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Gerarda prevostiana (EYDOUX & GERVAIS, 1837)

IUCN Red List - Gerarda prevostiana - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaHomalopsidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Gerard's Water Snake, Cat-eyed Water Snake, Glossy Marsh snake
G: Katzenaugen-Wassertrugnatter 
SynonymColuber (Homalopsis) prevostianus EYDOUX & GERVAIS 1837: 5
Gerarda bicolor GRAY 1849 (fide SMITH 1943)
Campylodon Prevostianum — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 964
Gerarda prevostiana — COPE 1862: 1
Heleophis flavescens MÜLLER 1884 (fide SMITH 1943)
Helipophis flavescens MÜLLER 1884: 286 (fide MURPHY & VORIS 2014, in error)
Gerardia prevostiana — WALL 1905: 307
Gerardia prevostiana — WALL 1921: 262
Gerardia prevostiana — SMITH 1943: 394
Gerardia prevostianus — DAS 1996: 56
Gerarda prevostiana — MANTHEY & GROSSMANN 1997: 353
Gerarda prevostiana — COX et al. 1998: 42
Gerardia prevostiana — SHARMA 2004
Gerarda prevostiana — MURPHY & VORIS 2014: 20
Gerarda prevostiana — WALLACH et al. 2014: 306 
DistributionIndia (coastal Maharashtra, N Kerala, Gujarat), S Myanmar (= Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand ?, Philippines, S Cambodia,
Bangladesh ?; West Malaysia; Singapore, Indonesia (Borneo: Sarawak)

Type locality: “Manille” (= Manila, 14°37' N, 120°58' E, Luzon, Philippines)  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesSyntypes: MNHN-RA 3758 and MNHN-RA 7593; Holotype: unknown (fide DAS 2013) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Nasal scales separated by the internasal, dorsal scales smooth in 17 rows at mid-body; and loreal scale present. This monotypic genus is perhaps most easily mistaken for its sister lineage Fordonia, which has 25–29 scale rows at mid- body (MURPHY & VORIS 2014). 
CommentHistory: The year of description of this species has been given as “1822”; we cannot find a paper by Eydoux & Gervais from that year, but another paper published in 1837 is available online.

Diet: mainly crabs. The Gerard's water snake tears its prey into bite-sized pieces, in contrast to most other snakes (Jayne et al. 2002).

Habitat: marshes, mangroves and tidal rivers in the costal areas, i.e. partially “marine”.

Mildly venomous.

Type species: Coluber (Homalopsis) prevostianus EYDOUX & GERVAIS 1837 is the type species of the genus Gerarda GRAY 1849. 
References
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