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Schokar's bronzeback
Plate 1 of 3. (c) bastih, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · via iNaturalist
IUCN VU · Vulnerable

Schokar's bronzeback

Dendrelaphis schokari

Dendrelaphis schokari, also known as the common bronze-back or Schokar's bronzeback (Sinhala: තරු/මූකලන් හාල්දන්ඩා, Tharu/Mookalan Haaldanda in Sinhala), is a species of non-venomous arboreal snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka.

Continue reading on Wikipedia

From the article Schokar's bronzeback on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section

§1

Description

It can be distinguished easily from other Dendrelaphis species by having a cream-colored spotted line on its olive green dorsum (back) from neck to mid fore body along the spine.

Formal description. Dendrelaphis schokari adult female: snout-to-vent length (SVL) 51 cm (20 in); tail 22.5 cm (8.9 in); 161 ventrals (2 preventrals); 113 subcaudals, all divided; anal shield divided; 1 loreal scale (L+R); 9 infralabials (L+R); first infralabials touch at the mental groove; first sublabial touches infralabials 6 and 7 (L+R); 9 supralabials (L+R), supralabials 5 and 6 touch the eye (L+R); 2 postoculars (L+R); temporal formula: 2+2 (L+R); dorsal formula: 15-15-11; vertebral scales enlarged but smaller than the scales of the first dorsal row; width of the dorsal scale at the position of the middle ventral 2.1 mm; eye-diameter 4.9 mm (L+R); distance anterior border of eye to posterior border of nostril 4.5 mm (L+R); a dark postocular stripe starts behind the eye, covers only the lower quarter of the temporal region and ends at the edge of the jaw; a vertebral stripe, formed by yellow spots on the vertebral scales, starts behind the head and is no longer visible after the level of the 34th ventral scale; an interparietal spot is absent; a faint light ventrolateral line is present, not bordered by black lines; ground color brown, based on the color of unshed skin; supralabials and throat ye …

§2

Range & habitat

Dendrelaphis schokari inhabits forests and open areas of all climatic zones of the island of Sri Lanka, from lowlands to about 750 m (2,460 ft) above sea level. It is diurnal, and though a tree snake, it is observed foraging on land as well.

Wikipedia: “Habitat”

§3

What it does

Its prey consists of frogs, lizards, geckos, skinks, insects and also eggs of small birds. It can make long jumps among trees if necessary while chasing its prey.

Wikipedia: “Diet”

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 99189.