Asian vine snake, Ahaetulla prasina (Boie, 1827) from Sarawak/Borneo – around 1050m ASL

Ahaetulla prasina (Boie, 1827) is a rear-fanged snake from the Colubridae family and is widespread throughout much of Southeast Asia; in Borneo, it has been documented in Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan, among other places. The genus name Ahaetulla is derived from Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) (ahaetulla/ahata gulla/as gulla) and means ‘eye plucker/eye picker’, referring to a historically handed-down folk belief. The folk belief in question is that these snakes ‘pluck out’/ ‘gouge out’ people’s eyes or deliberately strike at the eyes. The species epithet prasina refers etymologically to ‘(leek) green’ (Latin prasinus < Ancient Greek πράσινος prásinos). A. prasina is arboreal; its diet consists of small nestling birds, lizards and frogs, and the species is described as diurnal.