Thai National Parks

Species of Thailand

Cantor's mud snake

Cantoria violacea

Charles Frédéric Girard, 1857

In Thai: งูปากกว้างลาย, ngu paak guang lai

Cantoria violacea, commonly known as Cantor's water snake, is a species of snake found in tropical Asia. It is named in honor of the 19th century herpetologist Theodore Cantor.

Description

Rostral broader than deep. Frontal a little longer than broad, shorter than its distance from the end of the snout, and shorter than the parietals. Eye between four shields: a preocular, a supraocular, a postocular, and a subocular. Loreal longer than deep. One elongate anterior temporal, in contact with the postocular and the subocular. 5 upper labials. 3 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shields, which are not longer than the posterior chin shields.

Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, in 19 rows. Ventrals 266–278; anal divided; subcaudals 56–64.

Blackish above, with white transverse bands, which widen towards the abdomen. These bands are very narrow in the typical form, wider in the var. dayana, but constantly much narrower than the black interspaces. Some white spots on the head. Lower parts white, with greyish spots, which are continuations of the dorsal crossbands. These bands may form complete rings on the tail.

Total length 3 feet: tail 4 inches.

Distribution

Myanmar, southern Thailand, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra, Timor), India (Andaman Islands), western Malaysia (Malaya), and Singapore.

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Scientific classification

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Subphylum
Vertebrata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Suborder
Serpentes
Family
Colubridae
Genus
Cantoria
Species
Cantoria violacea

Common names

  • German: Cantors Wasserschlange
  • English:
    • Cantor's mud snake
    • Cantor's water snake
    • Cantor's mangrove snake
    • Yellow-banded mangrove snake
  • Thai: งูปากกว้างลาย, ngu paak guang lai

Synonyms

  • Cantoria violacea, Van Stanley Bartholomew Wallach et al. (2014)
  • Cantoria violacea, John C. Murphy & Harold K. Voris (2014)
  • Cantoria violacea, Ulrich Manthey & Wolfgang Grossmann (1997)
  • Cantoria violacea, Alice Georgie Cruickshank Grandison (1978)
  • Cantoria dayana, John Anderson (1871)
  • Cantoria dayana, Ferdinand Stoliczka (1870)
  • Cantoria elapiformis, Albert Charles Lewis Günther (1869)
  • Cantoria elongata, Albert Charles Lewis Günther (1864)
  • Hemiodontus elapiformis, Giorgio Jan (1863)
  • Hydrodipsas elapiformis, Wilhelm Karl Hartwich Peters (1859)

Photos

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Cantoria violacea - Kra Buri District, Ranong
Cantoria violacea - Kra Buri District, Ranong

Range Map

Distribution map of Cantor's mud snake, Cantoria violacea in Thailand
  • Ko Boi Yai
  • Kra Buri District, Ranong
  • Krabi Coast
  • Phuket Coast
  • Suk Samran District, Ranong
Range map of Cantoria violacea in Thailand