Dendrelaphis formosus

Dendrelaphis formosus, commonly known as either the elegant bronzeback or beautiful bronzeback tree snake, is a snake species in the family Colubridae from Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

Dendrelaphis formosus belongs to the genus Dendrelaphis, which contains 48 other described species.
Dendrelaphis is one of five genera belonging to the vine snake subfamily Ahaetuliinae, of which Dendrelaphis is most closely related to Chrysopelea, as shown in the cladogram below:

Distribution and habitat

The beautiful bronzeback tree snake is native to southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia to the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. It inhabits lowland forests up to elevations of.

Behavior

The snake is diurnal and fully arboreal, and has oviparous reproduction. It mainly feeds on lizards, but occasionally also frogs.