other described species. ^[3]

Chrysopelea is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Chrysopelea is most closely related to Dendrelaphis , as shown in the cladogram below: ^[4]

Ahaetuliinae	sharp‑nosed snakes Ahaetulla Proahaetulla Dryophiops broad‑nosed snakes Dendrelaphis Chrysopelea Chrysopelea paradisi Chrysopelea ornata Chrysopelea pelias Chrysopelea taprobanica

Distribution

It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, and Myanmar. It was erroneously reported in India. ^[5]

Chrysopelea pelias has an overlapping range with the paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) in Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Indonesia. However, Chrysopelea pelias is not nearly as common as the paradise tree snake. ^[6]

Gliding

Chrysopelea pelias begins gliding by jumping in an upward position that seems to be different from the behavior of other limbless vertebrates. This way of moving, as seen in a closely related genus, might have been a behavioral precursor to the evolution of gliding in snakes. ^[7]

References

1. Grismer, L., Auliya, M. & Chan-Ard, T. (2012) Chrysopelea pelias. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.
2. Species List. Ecology Asia. Retrieved on 2013-01-03.
3. Genus Chrysopelea at The Reptile Database.
4. Mallik, Ashok Kumar; Achyuthan, N. Srikanthan; Ganesh, Sumaithangi R.; Pal, Saunak P.; Vijayakumar, S. P.; Shanker, Kartik (27 July 2019). "Discovery of a deeply divergent new lineage of vine snake (Colubridae: Ahaetuliinae: Proahaetulla gen. nov.) from the southern Western Ghats of Peninsular India with a revised key for Ahaetuliinae". PLOS ONE . 14 (7): e0218851. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1418851M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218851 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   6636718 . PMID   31314800.
5. Chrysopelea pelias at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database . Accessed 27 June 2024.
6. Twin Barred Tree Snake Archived 2011-01-02 at the Wayback Machine Naturemalaysia.com
7. Socha, John J. (3 August 2011). "Gliding Flight in Chrysopelea: Turning a Snake into a Wing". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 51 (6): 969–982. doi:10.1093/icb/icr092. ISSN   1557-7023.

Further reading

• Boie, F. 1827 Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis van Oken, Jena, 20: 508–566.
• Auliya, M. 2006. Taxonomy, Life History, and conservation of giant reptiles in west Kalimantan. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 432 pp.
• Chan-ard,T.; Grossmann,W.; Gumprecht,A. & Schulz,K. D. 1999. Amphibians and reptiles of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand – an illustrated checklist [bilingual English and German]. Bushmaster Publications, Würselen, Germany, 240 pp.
• David,P. & Vogel,G. 1996. The snakes of Sumatra. An annotated checklist and key with natural history notes. Bücher Kreth, Frankfurt/M.
• Hien,P. Grossmann,W. & Schäfer, C. 2001. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der landbewohnenden Reptilienfauna von Pulau Tioman, West-Malaysia. Sauria 23 (4): 11–28
• Lim, K.K.P. & Ng, H.H. 1999. The terrestrial herpetofauna of Pulau Tioman, Peninsular Malaysia. Raffles Bull. Zool., Suppl. No. 6: 131–155
• Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ. 10th Edition: 824 pp.
• Malkmus, R.; Manthey, U.; Vogel, G. Hoffmann, P. & Kosuch, J. 2002. Amphibians and reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). A.R.G. Ganther Verlag, Rugell, 404 pp.
• Malkmus,R. 1985. Amphibien und Reptilien vom Mount Kinabalu (4101 m), Nordborneo. Herpetofauna 7 (35): 6–13
• Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp.
• Teo, R.C.H. & Rajathurai, S. 1997. Mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the Nature Reserves of Singapore – diversity, abundance and distribution. Proc. Nature Reserves Survey Seminar. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 49: 353–425