Dendrelaphis formosus, commonly known as either the elegant bronzeback or beautiful bronzeback tree snake, is a snake species in the family Colubridae from Southeast Asia.
Taxonomy
Dendrelaphis formosus belongs to the genus Dendrelaphis, which contains 48 other described species.[2]
Dendrelaphis is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Dendrelaphis is most closely related to Chrysopelea, as shown in the cladogram below:[3]
| Ahaetuliinae |
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Distribution and habitat
The beautiful bronzeback tree snake is native to southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia to the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. It inhabits lowland forests up to elevations of 600 m (2,000 ft).[1]
Behavior
The snake is diurnal and fully arboreal, and has oviparous reproduction.[4] It mainly feeds on lizards, but occasionally also frogs.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Vogel, G.; Dehling, M. (2013). "Dendrelaphis formosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T192161A44271408. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T192161A44271408.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Genus Dendrelaphis at The Reptile Database.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Species Dendrelaphis formosus at The Reptile Database