Rice paddy snake

The rice paddy snake or plumbeous water snake (Hypsiscopus plumbea) is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake endemic to South Asia.

Rice paddy snake
Hypsiscopus plumbea
from Phetchabun Province, West Thailand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Homalopsidae
Genus: Hypsiscopus
Species:
H. plumbea
Binomial name
Hypsiscopus plumbea
(F. Boie, 1827)
Synonyms[2]

Geographic range

H. plumbea is found in Andaman Islands (India), Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, southern China, and Taiwan.[1]

Habitat

The rice paddy snake is a common and abundant species associated with all sorts of wet habitats.[1]

Taxonomy

DNA evidence suggests that this taxon might be a species complex.[1]

Description

The rice paddy snake is a relatively small snake, reaching a total length (including tail) of up to 72 cm (28 in).[3]This snake feeds readily on small fish, frogs, and occasionally small lizards. It has countershading coloration, which is dark brown to grey in the upper part of its body, and light colored white to yellowish color at the bottom of its body. This snake lives mostly nocturnal, and gives birth to live young (ovoviviparous).

References
  1. Murphy, J. (2010). "Hypsiscopus plumbea". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T176699A7285894. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T176699A7285894.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. Hypsiscopus plumbea at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 4 May 2021.
  3. Breuer, Hans; William Christopher Murphy (2009–2010). "Enhydris plumbea". Snakes of Taiwan. Retrieved 13 October 2012.

Further reading
  • Boie, F. (1827). "Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier ". Isis van Oken [Jena] 20: 508–566. (Homalopsis plumbea, new species, p. 550).
  • Boulenger, G.A. (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Hypsirhina plumbea, pp. 5–6).
  • Das, Indraneil. (2006). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Borneo. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-061-1. (Enhydris plumbea, p. 34).
  • Ghodke, Sameer; Harry V. Andrews. (2002). Enhydris plumbea (Boie, 1827) (Serpentes: Colubridae: Homalopsinae), a new record for India. Hamadryad 26 (2): 373–375. [2001]
  • Gray, J.E. (1842). Monographic Synopsis of the Water Snakes, or the Family Hydridae. Zoological Miscellany 1842: 59–68. (Hypsirhina plumbea, p. 66).
  • Smith, M.A. (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Enhydris plumbea, pp. 382–383, Figure 122).
  • Stejneger, Leonard. (1907). Herpetology of Japan and Adjacent Territory. United States National Museum Bulletin 58. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xx + 577 pp. (Enhydris plumbea, pp. 300–302, Figures 260–262).
  • Voris, Harold K.; Karns, Daryl R. (1996). Habitat utilization, movements, and activity patterns of Enhydris plumbea (Serpentes: Homalopsinae) in a rice paddy wetland in Borneo. Herpetological Natural History 4 (2): 111–126.


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