''Boiga flaviviridis'', the yellow-green cat snake, is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

, which is found in

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 ...

. It is a rear fanged,

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

species of snake that probably feeds on

lizards Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia althou ...

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

and small

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. It was first described in 2013.

Taxonomic comments

Till a recent study, this species was mistaken to be Beddome's cat snake and was extralimitally reported from dry forests of eastern peninsular India. New research on both museum collections and fieldwork led to its discovery as a new, distinct species.

Holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

: BMNH 1911.9.8.4, female, from

Brahmapur Brahmapur may refer to the following places: * Brahmapur, Bihar * Brahmapur, Nepal * Brahmapur, Odisha ** Brahmapur railway station * Brahmapur, West Bengal See also * Brahampur, Phagwara Brahampur is a village in Tehsil Phagwara, Kapurtha ...

Ganjam Ganjam is a town and a notified area council in Ganjam district in the state of Odisha, India. Brahmapur, one of the major city of Odisha is situated in this district. Geography Ganjam is located at in the Ganjam district of Odisha with an ...

district, in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

state, India, presented by Major Frank Wall in 1911.

Paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Of ...

: MAD 1913 an adult female from Udayagiri, Nellore district, state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, India, collected in 1913, collector unknown.

Etymology

This species is named ''flaviviridis'' (from ''flavus'' meaning yellow and ''viridis'', meaning green in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

) as an adjective, after its diagnostic colouration that easily serves to identify this species. As a common name, "yellow-green cat snake" was suggested.

Diagnostics

The new species can be identified as follows: medium-sized species of the genus ''Boiga'' characterized by: (1) 19 dorsal scale rows around the forepart of the body and 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody; (2) 248–259 ventrals; (3) 106–109 subcaudals in females; (4) a single anal scale; (5) 8 (rarely 9) supralabials with SL 3–5 touching the orbit; (6) preocular reaching upper surface of the head; (7) 2 temporals in the first row, 3 temporals in the second row with a total of 4 rows of temporal scales; (8) a yellowish-green dorsal ground colour; (9) more than 90 faint, hardly visible dark bands; (10) the dorsal part of the head with only faint ornamentations; (11) a postocular stripe ending at the jaw angle; (12) a uniform venter with no speckles or lines (13) relative tail length in females from 0.180 to 0.200. The new species can easily be recognized by the combination of high number of ventral scales together with the colouration especially the uniform belly and a proportionately shorter tail than in other species of this group.

Geographic range

This species of snake is found in India. It is so far known from the

dry forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

of eastern peninsular India, including

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

and

states.

References

* * GERNOT VOGEL & S.R. GANESH 2013. A new species of cat snake (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae: Boiga) from dry forests of eastern Peninsular India. Zootaxa 3637 (2): 158–168. * Khandal, Dharmendra, Sachin Rai and Vivek Sharma. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Boiga flaviviridis (Yellow-green Cat Snake). Herpetological Review 47 (1): 82. * Kwet, Axel 2014. Liste der im Jahr 2013 neu beschriebenen Reptilien. Terraria-Elaphe 2014 (3): 56–67. * Sharma, Vivek, Roheet Karoo and Umesh Zire. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Boiga flaviviridis (Yellow-green Cat Snake). Herpetological Review 47 (1): 82. {{Taxonbar, from=Q14392302 Reptiles described in 2013 Reptiles of India schultzei