Boiga ochracea, commonly called the tawny cat snake, is a species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia.

Boiga ochracea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Boiga
Species:
B. ochracea
Binomial name
Boiga ochracea
(Theobald, 1868)
Synonyms[1]
  • Dipsas ochracea
    Theobald, 1868
  • Dipsas ochraceus
    Günther, 1868
  • Dipsas hexagonotus
    Stoliczka, 1871
  • Dipsadomorphus hexagonotus
    Boulenger, 1896
  • Boiga ochracea
    M.A. Smith, 1943

Geographic range

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B. ochracea is found in the Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India (Changlang District, Manipur), Myanmar, and Nepal. It is also found in China.[2]

Subspecies

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Three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[1]

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Boiga.

Reproduction

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B. ochracea is oviparous.[1]

Etymology

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The subspecific names, stoliczkae and walli, are in honor of Moravian herpetologist Ferdinand Stoliczka and British herpetologist Frank Wall, respectively.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Species Boiga ochracea at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ^ "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species".
  3. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Boiga ochracea stoliczkae, p. 255; B. o. walli, p. 279).

Further reading

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  • Boulenger GA (1890). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor & Francis, printers). xviii + 541 pp. (Dipsas hexagonotus, p. 361).
  • Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Dipsadomorphus hexagonotus, pp. 65–66).
  • Das I (2002). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of India. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-056-5. (Boiga ochracea, p. 25).
  • Günther A (1868). "Sixth Account of new Species of Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Fourth Series 1: 413-429. (Dipsas ochraceus, p. 425).
  • Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Boiga ochracea, pp. 348–349).
  • Theobald W (1868) ("1870" on title page). "Catalogue of the Reptiles of British Birma [sic], embracing the Provinces of Pegu, Martaban, and Tenasserim; with descriptions of new or little-known species". Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology 10: 4-67. (Dipsas ochracea, new species, pp. 53–54). (in English and Latin).
  • Tillack, Frank (1999) "Boiga ochracea stoliczkae (Wall)". Sauria 21 (2): 2.
  • Wall F (1909). "Remarks on some forms of Dipsadomorphus ". Records of the Indian Museum 3: 151-155.