Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake

About the Reddish Peninsular Cat Snake

Boiga forsteni, also known commonly as Forsten's cat snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia. Boiga forstenii is found in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India (Sikkim, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, southern Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand).

The specific name, forstenii, is in honor of Dutch naturalist Eltio Alegondas Forsten (1811–1843). See snake scales for terms used In B. forsteni the anterior palatine and mandibular teeth are considerably larger than the others. The eye is about as long as its distance from the nostril.

The rostral scale is broader than deep, and the internasals are much shorter than the prefrontals. The frontal is nearly as long as its distance from the end of the snout, which is shorter than the parietal scales. The loreal is square or deeper than it is long. There is one preocular scale, extending to the upper surface of the head, and two or three postoculars. The temporal scales are very small and numerous. There are eight to eleven upper... Wikipedia →