Genus Boiga belongs to a group of rear-fanged
(opisthoglyphous) and slightly venomous snakes which are commonly known as cat-eyed
snakes or cat snakes.
The above genus comes under
the family Colubridae. The species of said
genus are endemic to Southeast Asia, Australia,
and India, but on account of their hardy nature and adaptability, they
have spread to other suitable habitats around the world. Currently there are
about 35 species are documented under this genus.
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| Common Cat Snake | Boiga trigonata (Schneider, 1802) |
- Boiga andamanensis (Wall, 1909) –
Andaman cat snake
- Boiga angulata (W. Peters, 1861) –
Leyte cat snake
- Boiga barnesii (Günther, 1869) –
Barnes' cat snake
- Boiga beddomei (Wall, 1909) –
Beddome's cat snake
- Boiga bengkuluensis Orlov, Kudryavtzev, Ryabov & Shumakov,
2003
- Boiga blandingii (Hallowell, 1844) –
Blanding's tree snake
- Boiga bourreti Tillack, Ziegler & Le
Khac Quyet, 2004
- Boiga
ceylonensis (Günther,
1858) – Sri Lanka cat snake
- Boiga cyanea (A.M.C.
Dum̩ril, Bibron & A.H.A. Dum̩ril, 1854) РGreen
cat snake
- Boiga cynodon (F. Boie, 1827) – Dog-toothed cat snake
- Boiga dendrophila (F. Boie, 1827) –
gold-ringed cat snake, mangrove snake
- Boiga dendrophila annectens (Boulenger, 1896)
- Boiga dendrophila dendrophila (F. Boie, 1827)
- Boiga dendrophila divergens Taylor, 1922
- Boiga dendrophila gemmicincta (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron
& A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)
- Boiga dendrophila latifasciata (Boulenger, 1896)
- Boiga dendrophila levitoni Gaulke, Demegillo & G.
Vogel, 2005
- Boiga dendrophila melanota (Boulenger, 1896)
- Boiga dendrophila multicincta (Boulenger, 1896)
- Boiga
dendrophila occidentalis Brongersma, 1934
- Boiga dightoni (Boulenger, 1894) –
Pirmad cat snake
- Boiga drapiezii (H. Boie in F. Boie,
1827) – White-spotted cat snake
- Boiga flaviviridis G. Vogel
& Ganesh, 2013
- Boiga forsteni (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron
& A.H.A. Dum̩ril, 1854) РForsten's cat snake
- Boiga gocool (Gray, 1835) – Arrowback
tree snake
- Boiga guangxiensis Wen, 1998
- Boiga hoeseli Ramadhan, Iskandar & Subasri,
2010
- Boiga
irregularis (Merrem,
1802) – Brown tree snake
- Boiga jaspidea (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron
& A.H.A. Dum̩ril, 1854) РJasper cat snake
- Boiga kraepelini (Stejneger, 1902) –
Kelung cat snake
- Boiga multifasciata (Blyth, 1861) – Many-banded
cat snake
- Boiga multomaculata (F. Boie, 1827) – Many-spotted
cat snake
- Boiga nigriceps (Günther, 1863) –
black-headed cat snake
- Boiga nuchalis (Günther, 1875) –
Ashahar's cat snake
- Boiga ochracea (Günther, 1868) –
tawny cat snake
- Boiga philippina (W. Peters, 1867) –
Philippine cat snake
- Boiga quincunciata (Wall, 1908)
- Boiga saengsomi Nutphand, 1985 – Banded
cat snake
- Boiga schultzei Taylor,
1923 – Schultze's blunt-headed tree snake
- Boiga siamensis (Nutphand, 1971) – Gray
cat snake
- Boiga tanahjampeana Orlov & Ryabov, 2002
- Boiga trigonata (Schneider, 1802) –
Indian gamma snake
- Boiga trigonata trigonata (Schneider, 1802)
- Boiga trigonata melanocephala (Annandale, 1904)
- Boiga wallachi Das, 1998 – Nicobar
cat snake
- Boiga westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 –
Indian egg-eating snake
Common Cat Snake | Boiga trigonata (Schneider, 1802)
Boiga trigonata commonly known as Common Cat Snake or
Indian Gamma Snake is a species of family colubridae and is endemic to south
Asia. It belongs to the group of rear-fanged colubrids. It resembles with venomous species of snake (Echis
carinatus) in coloration and shape. In India, Both species of snakes
share nearly identical geographic range.
