''Fordonia leucobalia'' is an aquatic

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

known by the common names crab-eating water snake and white-bellied mangrove snake. It is a common resident of mangrove swamps and tropical tidal

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s from coast of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and the coasts of

Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie p ...

. Individual ''F. leucobalia'' reach up to a meter in length, and are brown or gray in color with a white belly. There is significant color variation. Some have spots. The anatomy reflects the snake's water-living lifestyle: the eyes are located atop the head, and the nostrils have valves that close when the snake dives. The snake eats small prey that live in its habitat, such as frogs and small fish, and it specializes in crabs, hence its name. Like other homalopsines, ''F. leucobalia'' bears live young.

References

* Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. * Frith,C.B. & MacIver,D. 1978 The crab-eating Water Snake, Fordonia leucobalia (Schlegel), another snake new to Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. (Bangkok) 27: 189-191 * Schlegel, H. 1837 Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Généralxxviii +251 S. + Partie Descriptiv606 S. + xvi. La Haye (J. Kips, J. HZ. et W. P. van Stockum)

External links

* ww.reptile-database.org
Field Museum: Mud Snakes

Colubrids Fauna of Southeast Asia Reptiles of Thailand Reptiles of Indonesia Reptiles of Western Australia Monotypic snake genera Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{Colubrids-stub