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Ahaetulla mycterizans (LINNAEUS, 1758)

IUCN Red List - Ahaetulla mycterizans - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Malayan (Green) Whipsnake
G: Malaiische Peitschennatter 
SynonymColuber mycterizans LINNAEUS 1758: 226
Coluber nasutus LACÉPÈDE 1789
Dryophis xanthozonia BOIE 1827 (fide SMITH 1943)
Tragops xanthozonius — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 826
Passerita mycterizans — GÜNTHER 1859: 231
Dryophis xanthozonia — BOULENGER 1896: 180 (fide SMITH 1943)
Ahaetulla mycterizans — LINK 1807
Dryophis xnathozona — BOULENGER 1896: 180 (emendation)
Dryophis mycterizans — EVANS 1905: 169
Dryophis mycterizans — WALL 1908: 783
Dryophis mycterizans — WALL 1921: 291
Passerita xanthozonia— SMITH 1930
Dryophis mycterizans — SMITH 1943: 376
Dryophis mycterizans — TWEEDIE 1950
Ahaetulla mycterizans — COX et al. 1998: 68
Ahaetulla mycterizans — COX et al. 2012: 89
Ahaetulla mycterizans — WALLACH et al. 2014: 20 
DistributionIndonesia (Java, Sumatra, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, possibly Borneo), Thailand, Laos ?, W Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar

Type locality: “America” (fide LINNAEUS 1758; in error)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: NRM 81 
DiagnosisDiagnosis and definition (Ahaetuliinae): Snakes of this subfamily are arboreal and are diagnosed by keeled ventral and subcaudal scales (laterally notched in some species), and enlarged posterior grooved fangs lacking in some Dendrelaphis.


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CommentMildly venomous but usually harmless for humans.

Synonymy: Ahaetulla GRAY 1825 was proposed to be listed as a rejected and invalid name by Savage & Oliver 1957 as it is a junior homonym of Ahaetulla LINK 1807.

Distribution: Removed from the list of Pulau Tioman by ROOIJEN & ROOIJEN 2002. Probably in Borneo (both Sarawak and Kalimantan), but likely confused with A. prasina, based on genetic data presented by Srikanthan et al. 2022 and iNaturalist observations (B. Lardner, pers. comm., 22 July 2024).

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Type species: Coluber mycterizans LINNAEUS 1758: 226 is the type species of the genus Ahaetulla Link 1807. 
EtymologyNamed after Greek “mucterizo” = I turn up the nose.

The genus names is derived from the Sri Lankan language Sinhala, ahaetulla/ahata gulla/as gulla, meaning “eye plucker” or “eye picker” for belief that they pluck out the eyes of humans as accounted by the Portuguese traveler João Ribeiro in 1685. The gender is feminine. 
References
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  • Chan-ard, T., Parr, J.W.K. & Nabhitabhata, J. 2015. A field guide to the reptiles of Thailand. Oxford University Press, NY, 352 pp. [see book reviews by Pauwels & Grismer 2015 and Hikida 2015 for corrections] - get paper here
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