Boiga andamanensis
Creators
Description
Boiga andamanensis (Wall, 1909)
(Figs. 7A & B, 12A)
Material studied: Two adults; ANFD uncatalogued, an adult from Mayabunder, Middle Andaman; CIARI uncatalogued, an adult from Sippighat, South Andaman (Fig. 3G).
Morphology: Dorsal scales elongated, slender and smooth, in 21:21:15 rows; mid dorsal row distinctly enlarged, hexagonal; ventrals 259–262; preventral 1; subcaudals 102–124, divided; preocular 1; postoculars 2; anal single; supralabials 8 (3–5 entering orbit); infralabials 10–11 (1–6 contacting genials); temporals 3+2, loreal 1. A colour polymorphic species; three distinct colour morphs observed: ashy green, brown and bright red, the former two being frequent as adults and juveniles being reddish. Interior of mouth pink.
Distribution: A nocturnal species found throughout the Andaman Archipelago. Seven individuals were recorded from South Andaman, Long Island, Havelock and Middle Andaman Islands. Found in primary evergreen and secondary forests. Rather uncommon in human habitations. Found in low-lying shrubs and bushes.
Remarks: B. andamanensis was redescribed recently by Ganesh et al. (2020) as a part of the revision of the B. ceylonensis group. Earlier reports of Boiga ochracea walli from the Andaman Islands (Smith, 1940; Whitaker and Captain, 2004) need a proper reassessment and are likely to be erroneous; possibly based on the red colour variants of B. andamanensis.
Status: Uncommon, endemic to the Andaman archipelago.
Notes
Files
Files
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Boiga
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Order
- Squamata
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Scientific name authorship
- Wall
- Species
- andamanensis
- Taxon rank
- species
- Taxonomic concept label
- Boiga andamanensis (Wall, 1909) sec. Chandramouli, 2022
References
- Wall, F. (1909) Remarks on some forms of Dipsadomorphus. Records of the Indian Museum, 3, 151 - 155. https: // doi. org / 10.26515 / rzsi / v 3 / i 2 / 1909 / 163268
- Ganesh, S. R., Achyutan, N. S., Chandramouli S. R. & Vogel, G. (2020) Taxonomic revision of the Boiga ceylonensis group (Serpentes: Colubridae): re-examination of type specimens, redefinition of nominate taxa and an updated key. Zootaxa, 4779 (3), 301 - 322. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4779.3.1
- Smith, M. A. (1940) The herpetology of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of London, 3, 150 - 158. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8312.1941. tb 00277. x
- Whitaker, R. & Captain, A. (2004) Snakes of India - the field guide. Draco Books, Chennai, 500 pp.