Liopeltis tricolor (SCHLEGEL, 1837)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Liopeltis tricolor?
Liopeltis tricolor
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Malayan Ringneck G: Dreifarbige Halsbandnatter |
| Synonym | Herpetodryas tricolor SCHLEGEL 1837: 187 Liopeltis tricolor — FITZINGER 1843 Cyclophis tricolor — GÜNTHER 1858 Ablabes baliodeiroides — BLEEKER 1858 Phragmitophis tricolor — GÜNTHER 1862 Cyclophis tricolor — STOLICZKA 1873: 122 Ablabes tricolor — BOULENGER 1890 Gongylosoma tricolor — SWORDER 1922 Ablabes tricolor — LIDTH DE JEUDE 1922: 246 Liopeltis tricolor — TAYLOR 1922: 162 Liopeltis tricolor — HENDRICKSON 1966: 67 Liopeltis tricolor — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 360 Liopeltis tricolor — COX et al. 1998: 56 Liopeltis tricolor — NGUYEN et al. 2009 Liopeltis tricolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 386 |
| Distribution | Indonesia (Bangka, Java, Nias, Riau Archipelago, Sumatra, Pulau We, Borneo); Brunei Darussalam; Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia); Philippines (including Bubuan,Palawan); Singapore; Thailand, Vietnam Type locality: Java, Indonesia |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Type: BMNH 1946.1.5.37 (and possibly additional specimens). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): small, slender snakes; head not distinct from the neck, body cylindrical, tail long, scales smooth in 15 rows throughout the body, ventrals rounded, subcaudals paired; eyes large, pupil round; hemipenis unforked, large spines present in proximal part of it; maxillary teeth small, equal, 20–22 on each side (Leviton 1964, Poyarkov et al. 2019). |
| Comment | Type species: Herpetodryas tricolor SCHLEGEL 1837: 187 is the type species of the genus Liopeltis FITZINGER 1843. Key: Poyarkov et al. 2019 provide a key to the species of Liopeltis. Illustration: in CHAN-ARD et al. 2015, although the drawings of Gongylosoma longicauda and Liopeltis tricolor have been mixed up (fide PAUWELS & GRISMER 2015). Similar species: records from Vietnam may be based on a misidentification of L. stoliczkae or another species (Hauser 2018). Similar species: L. tiomanica; the population from Pulau Tioman has been redescribed as L. tiomanica by Som et al. 2020. |
| Etymology | Named after the 3 distinct colors of the species, although it’s not exactly brightly colored. The genus name ‘Liopeltis’ comes from two Greek words: the adjective leios (λεος), meaning ‘smooth’, and pelte (πέλτη, peltes), meaning ‘a small scute’ or ‘scale’. The gender of ‘pelte’ is feminine (Smith 1890), hence all generic names ending in ‘– peltis’ should be feminine. |
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