The twin-barred tree snake (''Chrysopelea pelias'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from , 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest fossil species of the family date back to the Late Eocene epoch, with earlier origins suspected. Colu ...

snake found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. It is also called the banded flying snake. It can glide, as with all species of its

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Chrysopelea ''Chrysopelea'' is a genus of snakes, commonly known as flying snakes or gliding snakes, that belong to the family Colubridae. ''Chrysopelea'' species are found in Southeast Asia, and are known for their ability to glide between trees. Flying ...

'', by stretching the body into a flattened strip using its ribs. It is fully

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, mostly found in moist

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

, and can cover a horizontal distance of about 100 metres in a glide from the top of a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

. It is an

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

snake.

Taxonomy

''Chrysopelea pelias'' belongs to the

'', which contains four other described species. ''Chrysopelea'' is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Ahaetuliinae The Ahaetuliinae are a subfamily of vine snakes within the family Colubridae that was erected in 2016. They are found from South and Southeast Asia through to Australia. Etymology The name comes from the genus '' Ahaetulla'', which gets its name ...

, of which ''Chrysopelea'' is most closely related to ''

Dendrelaphis ''Dendrelaphis'' is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Ahaetuliinae of the family Colubridae. Species of the genus ''Dendrelaphis'' are distributed from Pakistan, India and southern China to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Australia, Ne ...

'', as shown in the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below:

Distribution

It is found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. It was erroneously reported in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. ''Chrysopelea pelias'' has an overlapping range with the paradise tree snake (''Chrysopelea paradisi'') in Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Indonesia. However, ''Chrysopelea pelias'' is not nearly as common as the paradise tree snake.

Gliding

''Chrysopelea pelias'' begins gliding by jumping in an upward position that seems to be different from the behavior of other limbless vertebrates. This way of moving, as seen in a closely related genus, might have been a behavioral precursor to the evolution of gliding in snakes.

References

* Boie, F. 1827 Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis van Oken, Jena, 20: 508–566. * Auliya, M. 2006. Taxonomy, Life History, and conservation of giant reptiles in west Kalimantan. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 432 pp. * Chan-ard,T.; Grossmann,W.; Gumprecht,A. & Schulz,K. D. 1999. Amphibians and reptiles of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand – an illustrated checklist ilingual English and German Bushmaster Publications, Würselen, Germany, 240 pp. *David,P. & Vogel,G. 1996. The snakes of Sumatra. An annotated checklist and key with natural history notes. Bücher Kreth, Frankfurt/M. * Hien,P. Grossmann,W. & Schäfer, C. 2001. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der landbewohnenden Reptilienfauna von Pulau Tioman, West-Malaysia. Sauria 23 (4): 11–28 * Lim, K.K.P. & Ng, H.H. 1999. The terrestrial herpetofauna of Pulau Tioman, Peninsular Malaysia. Raffles Bull. Zool., Suppl. No. 6: 131–155 * Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ. 10th Edition: 824 pp. * Malkmus, R.; Manthey, U.; Vogel, G. Hoffmann, P. & Kosuch, J. 2002. Amphibians and reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). A.R.G. Ganther Verlag, Rugell, 404 pp. * Malkmus,R. 1985. Amphibien und Reptilien vom Mount Kinabalu (4101 m), Nordborneo. Herpetofauna 7 (35): 6–13 * Manthey, U. & Grossmann, W. 1997. Amphibien & Reptilien Südostasiens. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 512 pp. * Teo, R.C.H. & Rajathurai, S. 1997. Mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the Nature Reserves of Singapore – diversity, abundance and distribution. Proc. Nature Reserves Survey Seminar. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 49: 353–425 Gliding snakes Snakes of Myanmar Snakes of Indonesia Snakes of Malaysia Snakes of Singapore Snakes of Thailand Reptiles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Reptiles of Borneo {{Colubrids-stub

Taxonomy

Distribution

Gliding

References

Further reading