Ptyas semicarinata

Ptyas semicarinata

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Colubroidea

Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Orthokaryota Cladus: Neokaryota Cladus: Scotokaryota Cladus: Podiata Cladus: Amorphea Cladus: Obazoa Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Cladus: Filozoa Cladus: Choanozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: ParaHoxozoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Cladus: Eugnathostomata Cladus: Osteichthyes Cladus: Sarcopterygii Cladus: Rhipidistia Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes Cladus: Elpistostegalia Cladus: Stegocephali Cladus: Tetrapoda Cladus: Reptiliomorpha Cladus: Amniota Cladus: Sauropsida Classis: Reptilia Cladus: Eureptilia Cladus: Romeriida Cladus: Diapsida Cladus: Neoreptilia Cladus: Parapleurota Cladus: Neodiapsida Cladus: Sauria Cladus: Lepidosauromorpha Subclassis: Lepidosauria Ordo: Squamata Cladus: Toxicofera Subordo: Serpentes Cladus: Caenophidia Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Colubrinae
Genus: Ptyas
Species: Ptyas semicarinata

Name

Ptyas semicarinata (Hallowell, 1861)

• Lectotype: USNM 7316, collected by C. Wright in November 1854. [designated by Maki (1931: 112)]
• Type locality: “Loo Choo, near Napa”, stated as “Naha, Okinawas hima, Loo Choos” via lectotype selection.

Combinations

• Eurypholis semicarinatus Hallowell, 1861: 493 [original combination]
• Ablabes semicarinatus — Boulenger, 1887: 148 [subsequent combination]
• Liopeltis semicarinata — Stejneger, 1907: 340 [subsequent combination]
• Opheodrys semicarinatus — Schmidt & Necker, 1936: 64 [subsequent combination]
• Entechinus semicarinatus — Cundall, 1981: 370 [subsequent combination]
• Cyclophiops semicarinatus — Ota, Shiroma & Hikida, 1995 [subsequent combination]
• Ptyas semicarinata — Figueroa, KcKelvy, Grismer, Bell & Lailvaux, 2016: 21 [subsequent combination, by implication]

Synonyms

• Cyclophis nebulosus Günther, 1868: 418
  • Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.5.40, obtained by Mr. Whitely.
  • Type locality: “Nagasaki”.
• Liopeltis semicarinata fritzei Maki, 1931: 114
  • Holotype: NSMT H02595 (formerly Sci. Coll. Kyoto No. a), adult ♂, collected by M. Maki in August 1928.
  • Type locality: “Amami-Oshima”.

Native distribution areas

• Japan: Ryukyu Islands: Amami, Okinawa, Takarajima and Kodakarajima.

References

Primary references

• Hallowell, E. [1860] 1861. Report upon the Reptilia of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under command of Capt. John Rogers, U. S. N. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 12: 480–510. BHL Reference page. 
• Günther, A. 1868. Sixth account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 4 1: 413–429. BHL
• Stejneger, L.H. 1907. Herpetology of Japan and adjacent territory. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 58: xx + 1–577, 35 pls. BHL Reference page. 
• Maki, M. 1931. A Monograph of the Snakes of Japan. Dai-ichi Shobo: Tokyo. 240 pp. Reference page. 
• Schmidt, K.P. & Necker, W.L. 1936. The Scientific Name of the American Smooth Green Snake. Herpetologica 1(1): 63–64. JSTOR
• Cundall, D. 1981. Cranial osteology of the colubrid snake genus Opheodrys. Copeia 1981(2): 353–371. JSTOR Reference page. 
• Ota, H., Shiroma, M. & Hikida, T. 1995. Geographic variation in the Endemic Ryukyu Green Snake Cyclophiops semicarinatus (Serpentes: Colubridae). Journal of Herpetology 29(1): 44–50.
• Figueiroa, A., McKelvy, A.D., Grismer, L.L., Bell, C.D. & Lailvaux, S.P. 2016. A Species-Level Phylogeny of Extant Snakes with Description of a New Colubrid Subfamily and Genus. PLoS ONE 11(9): e0161070. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161070 Reference page. 

Links

• Kidera, N. & Ota, H. 2017. IUCN: Ptyas semicarinata  (Least Concern). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T96251644A96251647. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T96251644A96251647.en. Accessed on 14 January 2026.

Vernacular names

• Deutsch: Ryukyu-Grünnatter
• English: Ryukyu Green Snake
• 日本語: リュウキュウアオヘビ

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