- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Reptiles
- ›Snakes and Lizards
- ›Snakes
- ›Colubrid Snakes
- ›Colubrine Snakes
- ›Lycodon
Vellore Bridal Snake
Lycodon nympha
The Vellore bridal snake (Lycodon nympha) is a species of snake found in southern India and Sri Lanka. Bridal snakes are so named because of the characteristic yellow band behind the head, resembling a bridal veil.
Characteristics: A small snake with a glossy black or dark brown colouration. Its colouration may be accompanied by a series of irregular white or grey stripes. Its ventral area is creamy yellow. This snake has considerably large eyes with vertical pupils which are adaptations for its nocturnal lifestyle. It has a rounded snout and an oval shaped flat head.
From the article Vellore bridal snake on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
What it does
A nocturnal snake which is very active and timid by nature. If cornered and provoked it will fiercely attack its challenger repeatedly. This snake has a tendency to enter human dwellings in search of prey. It is highly capable of climbing walls but has an equal tendency to fall off, often onto unsuspecting human occupants with catastrophic results. Feeds mainly on lizards but may consume frogs and other small fauna when the opportunity provides so. Very little known due to the paucity of specimens. It is assumed to be oviparous. Little known about its growth rate. The longest specimens seldom exceed 50 cm. Non venomous
Wikipedia: “Behaviour”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
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 Lycodon nympha 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 797715.