Dendrelaphis oliveri | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Colubridae |
Genus: | Dendrelaphis |
Species: | D. oliveri |
Binomial name | |
Dendrelaphis oliveri (Taylor, 1950) | |
Synonyms [2] | |
|
Dendrelaphis oliveri, commonly known as Oliver's bronzeback, is a species of nonvenomous arboreal snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka. [2] [3] [4] It is considered to be the rarest of the Sri Lankan Dendrelaphis species on account of there being only a single recorded specimen. [5]
Both the specific name, oliveri, and the common name, Oliver's bronzeback, are in honor of American herpetologist James A. Oliver. [6]
Similar to other bronzebacks, D. oliveri has enlarged dorsal scales, large eyes relative to its head size, a clearly differentiated head from body, a long slender body with a long tail.
It can be identified from its Sri Lankan cogeners by the combination of a lack of a loreal scale, the prefrontals contacting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th supralabials and the 4th, 5th and 6th supralabials contacting the eye. Furthermore, it has an eye stripe that begins post-nasal and continues past the eye through to the base of the tail. Below this black ventrolateral line is a white ventrolateral line beginning at the posterior supralabials and continuing to the tail. This white ventrolateral is bordered below by another black ventrolateral that begins at the neck and continues to the tail. [5] [7] [8]
The lack of a loreal scale is a character D. oliveri shares with D. effrenis in Sri Lanka. However, D. oliveri can be further identified from D. effrenis by its colour patterns and the following characters: prefrontals contacting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th supralabials (vs only 2nd and 3rd), the presence of a ventrolateral stripe (vs absent) and 2 postoculars (vs 3).
The lack of a loreal scale is a character that is occasionally seen within the Dendrelaphis genus as an anomaly, but in the case of D. oliveri, this in combination with the presence of a black-white-black ventrolateral is unique to it, and with D. effrenis, all recorded specimens showed a lack of a loreal scale. These observations show, that the lack of a loreal scale is a key identifier of these two species. [5] [7] [8]
Only one single specimen of D. oliveri has ever been recorded, and that is E. H. Taylor's original specimen from 1950. The specimen currently resides at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.
The type-locality for D. oliveri is stated as north of Trincomalee based on Taylor's original catalog notes. However, this cannot be verified as no other specimen has been ever found since in the area. Therefore, it is possible that D. oliveri is not from this area and for that matter not from even Sri Lanka. [7]
Boiga forsteni, also known commonly as Forsten's cat snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia.
Dendrelaphis bifrenalis, also called Boulenger's bronzeback, Boulenger's bronze-back, and Travancore bronze-brown snake, is a colubrid snake native to Eastern Ghats of Southern India and Sri Lanka. It was first described by George Albert Boulenger in 1890. Dendrelaphis wickrorum from Sri Lanka was previously confused with this species.
Dendrelaphis biloreatus is a species of tree snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Asia.
Dendrelaphis grandoculis, commonly called as the large-eyed bronzeback or southern bronzeback, is a species of Colubrid snake endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India.
Dendrelaphis humayuni, also known commonly as the Nicobar bronzeback or Tiwari's bronzeback, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Nicobar Islands of India.
Dendrelaphis pictus, the common bronzeback, painted bronzeback, or Indonesian bronzeback, is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia and India.
Lycodon aulicus, commonly known as the Indian wolf snake or common wolf snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Early naturalists have suggested its resemblance to the venomous common krait as an instance of Batesian mimicry.
Rhabdophis plumbicolor, known as the green keelback or lead keelback, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae native to parts of the Indian subcontinent.
The checkered keelback, also known commonly as the Asiatic water snake, is a common species in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Asia. It is non-venomous.
The Haly's tree skink is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to Sri Lanka. Earlier thought to be found also in the Western Ghats, taxonomic studies have shown D. haliana to be a Sri Lankan endemic, differentiated from the Indian D. subcaeruleum. D. haliana is the only arboreal skink in Sri Lanka.
Jerdon's sea snake is a species of venomous sea snake in the subfamily Hydrophiinae.
Dendrelaphis is a genus of colubrid snakes, distributed from Pakistan, India and southern China to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. There are over forty described species. Asian species are known commonly as bronzebacks, while the Australo-Papuan species are simply called treesnakes. All are non-venomous and entirely harmless to humans.
Dendrelaphis schokari, also known as the common bronze-back or Schokar's bronzeback, is a species of non-venomous arboreal snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Boulenger's keelback, also known commonly as the Sri Lankan keelback, is a species of water snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Dendrelaphis girii, Giri's bronzeback tree snake or Giri's bronzeback, is a species of diurnal, arboreal, Colubrid snake endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India.
Dendrelaphis nigroserratus is a species of snakes belonging to the bronzebacks (Dendrelaphis). It is found only in western and southwestern Thailand and the adjacent southeastern Myanmar. A specimen has been preserved in the British Natural History Museum, London since the early 20th century. Due to its resemblance to Wall's bronzeback, the scientific name was formerly assigned under Dendrelaphis cyanochloris, the species name for Wall's bronzeback. It was formally described as a distinct species in 2012 by Gernot Vogel, Johan Van Rooijen and Sjon Hauser. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature report, it became one of the 367 important new species discovered in the Greater Mekong during 2012 and 2013.
Dendrelaphis effrenis is a species of arboreal snake endemic to Sri Lanka. It was considered synonym of D. caudolineolatus until revalidation in 2020. At the same time, D. sinharajensis was brought into synonymy of D. effrenis. Proposed vernacular names for D. sinharajensis include Sinharaja tree snake, Sinharaja haldanda, and Sinharaja komberi muken (Tamil).
Dendrelaphis caudolineolatus, commonly known as Gunther's bronzeback tree snake, is a species of snake of the family Colubridae.
Dendrelaphis wickrorum, commonly known as the Wickramasinghes bronzeback, is a species of arboreal snake endemic to Sri Lanka.
Dendrelaphis haasi, also known commonly as Haas' bronzeback, Haas's bronzeback, Haas's bronzeback snake, and Haas's bronzeback tree snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Southeast Asia.