Oligodon formosanus

黃頷蛇科，Natricinae 亞種
Colubridae, subfamily Natricinae

60 cm

主要分布在北台灣海拔500 - 1000 m的地方。瀕危。

台灣特有種

Small snake; total length up to 60 cm. There are 17-19 rows of scales, all are strongly keeled. Head is slightly triangular; body is slender; tail is very long. Eye is medium to large; iris is brown, dappled with coarse black pigment and pupil is round, jet black with red margin. Tongue is black, with whitish diverging point. Upper head is uniformly brown with a white spot above the base of jaw. The labials are generally white and may show dark sutures; there is a black stripe extending posteriorly from eye to posterior part of upper labials and connecting with the black stripe on upper body. Upper body and tail are distinctly marked with seven longitudinal stripes. From vertebral ridge to each side of body, they are: one broad stripe of dark brown with dark margins bilaterally, one dorsolateral stripe of yellow to tan (white on neck), one narrow stripe of dark brown to black, and one broad stripe of red (white on neck). Ventral head is white. Ventral body and tail are light yellow; the red flanks of upper body extend onto outer quarter or fifth of ventral scales and the small black spots near latero-ventral junction form a longitudinal stripe. Anal scale is divided and subcaudals are paired.

金絲蛇的棲地目前已經遭受到嚴重的破壞與人為的入侵。往往發現時都是被車輾過慘死在馬路上的屍體。

Amphiesma: 來自希臘語有 "服裝, 祭帶" 的意思，轉為白話就是"腹鏈"，用來形容牠腹鱗兩側的鏈狀花紋。類似的還有 Amphiesma stolatum(花浪蛇)。 miyajimae: 紀念日本人宮島氏(Miyajima)於1928年5月在台北採獲的模式標本。 金絲蛇，宮島氏腹鏈蛇，台北腹鏈蛇。

金絲蛇(Amphiesma miyajimae)形似 羽鳥氏帶紋赤蛇 (Sinomicrurus hatori) 與 梭德氏帶紋赤蛇(Sinomicrurus sauteri). 不過其實不難區分，羽鳥氏與梭德氏頸部是一條白色帶狀斑，而金絲蛇則是兩塊白色圓點。