Species of Thailand
Pink-headed reed snake
Calamaria schlegeli
André Marie Constant Duméril & Gabriel Bibron, 1854
(In Thai: งูพงอ้อหัวแดง, ngu pong ao hua daeng)
Calamaria schlegli or the Pink Headed Reed Snake is a relatively small sized burrowing or fossorial snake. It is called reed snake due to its cylindrical body. Nocturnal in habit, it mainly feeds on slugs and frogs
The key identification characters are modified maxillary teeth and scale characteristics. The third and fourth upper lip scales touch the eye. The mental scale does not touch the anterior chin shields. The nasal scales are oriented laterally. There is considerable geographic variation. Preocular scales are present in snakes from Singapore and Malaya but absent in those from Java and sometimes present on those from Borneo and Sumatra.
It has a characteristic pink head and glossy sheen on the body. Often confused with the Blue Malayan Coral Snake Calliophis bivirgatus.
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Scientific classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Suborder
- Serpentes
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Calamaria
- Species
- Calamaria schlegeli
Common names
- German: Schlegels Riednatter
- English:
- Pink-headed reed snake
- Red-headed reed snake
- White-headed reed snake
- Thai: งูพงอ้อหัวแดง, ngu pong ao hua daeng
Subspecies
Calamaria schlegeli cuvieri, Giorgio Jan, 1862
Calamaria schlegeli schlegeli, André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron & Auguste Duméril, 1854
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN3.1)
Photos
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Range Map
- Betong District, Yala
- Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary
- Khok Pho District, Pattani