Malayan green whipsnake facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Malayan green whipsnake |
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Coluber mycterizans Linnaeus, 1758 |
Ahaetulla mycterizans, the Malayan green whipsnake or Malayan vine snake, is a slender arboreal colubrid vine snake found in Southeast Asia.
Etymology
The species name mycterizans comes from the Greek "mucterizo", meaning "I turn up the nose," in reference to the shape of the snout of the snake.
Taxonomy
It belongs to the genus Ahaetulla, one of five genera within the subfamily Ahaetuliinae. The relationships of Ahaetulla mycterizans to some other Ahaetulla species, and to the other genera within Ahaetuliinae, can be shown in the cladogram below, with possible paraphyletic species noted:
| Ahaetuliinae |
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Distribution
It is found in Western Peninsular Malaysia, Java and Sumatra of Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and possibly Laos up to elevation of 350 m.
Description and ecology
The Malayan green whipsnake is diurnal and mildly venomous. Occurs in primary and mature secondary forests near streams. The diet, like other whip snakes, consists primarily of frogs and lizards. These slow moving snakes often appear like vines amongst foliage and are hard to detect. The anterior part of the body can expand when threatened exposing the dark scales. It is often confused with the oriental whipsnake (Ahaetulla prasina) but the former does not occur in disturbed areas or parks or gardens, especially in its distributional range of Singapore. The Malayan whipsnake can be distinguished from the oriental whipsnake by the former having larger eyes and the flanks lacking a thin yellow line. The former is also smaller (up to 1 m snout to vent length) as compared to the oriental whipsnake which can grow up to 2 m.
Very little is known about the ecology and natural history of this species.
