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''Elaphe moellendorffi'', commonly called the flower snake or Moellendorf's icrat snake, 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), ...
of 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 ...
in the family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Colubridae
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. C ...
. The species is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to southeastern Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
.
Etymology
Thespecific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''moellendorffi'', is in honor of German malacologist Otto Franz von Möllendorf.
Geographic range
''E. moellendorffi'' is found inChina
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(Guangdong
) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
, Guangxi
Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
) and Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
( Hòa Bình). It may possibly also occur in Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
.
Description
''E. moellendorffi'' is a large snake. Adults may attain a total length (including tail) of . Boulenger (1894).
Reproduction
''E. moellendorffi'' isoviparous
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 ...
.
References
Further reading
* Boettger O (1886). "''Diagnoses Reptilium Novorum ab ill. viris O. Herz et Consule Dr. O. Fr. de Moellendorf in Sina meridionali reportorum'' ". ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'' 9: 519-520. (''Cynophis moellendorffi'', new species, p. 520). (in Latin). * Boulenger GA (1894). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (''Coluber moellendorffi'', p. 56). *Chen, Xin; Lemmon, Alan R.; Lemmon, Emily Moriarty; Pyron, R. Alexander; Burbrink, Frank T. (2017). "Using phylogenomics to understand the link between biogeographic origins and regional diversification in ratsnakes". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 111: 206-218. Reptiles described in 1886 Reptiles of China Reptiles of Vietnam Elaphe Snakes of China Snakes of Vietnam Snakes of Asia Taxa named by Oskar Boettger {{Colubrinae-stub