Ptyas

Ptyas is a genus of colubrid snakes.^[1] This genus is one of several colubrid genera colloquially called "rat snakes" or "ratsnakes".

Ptyas
Ptyas mucosa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Ptyas Fitzinger, 1843
Species
13, see text
Synonyms
Cyclophiops Boulenger, 1888 Zaocys Cope, 1860

The generic name derives from Ancient Greek πτυάς, meaning "spitter", which referred to a kind of snake believed to spit venom in the eyes of humans, although in reality none of the Ptyas are known to spit venom.^[2][3]

Species

13 species are recognized:^[1]

• Ptyas carinata (Günther, 1858) – keeled rat snake
• Ptyas dhumnades (Cantor, 1842) – Cantor's rat snake^[4][5]
• Ptyas dipsas (Schlegel, 1837) – Sulawesi black racer
• Ptyas doriae Boulenger, 1888 – Doria's green snake
• Ptyas fusca (Günther, 1858) – white-bellied rat snake, brown rat snake
• Ptyas herminae (Boettger, 1895) – Sakishima green snake
• Ptyas korros (Schlegel, 1837) – Chinese ratsnake, Indo-Chinese ratsnake
• Ptyas luzonensis (Günther, 1873) – smooth-scaled mountain rat snake
• Ptyas major (Günther, 1858) – Chinese green snake
• Ptyas mucosa (Linnaeus, 1758) – Oriental rat snake, Indian rat snake
• Ptyas multicincta (Roux, 1907) – many-banded green snake, North China green snake
• Ptyas nigromarginata (Blyth, 1854) – green rat snake, black-bordered rat snake
• Ptyas semicarinata (Hallowell, 1861) – Ryukyu green snake