Gonyosoma oxycephalum

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Red-tailed Green Ratsnake

2 Red Tailed Green Ratsnakes

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Gonyosoma
Species:	G. oxycephalum

Binomial name

Gonyosoma oxycephalum
(Boie, 1827)

Red-tailed Green Ratsnake Gonyosoma oxycephalum is a species of snake found in Southeast Asia. It is a thin snake with powerful and rough scales on its bottom, which makes it ideal to move and climb trees. It has smaller, smooth scales on its back. It has, as it's name is a clear indicator of, a green body with a red tail, and it also has a dark line horizontally across its eye. The red-tailed green ratsnake lives and spends its life in the trees. It feeds mostly on seeds and small mammals. It's body can grow up to 2,3 meters and its average age is 15 years. It's sexually mature at the age of 4 years, and it's eggs has a hatching time from 14 to 16 weeks, the female lays up to about 25 eggs at the time, and the hatchlings are about 45 centimeters long

[edit] Distribution

Indonesia (Bangka, Belitung, Java, Kalimantan/Borneo, Karimata, Legundi, Lombok, Mentawai Archipelago, Natuna Archipelago, Nias, Panaitan, Riau Archipelago, Sebuku, Sumatra, Tambelan Archipelago),
Malaysia (Malaya and East Malaysia, Pulau Tioman ?),
Singapore Island, Penang Island,
India (Andaman Islands),
Myanmar (= Burma),
Thailand (incl. Phuket), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam,
Philippine Islands (Balabac, Bohol, Lubang, Luzon, Negros, Palawan, Sulu Archipelago, Panay)

Type locality Indonesia: Java (Boie, 1827)

[edit] References

Boie, F. 1827 Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis van Oken, Jena, 20: 508-566.
Boulenger,G.A. 1894 On the herpetological fauna of Palawan and Balabac. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 14: 81-90
Dowling, Herndon G. 1958 A taxonomic study of the ratsnakes VI. Validation of the genera Gonyosoma Wagler and Elaphe Fitzinger Copeia 1958 (1): 29-40
Gray, J. E. 1849 Description of three new genera and species of snakes. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 4: 246-248