Jamaican snake
| Jamaican snake | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hypsirhynchus ater | ||||||||||||
| ( Gosse , 1851) |
The Jamaican Slim Natter ( Hypsirhynchus ater , Syn. : Alsophis ater ), also known as Black Slim Natter called, is a representative of the family of snakes .
description
The species reaches a length of 85 centimeters. The back is black or dark olive with black dots. The ventral side is colored uniformly black or dark olive. A more or less black line can be seen on the sides of the head that runs through the eyes. There is no rein shield (Loreale) between the nostril and the eye.
Way of life
The Jamaican snake is a diurnal, ground-dwelling snake that feeds on small reptiles . These include in particular creeping of the genus Celestus .
status
In the mid-19th century, Philip Henry Gosse described the Jamaican snake as one of the most common snakes in Jamaica. Today it is considered extremely rare or already extinct. In the 1940s it was largely displaced from its habitat as a result of forest destruction and imported mongooses . However, the discovery of scale skin in the early 1970s gives reason to hope that a few specimens may have survived. In the IUCN Red List , it is classified as “critically endangered”.
literature
- Robert W. Henderson Consequences of Predator Introductions and Habitat Destruction on Amphibians and Reptiles in the Post-Columbus West Indies . In: Caribbean Journal of Science. Vol. 28, No 1-2, pp 1-10, 1992.
- Albert Schwartz & Robert W. Henderson: Amphibians and reptiles of the West Indies: descriptions, distributions, and natural history . University of Florida Press, Gainesville 1991. ISBN 9780813010496