''Dendrelaphis tristis'' (Common bronzeback or Daudin's bronzeback) 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 ...

tree-snake found in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

. It is not venomous, and harmless to humans.

Taxonomy

''Dendrelaphis tristis'' belongs to the

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 ...

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 ...

'', which contains 48 other described species.. ''Dendrelaphis'' 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 ''Dendrelaphis'' is most closely related to ''

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 ...

'', 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

''Dendrelaphis tristis'' is found in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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 ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

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 ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, although its presence is uncertain in Myanmar, Bhutan, and Pakistan.

Habitat

It is diurnal and 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 ...

. It lives in various types of forests, from dry deciduous to semi-evergreen, and has even been reported in urban gardens and parks.

Description

''Dendrelaphis tristis'' is a long, slender

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

with a pointed head and a bronze-coloured line running right down its back. It is

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

d among the leaves because of its uniform ruddy brown skin.

Diet

Its diet includes

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

s, garden lizards,

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s, and small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s. It is not

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

, and harmless to humans.

Reproduction

The snake 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 ...

(egg laying) reproduction, and lays 6-8 eggs in April in tree hollows and rotting vegetation.

Gallery

File:Bronzeback head sal.jpg File:The Common Indian Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis tristis).jpg, Head seen dorso-laterally File:Dendrelaphis tristis at Kaludiya pokuna.jpg, In Sri Lanka File:Tree snake eating frog, Kerala.jpg, Bronzeback eating a frog File:Common Bronzeback photographed at Bardiya National Park.jpg , Common Bronzeback at Bardiya National Park, Nepal