Dendrelaphis philippinensis (GÜNTHER, 1879)
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Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Ahaetuliinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Philippine Bronze-back Tree Snakeweinell |
Synonym | Dendrophis philippinensis GÜNTHER 1879: 78 Dendrelaphis caeruleatus GRIFFIN 1909: 55 Dendrelaphis philippinensis — VAN ROOIJEN & VOGEL 2012 Dendrelaphis philippinensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 219 |
Distribution | Philippine islands (Basilan, Mindanao, Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Polillo, Kalotkot, Catanduanes, South Luzon [Albay], Camiguin Sur), Micronesia (Saipan) Type locality: N Mindanao |
Reproduction | oviparous. |
Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.6.69 (formerly BMNH 1877.10.9.62), adult female from North Mindanao collected by A. Everett; |
Diagnosis | Description. A species of the Dendrelaphis caudolineatus group, characterized by the combination of 1) a reduced pattern of black longitudinal stripes, 2–6 black longitudinal stripes at midbody; 2) a pale ventrolateral line is absent or faintly present; 3) a postocular stripe is present and extends onto the neck; 4) 162–170 ventrals (males), 161–172 [179] ventrals (females); 5) 94–108 subcaudals; 6) relative tail-length 0.268–0.298 (males), 0.252–0.290 (females); 7) 6–7 temporal scales on each side; 8) 9–11 infralabials on each side; 9) 2–5 scales touching the posterior borders of the parietal scales; 10) maximum total length males 89.0 cm, females 119.5 cm [VAN ROOIJEN & VOGEL 2012] Geographic variation. In spite of the large number of geographically isolated populations, D. philippinensis appears to exhibit little inter-population variation in its morphology. However, populations do differ in their coloration. For instance, in the population from Mindanao (Fig. 12), the pattern of longitudinal black stripes is reduced to two narrow stripes that occupy little more than the outer edges of the ventral scales whereas the populations from South Luzon and Catanduanes (Fig. 13) exhibit comparatively pronounced longitudinal stripes. This may be taxonomically significant. On the other hand, differences in the degree to which the pattern of longitudinal stripes is manifest, were also noted within populations [][VAN ROOIJEN & VOGEL 2012]. |
Comment | Synonymy: Wallach et al. 2014 Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
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