Scientific Classification
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Kingdom:
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Animalia
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Phylum:
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Chordata
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Class:
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Reptilia
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Order:
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Squamata
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Suborder:
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Serpentes
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Family:
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Colubridae
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Genus:
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Boiga
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Species:
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trigonata
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Binomial Name
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Boiga trigonata (Schneider, 1802)
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B. trigonata has its anterior palatine and mandibular teeth are larger
than their posterior. “Cat snake” name come because
of their pupils, which are vertical, like a cat’s pupils. Eyes of the species
are as long as the distance from its nostril where the rostral is
broader than deep having the internasals scales shorter than its prefrontal scales. However the frontal scales of the snake is longer than
their gap from the end of the snout where shorter than the parietal
scales. The loreals of this species are as long as
they are deep, or, can be found deeper sometimes than they are long. B.
trigonata has one preocular which
do not expand to the upper surface of the head. It has two postoculars, temporals (2+3), 8 supra labials, with the 3-5 entering
the eye and 4-5 infra labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which
are observed as long as the posterior.
The body of the species is laterally compressed having
smooth dorsal
scales in 21 rows, rarely 19, having apical
pits, inclined obliquely. Vertebral are very feebly enlarged. On the ventral
side the ventral scales are ranged from 229-269, having 79-92 sub caudal scales
(divided). The snakes have a single anal scale. The total length of the species
is recorded around 91 cm (3 feet) with a 7 inch tail.
The species has a pale grey colour or
yellowish-olive along the back having white & black edged zigzag strip down
the length of the head with two brown bands edged with black, diverging the
body on posterior side. On the other hand the belly of snake is white in colour
and has a series of small brown spots laterally.
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| Common Cat Snake | Boiga trigonata (Schneider, 1802) |
Because
of their widespread distribution, interactions of these snakes with humans are
quite frequent. They successfully inhabited many areas close to human
settlements. However they are mildly venomous but not dangerous though their
bites are quite painful. Till date no human casualty has ever been reported
from a bite from this snake.
The
behavior of theses snakes varies from species to species. Majority of species
are solitary, while some live in groups also. On the other hand some species
are arboreal, while some are terrestrial. Although this precise behavior in
these snakes may differ species to species, but they all spend their time
looking for food or waiting for food to approach them.
It a nocturnal and evasive
species and can live in variety of habitat within their range. These snakes can
live in a range of habitats from gallery forest to sparse desert shrub land,
rocky areas with sandy areas, in urban gardens, in deserts, fields,
occasionally in grasslands or rural gardens. However do
not prefer to live in colder regions.
These
snakes are oviparous and most produce small clutches of eggs (3 and 15 eggs per
clutch). While the incubation phase and precise breeding behaviors may vary
between species. Juveniles are self-sufficient after hatching as they do not
receive any maternal care.
As like most of the other
colubrid snakes, the diet varies in this species depending on the food source;
they can take variety of meal ranging from birds to rodents, small
reptiles to frogs and eggs of different animals.
It is widely distributed around the
world from Indian, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, southern
Turkmenistan, southeastern Tajikistan, southern Uzbekistan and Iran.
This species is categorized under least concern category
by IUCN. There
is no serious threats observed to these snakes but some may depend on the
species from region to region. Some suffer from habitat
destruction and killings, while some have strong populations.
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By rbrausse, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26424363
By Sagar khunte - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
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