Английская Википедия:Ahaetulla anomala

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The variable colored vine snake (Ahaetulla anomala) is a species of opisthoglyphous (rear-fanged venomous) snake in the family Colubridae. It is the first reported sexually dichromatic snake from the Indian Subcontinent, and until 2017 was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the green vine snake, Ahaetulla nasuta.

Description

This species is sexually dichromatic. Males are green and resemble the long-nosed whip snake (Ahaetulla nasuta), while females are brown in color and physically resemble the brown-speckled whipsnake (Ahaetulla pulverulenta).

Distribution

It is limited to India (Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar) and Bangladesh.

Characteristics

Ahaetulla anomala shows color polymorphism and has a gradient of green and brown colour. Sexual dichromatism is rare among snakes and is mostly only documented in some groups such as vipers (Bothrops), Comoran snakes (Lycodryas), and Malagasy leaf-nosed snakes (Langaha madagascariensis).

History

This snake was first described by Thomas Nelson Annandale (the first director of the Zoological Survey of India) in 1906.

For more than 100 years, its sexually dimorphic coloring led to confusion of females with the brown vine snake and the males with the long-nosed whip snake. To resolve this confusion, a team of biologists conducted a molecular and morphological study of the snake, ultimately finding it to be a distinct species.

A 2020 study found A. anomala to be possibly conspecific with A. oxyrhyncha.