REPTILIA: SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE: Rhynchophis

Rhynchophis boulengeri Author and date

Leaf-Nosed Ratsnake

Photos & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

Range: Southern China and Vietnam, in montane forested regions.

Diagnosis:

Description: A long (1.2 m/  ft), smooth-scaled snake with a long, tapering appendage on the snout. Adults are bright green above, with a black stripe that passes from the nostril to the temples. Ventrally pale green or yellowish. Juveniles mottled gray and white (see photo under reproduction below).

Natural History: This is still a rarely seen and poorly known arboreal snake species. It is almost wholly confined to trees where it lies still and waits to ambush small vertebrates that it feeds upon.

Reproduction:  

Juvenile leaf-nosed snake.

Taxonomy & Relationships:

Variation:

Additional Comments:

Type Specimen:

Literature: