Gonyosoma prasinum (Blyth, 1854)

Ziegler, Thomas, Hendrix, Ralf, Thanh, Vu Ngoc, Vogt, Martina, Forster, Bernhard & Kien, Dang Ngoc, 2007, The diversity of a snake community in a karst forest ecosystem in the central Truong Son, Vietnam, with an identification key, Zootaxa 1493, pp. 1-40 : 10

Gonyosoma prasinum (Blyth, 1854) : Green bush ratsnake / Ran soc xanh

At the end of the dry season we found an adult male specimen (ZFMK 86443, SVL 775, TaL 300, TL 1075 mm) at an altitude of about 700 m above sea level. The male was crossing a forest street during heavy rains at early afternoon (about 15:00h) of 21 August 2006 in the U Bo region. Scalation features are as follows: nine (right) to ten (left) supralabials (right: 4–6, left: 5–7 in contact with eye); ten infralabials; one loreal; one preocular; two postoculars; two anterior temporals, followed by two (left) and three (right side) posterior temporals; 19 dorsal scale rows at midbody (keeled, except four outermost row); one preventral and 197 ventrals; ventral scales laterally edged; anal divided; 114 divided subcaudals. The subcaudal number of our specimen slightly exceeds the maximum value of 111 given in Manthey & Grossmann (1997). For the characteristic coloration see Figure 10 . In Vietnam, the species was previously only known (as Elaphe prasina ) from a few northern provinces (Bac Can, Bac Thai, Cao Bang, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, and Vinh Phuc) as well as from Gia Lai Province in southern Vietnam ( Nguyen & Ho 1996, Orlov et al. 2003, Nguyen et al. 2005). In addition, Schulz (1996) mentioned two records from southern Vietnam "in the coastal buttresses of the northern Annam Highlands ( Annam) and Plateau du Kontum". In the framework of recent field surveys in Quang Nam Province in southern Vietnam we recorded the first G. prasinum for that province (Vu & Ziegler, submitted). Thus, our most recent finding represents the first record for the Quang Binh Province and for Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in particular.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Green bush ratsnake (Gonyosoma prasinum) while passing a forest road in Phong Nha - Ke Bang (ZFMK 86443). Photo: Astrid Heidrich