Thai National Parks

Sibynophis collaris, commonly known as the common many-toothed snake, Betty's many toothed snake or the collared black-headed snake, is a species of colubrid snake endemic to South and East Asia.

Description

Rostral scale twice as broad as deep, just visible from above; suture between the internasals shorter than that between the prefrontals; frontal longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals or shorter; loreal as long as or a little longer than deep; one preocular; two postoculars, only the upper in contact with the parietal; temporals 1 (or 2) + 2; 9 or 10 upper labials, fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the eye; 4 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are as long as the posterior chin shields. Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, in 17 rows. Ventrals 159–190; anal divided; subcaudals divided, 102–131.

Brown above, vertebral region greyish, usually with a series of small round black spots; head with small black spots or vermiculations above, and two black crossbands, one across the posterior part of the frontal and supraoculars, the other across the occiput; a large black nuchal spot or crossband, bordered with yellow posteriorly; a black line from the nostril to the nuchal spot, passing through the eye, bordering the white black-dotted upper lip. Lower parts yellowish, each ventral with an outer black spot or streak, which may be confluent on the posterior part of the body; anterior ventrals with a pair of median dots in addition.

Total length 29 inches (737 mm); tail 9.5 inches (241 mm).

Distribution

Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Sub-Himalayan India (Assam, Simla), Mizoram, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, West Malaysia, China (southeastern Tibet and Yunnan), and Taiwan. Record from Jeju, the southernmost major island of South Korea, refers to Sibynophis chinensis.

(Type locality: Khasi Hills, India)

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