''Madagascarophis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small, mildly venomous

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 ...

s native to the island of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. They are commonly referred to as Malagasy cat-eyed snakes. Five

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 ...

are in the genus.

Species

*'' Madagascarophis colubrinus'' **''Madagascarophis colubrinus citrinus'' ( Boettger, 1877) **''Madagascarophis colubrinus colubrinus'' ( Schlegel, 1837) **''Madagascarophis colubrinus insularis''

Domergue Domergue is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Faith Domergue (1924–1999), American film actress *François-Urbain Domergue (1745–1810), French grammarian and journalist *Jacques Domergue (born 1953), French politician ...

, 1987 **''Madagascarophis. colubrinus occidentalis''

, 1987 **''Madagascarophis colubrinus pastoriensis''

, 1987 **''Madagascarophis colubrinus septentrionalis''

, 1987 *'' Madagascarophis fuchsi'' Glaw, Kucharzewski, Köhler, Vences & Nagy, 2013 *'' Madagascarophis lolo'' Ruane, Burbrink, Randriamahatantsoa, & Raxworthy, 2016 *'' Madagascarophis meridionalis''

, 1987 *'' Madagascarophis ocellatus''

, 1987

Description

''Madagascarophis'' species are small snakes, rarely exceeding 100 cm in adult size. They are highly variable in color,

grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

s, and

oranges An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known as orange); it primarily refers to ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related ''Citrus × ...

with darker colored blotches. They have large

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s with vertical pupils.

Behavior

Malagasy cat-eyed snakes are found in a wide variety of habitats throughout the island of Madagascar, from montane regions to rain forest. Primarily

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 ...

and terrestrial, they are capable of climbing and are strong swimmers. They feed on a variety of prey, including

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

s and

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s. Their venom is mild and often not powerful enough to subdue their chosen prey items, so they also employ

constriction Constriction is a method used by various snake species to kill or subdue their prey. Although some species of venomous and mildly venomous snakes do use constriction to subdue their prey, most snakes which use constriction lack venom. The snake i ...

as necessary.

In captivity

''Madagascarophis colubrinus'' and ''M. ocellatus'' are frequently imported for the exotic pet trade, and for educational research. Th
Ophidian Research Colony
of the University of Texas at Tyler is known to keep a breeding group of ''M. colubrinus''. The eggs take 83 days to hatch as young snakes at 27 °C.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q511334 Pseudoxyrhophiidae Reptiles of Madagascar Snake genera Taxa named by Robert Mertens