Boiga cyanea (Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854)

(Fig. 12A)

Material studied: One adult, ZSI/ANRC/T/13497, an adult from Narcondam (Fig. 4F).

Morphology: Dorsal scales in 22:21:15 rows, vertebrals enlarged; ventrals 251; subcaudals 126, divided; anal single; preoculars 2; postoculars 2; supralabials 8 (3–5 entering orbit); infralabials 11; temporals 2+3; loreal 1. Bright grassy green dorsally and ventrally with a black inter-scalar skin; interior of mouth black.

Distribution: Restricted to Narcondam Island; widespread outside in the Southeast Asian mainland. A nocturnal species, seen only occasionally in the isolated volcanic island of Narcondam. Not found in islands of the Main Andaman chain. Found in low-lying bushes and shrubs. Two individuals, a live and a dead one were reported recently for the first time from the Andaman Archipelago. Also occurs in the continental parts of Southeast Asia including Northeast India (Eastern Himalayas), Myanmar and further eastwards in Indochina (Whitaker and Captain, 2008).

Remarks: Reported for the first time from Narcondam Island by Gokulakrishnan et al. (2021). The earlier report of B. cyanea from Great Nicobar Island within the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago was shown to be erroneous and represent B. wallachi (see Chandramouli, 2017).

Status: Rare.