Oriental Whipsnake

About the Oriental Whipsnake

Ahaetulla prasina is an arboreal, moderately venomous species of opisthoglyphous vine snake in the family Colubridae, found in Southern and Southeast Asia. Its common names include the Asian vine snake, Boie's whip snake, Gunther's whip snake, and the Oriental whip snake (Tagalog: puno ng ubas ahas; Thai: งูเขียวหัวจิ้งจก; Indonesian: ular anggur).

The species name prasina is from the Greek word prasinos for the color green. It belongs to the genus Ahaetulla, one of five genera within the subfamily Ahaetuliinae. Recent studies have found it to be paraphyletic and in need of taxonomic revision, as shown in the cladogram below:

Four subspecies are recognized, including the nominate race. Ahaetulla prasina medioxima Lazell, 2002 Ahaetulla prasina preocularis (Taylor, 1922): Philippine Islands, including Sulu Archipelago, Panay, Luzon. Ahaetulla prasina prasina (Boie, 1827)

Ahaetulla prasina suluensis Gaulke, 1994: Philippine Islands, Sulu Archipelago This snake has a wide distribution in Asia, where it occurs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore... Wikipedia →