Elegant bronzeback (Dendrelaphis formosus)

Elegant bronzeback (Dendrelaphis formosus) is an animal species in Colubridae, snake 160 cm long, weight 340g, light brown to black, green patches along the scales of the body, black lines from the snout through the eyes to the neck, esophagus and colored ventral scales light green.

D. formosus has a medium-sized, brown head, blunt rostral, no loreal pit, large, green eyes with large round and black pupils. The scales on the top of the head are large, lateral has a black line across the eye circles to limit the dark color and ventral parts are green.



The tail is brown or black with a yellow stripe on the lateral side and the green pentagon scales are joined to form a hexagon with sub-caudal scales in green pairs and sharp edges.

Elegant bronzeback is active during the day and spends a lot of time in trees, but sometimes it comes down to the ground in search of prey and water. They prey on geckos and lizards that live in trees. The female produces 6-8 eggs, incubation period of 13-17 weeks and the baby hatches measuring 30 cm.

This snake are often found in primary and secondary forests for altitudes up to 1100 m. Rarely found near human habitation, but appear on plantations or parks around rural areas.

TAXON

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Ahaetuliinae
Genus: Dendrelaphis Boulenger (1890)
Species: Dendrelaphis formosus Boie (1827)

SYNONYMS

Ahaetulla formosa formosa Haas (1950)
Ahaetulla formosa Smith (1930)
Ahaetulla formosa Tweedie (1950)
Dendrelaphis formosus Cox (1998)
Dendrelaphis formosus Manthey & Grossmann (1997)
Dendrelaphis formosus Mertens (1934)
Dendrelaphis formosus Wallach (2014)
Dendrophis formosa Boie (1827)
Dendrophis formosa Duméril & Bibron (1854)
Dendrophis formosus Boettger (1887)
Dendrophis formosus Boulenger (1894)
Dendrophis formosus de Jeude (1922)
Dendrophis formosus de Rooij (1917)
Dendrophis formosus formosus Meise & Hennig (1932)
Leptophis formosa Hagen (1890)
Leptophis formosus Jan (1863)

VERNACULAR NAME

Chinese (simplified): 美丽过树蛇
Danish: Broget Bronzesnog
English: Elegant Bronzeback, Beautiful bronzeback tree snake
German: Elegante Bronzenatter
Indonesia: Ular paku
Java: Ulo paku
Russian: Элегантная бронзовая змея
Thai: งูสายม่านหลังทอง Ngu sai man lang thong

Aryo Bandoro
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