Günther's whipsnake, Burmese vine snake or river vine snake (''Ahaetulla fronticincta'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

found in bushes and other low vegetation along tidal rivers and mangrove in coastal parts of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Burma).Das, I. (2010). ''A Field Guide to the Reptiles of South-East Asia.'' Pp. 259-260. New Holland Publishers, UK. Reptile Database (2016).
Ahaetulla fronticincta.
' Retrieved 15 April 2016. There are also old records from neighbouring northeastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

), but these are considered questionable and it has not been located there during recent surveys. It is generally common in appropriate habitats within its known range. This diurnal, mildly venomous snake feeds only on fish. It is slender, up to about long, and either green or brownish with a paler underside. It is

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

Food

This snake feeds only on fish. It strikes at a fish in water while maintaining half of its body wrapped around a branch or twig. The mild

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

of this snake renders the fish immobile.

References

* Boulenger, George A. 1890 ''

The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma ''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books th ...

''. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. * Günther, A. 1858 Catalogue of Colubrine snakes of the British Museum. London, I - XVI, 1 - 281

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050820052019/http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/2003spring/stories/wildlives.html Ahaetulla Reptiles of Myanmar Snakes of Asia Reptiles described in 1858 Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Colubrids-stub