Liana snake
| Liana snake | ||||||||||||
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Model of a liana snake in the Natural History Museum, London |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thelotornis kirtlandii | ||||||||||||
| ( Hallowell , 1844) |
The liana snake ( Thelotornis kirtlandii ), also bird snake or gray tree snake , is a venomous snake . It is sometimes over 1.4 meters long and is characterized by a narrow head and large eyes with horizontal pupils. It is also characterized by a slight lateral flattening of its body and a light gray to greenish basic color with dark framed light stripes. It lives in Central to South Africa in the branches of the vegetation of forest and bushland. It eats lizards , especially geckos and chameleons , but also snakes , frogs and, to a lesser extent, birds . This oviparous tree dweller is known for its potent venom. In addition to swelling, bleeding, and vomiting of blood, the bite also causes bleeding in the cranial cavity and acute kidney failure. In addition, profuse bleeding occurs on all mucous membranes. The thus hemorrhagic poison cannot be combated with an antidote.
The subspecies T. k. capensis recognized, but today it is listed several times as a separate species.
swell
- Dieter Schmidt: Trugnattern , bede Verlag, published 1998, ISBN 3931792897