Dendrelaphis andamanensis (ANDERSON, 1871)

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Higher Taxa	Colubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Andaman Bronze-back G: Andamanen-Bronzenatter
Synonym	Dendrophis picta var. andamanensis ANDERSON 1871: 184 Dendrophis boiga andamanensis — STEJNEGER 1933 Ahaetulla ahaetulla andamanensis — SMITH 1943:244. Dendrelaphis andamanensis — VOGEL & VAN ROOIJEN 2011 Dendrelaphis andamanensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 215
Distribution	India (Andaman Islands) Type Locality: ‘‘Andamans’’
Reproduction	oviparous.
Types	Holotype: ZSI (ZSIC) 7714 (Das et al., 1998).
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A species of Dendrelaphis, characterized by the combination of (1) vertebral scales strongly enlarged, larger than the dorsals of the first row; (2) 176–196 ventrals; (3) 125– 146 divided subcaudals; (4) 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody; (5) anal shield divided; (6) one loreal scale; (7) two supralabials touching the eye; (8) a short first sublabial that usually touches two infralabials (five infralabials on one side in one specimen); (9) 11–16 temporal scales; (10) two to three postoculars; (11) maximum total length 120.0 cm; (12) Rel TAIL 0.30–0.34; (13) a narrow temporal stripe that starts before the eye, covers only the lower edge of the temporal region and does not extend onto the neck; (14) the absence of a light ventrolateral stripe; (15) a bright grass-green coloration in living specimens (Fig. 5) as opposed to the brown/blue coloration in D. cyanochloris. Additional details (48 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Distribution: D. andamanensis has been erroneously reported from the Great Nicobar Islands (Biswas and Sanyal, 1977) which actually originated from the Andamans (Vijayakumar and David, 2006). As a result, Das (1999) considered D. pictus var. andamanensis to be an erroneous report for Andaman’s fauna while considering D. cyanochloris to be an inhabitant of the Andamans. Similar species: Dendrelaphis pictus var. andamanensis has been wrongly identified as Dendrelaphis cyanochloris in the literature (e.g., Cox et al., 1998; Das, 2002; Whitaker and Captain, 2004). However, D. andamanensis cannot be confused with D. pictus because of its bright green coloration and absence of a ventrolateral line. The picture in Whitaker and Captain (2004: 177) titled Dendrelaphis pictus andamanensis is in fact Dendrelaphis humayuni, Tiwari and Biswas, 1973. Behavior: diurnal Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018)
Etymology	Named after the type locality.
References	Anderson, J. 1871. On some Indian reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1871: 149-211 - get paper here Biswas,S. & SANYAL,D.P. 1977. Notes on the Reptilia collection from the Great Nicobar during the Great Nicobar Expedition in 1966. Records Zool. Survey India 72: 107-12 - get paper here Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here Chakravarty, Rohit and Saw Isaac. 2014. Beobachtungen an Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Boie, 1827) beim erbeuten von Höhlenfledertieren auf den Andamanen, Indien. Sauria 36 (2): 55-58 - get paper here CHANDRAMOULI, S. 2022. Snake fauna of the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal—A review of species richness, taxonomy, distribution, natural history and conservation status. Zootaxa 5209 (3): 301-331 - get paper here Cox, Merel J.; Van Dijk, Peter Paul; Jarujin Nabhitabhata & Thirakhupt,Kumthorn 1998. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Ralph Curtis Publishing, 144 pp. 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 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. Stejneger, Leonhard 1933. The ophidian generic names Ahaetulla and Dendrophis. Copeia 1933 (4): 199-203 - get paper here VAZIFDAR, NARIMAN; MONOWAE ALAM KHALID & KAUSHIK LAHON. 2021. Attempted predation of an Andaman Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis andamanensis) by an Indian Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus) on Havelock Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Reptiles & Amphibians 28(3): 535–536. - get paper here Vijayakumar, S. P. and Patrick David 2006. Taxonomy, Natural History, and Distribution of the Snakes of the Nicobar Islands (INDIA), based on new materials and with an Emphasis on endemic species. Russ. J. Herpetol. 13 (1): 11 – 40 Vogel, Gernot 2014. Die Andamanen – Ein wenig bekanntes Tierparadies. Terraria-Elaphe 2014 (6): 44-55 - get paper here Vogel, Gernot and Johan van Rooijen 2011. Contributions to a Review of the Dendrelaphis pictus (Gmelin, 1789) Complex (Serpentes: Colubridae)—3. The Indian Forms, with the Description of a New Species from the Western Ghats. Journal of Herpetology 45 (1): 100-110. - 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. Whitaker, Romulus and Ashok Captain 2004. Snakes of India. Draco Books, 500 pp., reprinted 2007 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List http://www.andamannicobarsnakes.com/Dendrelaphisandamanensis.html Google images

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