Xenopeltis hainanensis is a non-venomous sunbeam snake species found in China and Vietnam. This is a primitive snake known for its highly iridescent scales. No subspecies are currently recognized.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
A fossorial animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, ...
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starts withThis snake grows to an average of about.5 to 1 m. A fossorial species, the head is wedge-shaped and narrow with little neck delineation, which makes it easy to push through the soil. Its most defining characteristic is its iridescent, highly polished scales that give this snake its common name (sunbeam snake). The dorsal scales a layer of dark (indigo-brown) pigmentation just below the surface on each scale that enhances the iridescence. The ventral scales are greyish-white.
This species differs from its sister taxon Xenopeltis unicolor in several ways. It has a singular postocular scale rather than two, fewer ventral, supralabial, and infralabial scales, a shorter tail, and fewer maxillary teeth.
The holotype of the species is Chengdu Institute of Biology specimen CIB 64III6016, a male collected in 1964. The paratype, CIB 64III6650, is a female collected the same year.
Both species together form the family Xenopeltidae, a primitive group of snakes with both boid and python characteristics.
Xenopeltis hainanensis is found in "isolated pockets" of southeastern China (from Guangxi east to Zhejiang and south to Hainan) and northern Vietnam. The type locality given is Dali village, Diaoluo Shan (Mount Diaoluo) on Hainan island, China.
This snake tends to live on forest slopes, at heights between 900 and 1100 metres above sea level.
These snakes are not venomous, but are constrictors, killing their prey by suffocation in their muscular coils. They are fossorial and spend most of their time below ground.
The diet is varied, consisting primarily of frogs, reptiles, including other snakes, and small mammals. The young look very similar to the adults, except that they have a strong white "collar" of scales evident just below the head. This coloration fades within the first year.
This species of snake is Oviparous, with females laying up to 10 eggs at a time.
