| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Western Ghats Bronze back |
| Synonym | Dendrophis chairecacos BOIE 1827: 541
Dendrophis chairecacos — WALL 1921
Dendrelaphis chairecacos — ROOIJEN & VOGEL 2009
Dendrelaphis chairecacos — WALLACH et al. 2014: 216
Dendrelaphis cf. chairecacos — GANESH & ARUMUGAM 2016
Dendrelaphis chairecacos — AENGALS et al. 2022
Dendrelaphis chairecacos — PARMAR et al. 2024 |
| Distribution | SW India (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala)
Type locality: “Kottayam. Travancore (South India)” [= Kottayam, Kerala State, ext. SW India, 9°36’N, 76°32’E, elevation 5 m] by neotype designation.
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| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Neotype: BMNH 1924.10.13.15, designated by ROOIJEN & VOGEL 2009 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Typical diagnostic features (fide van Rooijen & Vogel, 2009) such as black scale sutures in loreal and preocular regions, traces of black paired bands on the forebody that are more visible laterally than dorsally, black postocular streak, black ventrolateral stripe on either side from midbody to tail, clearly indicate that it is indeed a D. chairecacos. The lack of a white patch surrounding the eye, plus the presence of black postocular streaks clarify that it is not D. grandoculis as labelled. Taken together, these specimens from Mangalore and Goa, are not only the sole recognised preserved materials of D. chairecacos from the northern parts of its distribution range (van Rooijen & Vogel 2009) but also those that provide morphological variations (e.g. lack of loreal scale). (Parmar et al. 2024)
Additional details (3157 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: SMITH 1943 and subsequent authors synonymized Dendrelaphis chairecaeos with D. tristis. ROOIJEN & VOGEL (2009) revalidated D. chairecaeos, which was confirmed by Parmar et al. 2024.
Behavior: diurnal
Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018) |
| References |
- Aengals, R.; S.R. Ganesh, P.G.S. Sethy, J. Samson Kirubakaran, M. Ahamed Jerith, M. Satheeshkumar, A. Thanigaivel & Gernot Vogel 2022. FIRST CONFIRMED DISTRIBUTION RECORDS OF Dendrelaphis bifrenalis (BOULENGER, 1890) (REPTILIA: COLUBRIDAE) IN INDIA, WITH A REVISED KEY TO THE SOUTHERN INDIAN FORMS. Taprobanica 11 (1): 25-32
- Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here
- Boie, F. 1827. Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis von Oken 20: 508-566. - get paper here
- CHANDRAMOULI, S.R. & S.R. GANESH 2012. Neue Nachweise von Bronzenattern (Serpentes: Colubridae: Dendrelaphis) aus den zentralen Western Ghats Indiens und ein überarbeiteter Schlüssel zu den südindischen Formen. Sauria 34 (2): 59-62 - get paper here
- Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
- Karthik, P. and Dutta, S. K. 2020. A range extension of the Karnataka bronzeback, Dendrelaphis chairecacos (Boie 1827), from the Northern Western Ghats, India. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 26: 237-239. - get paper here
- Otani, S., & Duensser, E. 2024. ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS OF SNAKES DESCRIBED BY BOIE (1826). TAPROBANICA 13 (02): 48–61 - get paper here
- Palot, M.J. 2015. A checklist of reptiles of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13): 8010–8022 - get paper here
- Parmar, Dikansh S.; Mehul N. Thakur , Amrut S. Singh , S.R. Ganesh & Gernot Vogel 2024. ON THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE WESTERN GHATS BRONZEBACK Dendrelaphis chairecacos (BOIE, 1827) (SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE) WITH RANGE EXTENSION TO GUJARAT. TAPROBANICA13 (02): 62–68
- Rooijen, J. van & Vogel, G. 2009. A multivariate investigation into the population systematics of Dendrelaphis tristis (Daudin, 1803) and Dendrelaphis schokari (Kuhl, 1820): revalidation of Dendrophis chairecacos Boie, 1827 (Serpentes: Colubridae). The Herpetological Journal 19: 193-200 - get paper here
- Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
- Wall, FRANK 1921. Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon. Colombo Mus. (H. R. Cottle, govt. printer), Colombo. xxii, 581 pages - get paper here
- Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
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