''Oligodon formosanus'', also knowwn as the Formosa kukri snake or beautiful kukri snake, is a species of snake 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 epithet is named after its range in Taiwan (''Formosa'').

Description

The scale colorings range in the brown-red spectrum. The body is a tawny light brown with two darker russet stripes running down either side of the spine, where thin black lines that break into smaller dotted patterns occasionally diagonally intersect. The underbelly is off-white.

Distribution

The snake is found in China (including

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...

), Japan (including

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, Miyako and Yaeyama), Taiwan, and northern Vietnam.

References

formosanus Snakes of China Snakes of Vietnam Snakes of Asia Reptiles of Hong Kong Snakes of Japan Reptiles of Taiwan Reptiles of Vietnam Reptiles described in 1872 Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Colubrinae-stub