Sakishima green snake

The Sakishima green snake is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Yaeyama Islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan.

Conservation status

These snakes were listed as Near Threatened on the revised 2000 Red List of Japan, but this was changed to Least Concern in a 2016 assessment.

Etymology

The specific name, herminae, is in honor of Boettger's wife, Hermine Boettger.

Geographic range

P. herminae is found in the Yaeyama Islands of Japan.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of P. herminae is forest.

Description

P. herminae may attain a total length of, which includes a tail about long. They have a pointed snout, and their scales are arranged in 17 rows, and they have 17 teeth in the upper jaw, of almost equal size.

Behavior

P. herminae is terrestrial.

Diet

P. herminae preys upon earthworms.

Reproduction

P. herminae is oviparous. An adult female may lay a clutch of about eight eggs in August, which is later than other species of terrestrial snakes lay eggs in the Ryukyus.