Dendrelaphis calligastra
Encyclopedia
Dendrelaphis calligastra, the Northern Tree Snake (also called Beautiful-bellied Tree Snake) is a slender, large-eyed, non-venomous, diurnal snake
snake. It grows up to 1.2 m in length and is greenish, brown or greyish above with a cream or yellow belly.
This common snake is harmless, and readily recognised due to its cream to yellow belly and pronounced wide dark facial stripe passing through the eye.
snake.
calligastra: 'beautiful-bellied'.
, as well as southern Papua New Guinea
. They live in a wide variety of habitats, including: rainforest; urban and farmed regions and open forest. It often basks in the leaf canopy of small bushes and trees and can escape very quickly through the canopy.
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
snake. It grows up to 1.2 m in length and is greenish, brown or greyish above with a cream or yellow belly.
This common snake is harmless, and readily recognised due to its cream to yellow belly and pronounced wide dark facial stripe passing through the eye.
Etymology
Dendrelaphis: 'tree Elaphe', after another genus of colubridColubrid
A colubrid is a member of the snake family Colubridae. This broad classification of snakes includes about two-thirds of all snake species on earth. The earliest species of the snake family date back to the Oligocene epoch. With 304 genera and 1,938 species, Colubridae is the largest snake family...
snake.
calligastra: 'beautiful-bellied'.
Habitat
Northern tree snakes are found in tropical north Queensland, from Paluma to Cooktown and eastern Cape York PeninsulaCape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
, as well as southern Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. They live in a wide variety of habitats, including: rainforest; urban and farmed regions and open forest. It often basks in the leaf canopy of small bushes and trees and can escape very quickly through the canopy.