Boiga drapiezii

Boiga drapiezii, commonly known as the white-spotted cat snake, is a species of long and slender rear-fanged colubrid that is common throughout its range.

White-spotted cat snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Boiga
Species:
B. drapiezii
Binomial name
Boiga drapiezii
(H. Boie in F. Boie, 1827)
Synonyms[1]

Etymology

The epithet, drapiezii, is in honor of Belgian naturalist Auguste Drapiez.[2]

Description

There are two known phases of B. drapiezii. The green phase has a marbled green body with a more robust head and width. The brown phase is much more slender with orange brown triangle-like bands across the body. This species is in need of urgent review, with possibly more subspecies awaiting discovery and subsequent description.

Geographic range

B. drapiezii is found in Indonesia, Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Habitat

The white-spotted cat snake, while arboreal, can often be found moving about on the forest floor in search of prey and travel. It is found in tropical rainforest, sometimes on branches near streams.

Diet

The white-spotted cat snake feeds on geckos, frogs, and other smaller snakes in the wild.

References
  1. "Boiga drapiezii ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Boiga drapiezii, p. 75).

Further reading
  • Boie F (1827). "Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier ". Isis von Oken, Jena 20: 508–566. (Dipsas drapiezii H. Boie, new species, p. 549). (in German and Latin).
  • Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Dipsadomorphus drapiezii, pp. 74–75).
  • Das I (2006). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Borneo. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-061-1. (Boiga drapiezii, p. 23).


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