''Dendrelaphis humayuni'', also known commonly as the Nicobar bronzeback or Tiwari's bronzeback, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ev ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the Nicobar Islands of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Etymology

''D. humayuni'' was named after

Humayun Abdulali Humayun Abdulali (19 May 1914, Kobe, Japan - 3 June 2001, Mumbai, India) was an Indian ornithologist and biologist who was also a cousin of the "birdman of India", Salim Ali. Like other naturalists of his period, he took an initial interest in ...

Geographic range

''D. humayuni'' is a widely distributed species found in the central and southern Nicobar Islands, but absent from Car Nicobar. The island of

Chowra Chowra is an island in the Andaman and Nicobar islands group of India. It is located to the north of Teressa island and to the south of Battimalv Island in the Indian Ocean. It is also known as Choura, Tatat or Sanenyo. History The island su ...

appears to be its northern range boundary, and Great Nicobar Island is its southern range boundary. There is a single record of this species from Camorta Island of Nicobar collected by

Wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the su ...

. Vijayakumar SP, David P (2006). "Taxonomy, natural history, and distribution of the snakes of the Nicobar Islands (India), based on new materials and with an emphasis on endemic species". ''Russian Journal of Herpetology'' 13 (1): 11–40.

Characteristics

''D. humayuni'' averages a length of . It has 172–190

ventral scales In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that conta ...

. There are 9

supralabials In reptiles, the supralabial scales, also called upper-labials, are those scales that border the mouth opening along the upper jaw. They do not include the median scaleWright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates ...

, with 5th and 6th touching the eye in most cases. ''D. humayuni'' is mostly confused with '' Dendrelaphis pictus andamanensis''.

Behavior

''D. humayuni'' is

diurnal Diurnal ("daily") may refer to: General * Diurnal cycle, any pattern that recurs daily ** Diurnality, the behavior of animals and plants that are active in the daytime * Diurnal phase shift, a phase shift of electromagnetic signals * Diurnal tem ...

and

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, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

Diet

''D. humayuni''

preys Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

upon

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s.Rangasamy V, Sivaperuman C, Ashaharraza K (2018). "Predation on a Nicobar Frog, ''Amnirana nicobariensis'' (

Stoliczka ''Stoliczka'' is a genus of Pakistani nursery web spiders that was first described by Octavius Pickard-Cambridge in 1885. it contains only two species, found only in Pakistan: '' S. affinis'' and '' S. insignis''. See also * List of Pisauridae ...

1879), by a Nicobar Bronzeback, ''Dendrelaphis humayuni'' (Tiwari and Biswas 1973), from Great Nicobar Island, Republic of India". ''IRCF'' (International Reptile Conservation Foundation) ''Reptiles & Amphibians: Conservation and Natural History'' 25 (2): 145–147.

Reproduction