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Aplopeltura boa (BOIE, 1828)

IUCN Red List - Aplopeltura boa - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPareidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Blunthead Slug Snake, Blunt-headed Slug Eating Snake
G: Kurzkopf-Schneckenatter 
SynonymAmblycephalus boa BOIE 1828: 1035
Dipsas boa — SCHLEGEL 1837: 284
Aplopeltura boa — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 444
Amblycephalus boa — GÜNTHER 1858
Haplopeltura boa — BOETTGER 1892
Amblycephalus boa — BOULENGER 1894: 85
Haplopeltura boa — DE ROOIJ 1917: 275
Haplopeltura boa — SMITH 1943
Haplopeltura boa — TWEEDIE 1950
Aplopeltura boa — GRANDISON 1978: 294
Aplopeltura boa — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 317
Aplopeltura boa — COX et al. 1998: 78
Aplopeltura boa — WALLACH et al. 2014: 49 
DistributionIndonesia (Borneo, Nias, Sumatra, Bangka, Natuna Islands, Java),
West Malaysia, Malaysia (Borneo),
Thailand,
Philippines (Balabac, Basilan, Mindanao, Palawan, Luzon),
Brunei Darussalam;
Myanmar (Burma)

Type locality: Parang [West-Java]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: RMNH 984 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Dorsal scales smooth, in 13 rows throughout the body; vertebral keel weakly developed; two or three loreals; preocular and subocular scales present; supralabials not in contact with the eye; three anterior temporals; the anterior single inframaxillary shield absent (Fig. 5G); generally four (rarely three) pairs of chin shields, anterior pair of chin shields broader than long; at least the first and second pairs of chin shields in contact; subcaudals undivided (Duméril, 1853; Taylor, 1965; our data; see Table S14 for details, from Poyarkov et al. 2022).


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CommentType species: Amblycephalus boa BOIE 1828: 1035 is the type species of the genus Aplopeltura DUMÉRIL 1853. Aplopeltura Duméril is designated a nomen protectum (fide WALLACH et al. 2014: 49).

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamad after the Latin word boa, meaning "large water snake”, although this species is apparently not aquatic. However, Fretey 2019 stated that it stems from Latin bos, ‘cow’; ‘kind of snake’ because it feeds first by sucking cows according to Pliny the elder (Liber 8.14).

The genus name is likely derived from the Greek words “aplos” (aπλώς) for “simple”, and “pelte” (πέλτη), for “scale”, originally a name of a type of a small shield used in Ancient Greece (Poyarkov et al. 2022). 
References
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