Paradise tree snake, paradise flying snake or garden flying snake (''Chrysopelea paradisi'') 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 can, like 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 ...

'', glide by stretching the body into a flattened strip using its ribs. It is 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 10 meters (33 feet) or more in a glide from the top of a tree. Slow motion photography shows an undulation of the snake's body in flight while the head remains relatively stable, suggesting controlled flight. They are mildly venomous with rear fangs and also can constrict their prey, which consists of mostly lizards and bats.

Etymology

The species name ''paradisi'' comes from either the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

"paradisus" or

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

"paradeisos", which means park. It is assumed that the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

from 1826 was found in a park.

Taxonomy

''Chrysopelea paradisi'' 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

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

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 ...

Behavior

It lives in forests and 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 ...

, and glides between trees. It has

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 ...

reproduction. Similar to some other colubrid snakes, flying snakes possess enlarged posterior maxillary teeth, produce venom from Duvernoy's glands, and are believed to be mildly venomous. Because this snake is uncommon, arboreal, and prefers forests, encounters with humans are rare. However, in 2013 there was a report of a 45-year-old woman who was bitten on her right thumb by a snake hanging to the window grill when she was trying to close the windowpanes of her bedroom.

Gliding

The flying snake has a unique

kinematic In physics, kinematics studies the geometrical aspects of motion of physical objects independent of forces that set them in motion. Constrained motion such as linked machine parts are also described as kinematics. Kinematics is concerned with s ...

that is different compared to other animals with gliding or flight because they are cylindrical and do not have limbs such as legs or wings. Although the flying snake does not display visible characteristics that contribute to its ability to glide, there are three aspects that have been studied and found to have great positive effects on this. Their form of takeoff which is most commonly the anchored J-loop take-off, once airborne their cross sectional body is shaped into a triangle, and their bodies use an aerial undulation to maximize the distance traveled.

References

External links

* *
Flying snake home page
by Jake Socha
C. paradisi at Thailand Snakes

Flying Snake Video w/additional info

Research related article
. {{Taxonbar, from=Q649002 Colubridae Gliding snakes Reptiles of Brunei Reptiles of Myanmar Reptiles of India Reptiles of Indonesia Reptiles of Malaysia Reptiles of the Philippines Reptiles of Singapore Reptiles of Thailand Reptiles of Borneo Reptiles described in 1827 Taxa named by Friedrich Boie