Cylindrophis ruffus

The red-tailed pipe snake, red cylinder snake,[3] or common pipe snake,[1] Cylindrophis ruffus is a snake species found in Southeast Asia. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Cylindrophis ruffus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Cylindrophiidae
Genus: Cylindrophis
Species:
C. ruffus
Binomial name
Cylindrophis ruffus
(Laurenti, 1768)
Synonyms
  • Anguis ruffa Laurenti, 1768
  • [Anguis] rufus - Gmelin, 1788
  • [Anguis] striatus Gmelin, 1788
  • Eryx rufus - Daudin, 1803
  • [Tortrix] rufa - Merrem, 1820
  • [Scytale] Schuechzeri Merrem, 1820
  • A[guis]. (E[lysia].) rufus - Hemprich, 1820
  • Ilysia rufa - Lichtenstein, 1823
  • Cylindrophis resplendens Wagler, 1828
  • [Tortrix] rufus - Gray, 1831
  • Cylindrophis rufa - Gray, 1842
  • Cylindrophis rufus - Cantor, 1847
  • Anguis rubra - Gray, 1849
  • Anguis rufa Var. Javanica Gray, 1849
  • Cylindrophis rufus - Boulenger, 1893
  • Cylindrophis rufus rufus - M.A. Smith, 1943
  • Cylindrophis rufus burmanus
    M.A. Smith, 1943
  • Cylindrophis rufus - Campden-Main, 1970[2]

Description

Adults can grow to 39 in (1 m) in length.[4]

The dorsal scales are smooth, in 19 or 21 rows, with 186-245 ventrals, which are not quite twice as large as the contiguous dorsal scales; the anal plate is divided, and five to 10 subcaudals.[5]

Compared to other snakes, C. ruffus have a limited gape size.[6] Their primary diet consists of long, thin prey animals including snakes, caecilians, and eels.[7]

Geographic range

It is found in Myanmar and southern China (Fujian, Hong Kong and on Hainan Island), south into Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and the East Indies to Indonesia (the Riau Archipelago, Sumatra, Bangka, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, Buton and the Sula Islands. The type locality given is "Surinami" (possibly a mistake).[2]

References
  1. Wogan, G.; Vogel, G.; Nguyen, T.Q. & Thy, N. (2012). "Cylindrophis ruffus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2012: e.T192080A2037269. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T192080A2037269.en. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  2. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. Species Cylindrophis ruffus at The Reptile Database. Accessed 27 October 2014.
  4. Burnie D, Wilson DE. 2001. Animal. Dorling Kindersley. 624 pp. ISBN 0-7894-7764-5.
  5. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I. London. pp. 135-136.
  6. Cundall, David (1995). "Feeding behaviour in Cylindrophis and its bearing on the evolution of alethinophidian snakes". Journal of Zoology. 237 (3): 353–376. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1995.tb02767.x – via Web of Science.
  7. Kupfer, Alexander (2003). "Field observations on the predation of the caecilian amphibian, genus Ichthyophis (Fitzinger, 1826), by the red-tailed pipe snake Cylindrophis ruffus (Laurenti, 1768)". Amphibia-Reptilia. 24 (2): 212–215. doi:10.1163/156853803322390462 – via Web of Science.


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