Asian Vine Snake Or Oriental whipsnake (mildly venomous)

Dryophiops philippina

This species is endemic to Philippine Islands where records are from the Luzon islands (including Bataan), Mindoro, Sibuyan, Panay and Eastern Mindanao. During surveys recently, it has rarely recorded with collections only from Marinduque Island, Panay (at 200m above sea level) and mountains of northern Luzon (about 500m above sea level). This species of snake is docile but very nervous one. If the area where it is residing is disturbed, it may spring up to flee or remain very still. It is always on the move but can remain motionless for extended periods of time. Irate individual may sometimes show aggression by expanding its neck and showing light colorations underneath, to make itself appear bigger, but they rarely bite. It is active both day and night. This species is very specialized hunter, actively pursuing its prey consist primarily of geckos and lizards. They sometimes consumed small frogs, fishes ans slugs.

 

Description

The body of this species is about 3 to 6 ft long. Coloration is dark brown or black, sometimes gray above and often with light green or blue flecks. Tongue is bright green. Cream or white colored lateral stripes on each side are bisected by dark blackish lines which are nearly continuous along the dorsolateral stripe. Neck down to the mid-body is yellow and the rest of the body is brown. Presence of small scale on the face called the preocular scale. The scales on the top of the head are large, a feature that is distinguishable among the other species of the same genus. Females are distinguished by their thicker bodies that end in a short and much thinner tail while males are thinner and have longer tails. Females are lighter in coloration while males tend to be darker and has chestnut brown tint on its head. Like other rear-fanged snakes, this species is mildly venomous. No fatalities have been recorded so far.