Ornate tree snakes
| Ornate tree snakes | ||||||||||||
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Golden snake ( Chrysopelea ornata ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Chrysopelea | ||||||||||||
| Boie , 1826 |
The chrysopelea ( Chrysopelea ) are a genus of arboreal snakes , which in the tropical rain forests are spread from South and Southeast Asia. They are famous for their ability to slide from tree to tree, which is why they are often called flying snakes . There are five known types.
Ornamental tree snakes are false snakes (opistoglyphs), i.e. poisonous. Their fangs are at the back of their mouths. They help kill the prey during the devouring process, and at the same time the administered poison makes digestion easier. Their poison is not particularly dangerous for humans.
description
Most species reach a length of 1 to 1.2 m, Chrysopelea pelias , the smallest, is only 60–70 cm long.
distribution
The habitat of the ornamental tree snakes extends over the South and Southeast Asian lowland rainforests. They are distributed over parts of southwest India , Sri Lanka and from southern China south of Kunming via Burma , Thailand to Vietnam and via Indonesia to the Philippines .
glide
Although there are no external morphological features, these snakes can glide long distances, navigate in the air, and even turn around. In an experiment, Chrysopelea paradisi was allowed to slide from a 9.6 m high tower onto flat terrain and this was observed in stereo with two cameras. As the researchers found, the snakes spread their ribs outward during flight. The underside takes on the shape of a wing, the width of the snake doubles.
species
The genus currently comprises five recognized species:
- Golden snake or green tree snake ( Chrysopelea ornata ( Shaw , 1802))
- Ornamental tree snake ( Chrysopelea paradisi Boie , 1827)
- Chrysopelea pelias ( Linnaeus , 1758)
- Chrysopelea rhodopleuron Boie , 1827
- Chrysopelea taprobanica Smith , 1943
Web links
- Jake Socha: Flying Snake Home Page (in English)
- Adam Summers : Serpents in the Air ( March 5, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive )
- Unusual Flying Objects: Flying Snakes Mirror Online Video.
swell
- ↑ John J. Socha, Tony O'Dempsey, Michael LaBarbera: A 3-D kinematic analysis of gliding in a flying snake. In: The Journal of Experimental Biology. Volume 208, 2005, pp. 1817-1833, doi: 10.1242 / jeb.01579 ( PDF ).
- ↑ Chrysopelea in The Reptile Database ; accessed on August 22, 2020.