Many-spotted Tree Snake

1 Overview

The many-spotted tree snake is also known as the ‘flowery forest snake’ and ‘leopard snake.’ It is arboreal and can be found in China’s Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces, and it is also recorded across South and Southeast Asia.

Chinese Name: Many-spotted Tree Snake

Scientific Name: Boiga multomaculata

Aliases: Flowery Forest Snake, Leopard Snake

Binomial: Boiga multomaculata (Reinwardt, 1827)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Serpentes

Family: Colubridae

Genus: Boiga

Species: Boiga multomaculata

Distribution: India, Indochina, Indonesia; Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, etc.

2 Physical Characteristics

The many-spotted tree snake belongs to the family Colubridae and is found in China, often inhabiting wooded foothills and hilly regions. What are its distinctive physical features?

Total length 706–875 mm. The snout is rounded, the head large with a distinct neck; eyes are large with elliptical pupils. Upper labials 8 (2–3–3), rarely 7 or 9; preoculars 1 (2), postoculars 2 (3); one loreal scale that does not enter the eye; temporals 2(1,3)+3(2,4). Dorsal scales smooth, in 19–19–15 or 19–17–15(13) rows, with enlarged vertebral scales; ventrals 169–230. One anal scale; subcaudals 82–98 pairs. A pale brown longitudinal stripe runs along the spine, flanked on each side by a row of alternating dark brown large blotches, with smaller dark brown spots below; the top of the head bears a dark brown V-shaped mark, and band-like markings run from both sides of the snout through the eye to the mouth corner.

3 Natural Habitat

The many-spotted tree snake is found in China and commonly occurs in wooded foothill plains or hilly areas; there are no records of captive keeping. Its upper elevation limit is 650 m, and it is arboreal.

It is mainly distributed across the following protected areas: Wuyi Mountain (Fujian), Neilingding Island–Futian, Huping Mountain, East Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, Wuyi Mountain (Jiangxi), Dawei Mountain, Jiping Watershed, Gaoligong Mountain, Tongbiguan, South Dongting Lake wetland and waterfowl area, and Nanjing South Subtropical Rainforest.

4 Diet & Nutrition

A member of the colubrid genus Boiga found in China, the many-spotted tree snake has no captive-keeping records, so we refer to its wild diet.

It is arboreal and preys on birds and arboreal lizards. Captive observations note it taking geckos and lizards; a specimen collected near Longdong, Guangzhou, was found on dissection to contain an undigested pale green white-eye bird in its stomach.