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Kelung Cat Snake
Boiga kraepelini
Boiga kraepelini, commonly known as the square-headed cat snake, Kelung cat snake, or Taiwanese tree snake, is a mildly venomous species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to East Asia and Southeast Asia (Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Laos). Its specific name, kraepelini, honours Karl Kraepelin, a German naturalist. The common name, Kelung cat snake, refers to its type locality, Keelung in northern Taiwan.
From the article Boiga kraepelini on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
B. kraepelini is a long and thin snake that can grow to a total length (including tail) of 160 cm (63 in). Its head and eyes are large with the head measuring twice the width of the neck. The pupils are cat-like, as is typical for its genus. The colouration of the upper surface of the body and tail is usually amber or brown to copper brown, with irregular brown to diffuse black cross bands along the vertebral line.
Range & habitat
B. kraepelini is found throughout Taiwan to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) asl, large parts of eastern, central, and southern China (Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang provinces), Laos, and northern Vietnam. It is found in both primary and secondary forest habitats, often near villages.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
What it does
B. kraepelini can be quite aggressive, forming a defensive coil and striking in a viper-like fashion when threatened. The properties of the venom are poorly known, but it is considered only mildly venomous.
Wikipedia: “Behaviour and venom”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Boiga kraepelini in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 27673.