Common Bronze-back

About the Common Bronze-back

Dendrelaphis pictus, commonly known as either the common bronzeback, painted bronzeback, or Indonesian bronzeback, is a species of colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia. Dendrelaphis pictus belongs to the genus Dendrelaphis, which contains 48 other described species.

Dendrelaphis is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Dendrelaphis is most closely related to Chrysopelea, as shown in the cladogram below: It is found throughout Southeast Asian forests in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. Populations from India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar are now considered to belong to the separate species Dendrelaphis proarchos.

The snake's colouration is olive or brown above with a yellow lateral stripe, bordered below by a dark line between the outer scales and the ventrals. A black stripe on each side of the head passes through the eye, widens or breaks up into spots, separated by bluish-green bands on the nape. The upper lip is yellow, and the lower surface yellowish or greenish. Length of head and body approximately 74 cm (29 in) and the tail... Wikipedia →