Mandarin rat snake / Euprepiophis mandarinus “vietnam” | ©Matthijs Kuijpers
The Mandarin Rat Snake belongs to the taxonomical Family Colubridae and within this to the extremely large Subfamily known as Colubrinae. Formerly the mandarin ratsnake was considered part of the excessively comprehensive genus Elaphe, but its genus, Euprepiophis, very recently was resurrected due to phylogenetic research.
Euprepiophis mandarinus can be loosely translated as “fair mandarin snake” (Greek euprepiophis, from euprepes = good looking, fair + ophis = snake; and Latin mandarinus = a latinized form of the word mandarin) [1].
This species is a spectacular fossorial snake, the Mandarin rat snake is found in China and surrounding countries (India, Lao, Myanmar, Taiwan and Vietnam) [2].
