Dendrelaphis grandoculis, commonly called the large-eyed bronzeback or southern bronzeback, is a species of Colubridsnake endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India.
The eye is extremely large, as long as its distance from the rostral. Rostral much broader than long, visible from above, its upper border nearly straight; suture between the internasals as long as that between the pra^frontals or a little longer; frontal as long as its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals; loreal elongate; one pre- and two postoculars; temporals 2+2; upper labials 9, fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the eye; 5 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior. Scales in 15 rows, vertebral nearly as large as the outer row. Ventrals 174–170; anal divided; subcaudals 117. Olive-brown above, with irregular small black blotches; eye bordered with whitish; lower parts pale olive. Total length 4 feet; tail 13 1/2 inches. (after Boulenger)
Etymology
Greek, grand meaning large and oculis of the eye; hence the common name large-eyed bronzeback.
Rather slow in speed for a bronzeback, it slithers across tree branches foraging for lizards, frogs, and small birds to eat. A diurnal and arboreal forest-dwelling snake, partial to rainforests. Rarely seen in plantations and monocultures.
Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
Meise, Wilhelm & Hennig, Willi 1932 Die Schlangengattung Dendrophis. Zool. Anz. 99 (11/12): 273-297
Chandramouli, S. R., and S. R. Ganesh. (2010). Herpetofauna of southern Western Ghats, India–reinvestigated after decades. TAPROBANICA: The Journal of Asian Biodiversity.
Ganesh, S. R., Bhupathy, S., David, P., Sathishkumar, N., & Srinivas, G. (2014). SNAKE FAUNA OF HIGH WAVY MOUNTAINS, WESTERN GHATS, INDIA: SPECIES RICHNESS, STATUS, AND DISTRIBUTION PATTERN. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 21(1).
Ganesh, S. R., Chadramouli, S. R., Sreekar, R., & Shankar, P. G. (2013). Reptiles of the central Western Ghats, India—a reappraisal and revised checklist, with emphasis on the Agumbe Plateau. Russian Journal of Herpetology, 20(3), 181–189.
Hutton, A. F., & David, P. (2009). Notes on a collection of snakes from south India, with emphasis on the snake fauna of the Megamalai Hills (High Wavy Mountains). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 105(3), 299.
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