Rice paddy snake

Rice paddy snake
Enhydris plumbea from Phetchabun Provonce, West Thailand
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Homalopsinae
Genus:	Enhydris
Species:	E. plumbea
Binomial name
Enhydris plumbea (F. Boie, 1827)
Synonyms
Homalopsis plumbea F. Boie, 1827 Coluber plumbeus — Eydoux & Gervais, 1837 Hypsirhina plumbea — Gray, 1842 Eurostus plumbeus — A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 Enhydris plumbea — Stejneger, 1898

The rice paddy snake (Enhydris plumbea) is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged, colubrid snake endemic to South Asia.

Geographic range

E. plumbea is found in India, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, southeastern China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Habitat

The rice paddy snake is a common and abundant species associated with all sorts of wet habitats.

Taxonomy

DNA evidence suggests that this taxon might be a species complex.

Description

The rice paddy snake is a relatively small snake, reaching a total length (including tail) of up to 72 cm (28 in).

• 
  Hypiscopus plumbea at Nong Phai District, Phetchabun Province, Thailand
• 
  Enhydris plumbea
  from Karawang, West Java

Further reading

• Boie, F. (1827). "Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier ". Isis van Oken [Jena] 20: 508-566. (Homalopsis plumbea, new species, p. 550).
• Boulenger, G.A. (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Hypsirhina plumbea, pp. 5–6).
• Das, Indraneil. (2006). A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Borneo. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 144 pp. ISBN 0-88359-061-1. (Enhydris plumbea, p. 34).
• Ghodke, Sameer; Harry V. Andrews. (2002). Enhydris plumbea (Boie, 1827) (Serpentes: Colubridae: Homalopsinae), a new record for India. Hamadryad 26 (2): 373-375. [2001]
• Gray, J.E. (1842). Monographic Synopsis of the Water Snakes, or the Family Hydridae. Zoological Miscellany 1842: 59-68. (Hypsirhina plumbea, p. 66).
• Smith, M.A. (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia, Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Enhydris plumbea, pp. 382–383, Figure 122).
• Stejneger, Leonard. (1907). Herpetology of Japan and Adjacent Territory. United States National Museum Bulletin 58. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xx + 577 pp. (Enhydris plumbea, pp. 300–302, Figures 260-262).
• Voris, Harold K.; Karns, Daryl R. (1996). Habitat utilization, movements, and activity patterns of Enhydris plumbea (Serpentes: Homalopsinae) in a rice paddy wetland in Borneo. Herpetological Natural History 4 (2): 111-126.