About Dendrelaphis pictus (Gmelin, 1789)
This species, Dendrelaphis pictus, was first described by Gmelin in 1789. The snake is olive or brown on its upper side, with a yellow lateral stripe. A dark line borders this stripe below, between the outer scales and ventrals. A black stripe runs along each side of the head, passes through the eye, and either widens or breaks into spots on the nape, where spots are separated by bluish-green bands. The upper lip is yellow, and the lower body surface is yellowish or greenish. Head and body length is approximately 74 cm (29 in), while the tail measures 44 cm (17 in). It has 23 to 26 maxillary teeth. The eye is as long as the distance between the nostril and eye. The rostral scale is broader than deep, and visible from above. Internasal scales are as long as, or slightly shorter than, prefrontal scales. The frontal scale is as long as its distance from the rostral or snout tip, but shorter than parietal scales. The loreal scale is long, with one preocular and two postocular scales. Temporal scale arrangements are 2+2, 1+1, or 1+2. There are usually nine (sometimes seven or eight) upper labials, with the fifth and sixth (or fourth to sixth) entering the eye. It usually has five (sometimes four) lower labials contacting the anterior chin shields; anterior chin shields are shorter than posterior chin shields, which are separated by one anterior and two posterior scales. Scales are arranged in 15 rows, with vertebral scales about as large as outer scales. Ventrals number 151–204, the anal scale is divided, and subcaudals number 103–174. This species is found across Southeast Asian forests in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. Populations once assigned to this species from India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar are now considered to belong to the separate species Dendrelaphis proarchos.
