Oligodon ornatus
Ornate (Red-bellied) Kukri Snake
赤腹松柏根
保育等級: 非保育類
無毒
鄉野調查
家族
最大體長
80 cm
台灣棲地分布
台灣北部和中部海拔 500-1000 m 。濱危。
世界棲地分布
南中國（四川，湖南，福建，安徽，廣西，江西，浙江），台灣。
外觀描述
Small snake; total length up to 80 cm. There are 15 rows of smooth scales. It has a short, indistinct head bearing a large rostral shield; body is stout and round, tail moderately short. Eye is medium-sized; iris is dappled light brown, with scattered black pigment which is part of the black stripe on head, and pupil is round, black, with narrow ring of orange red. Tongue is flesh-colored flecked with black pigment, fork tips darker than stem. Upper head is light brown with symmetrical designs of dark-brown which include 1) a stripe passing from the front of head, through eye, to the supralabial, 2) a stripe extending from the top of head postero-laterally to base of jaw, and 3) a heart-shaped, forward pointing spot at back of head. The labials are dirty white to light brown. Upper body is light brown with irregular shaped but regularly arranged designs; there are eight dark brown prominent sawtooth bands, evenly separated and alternating with spots of dark brown which form partial bands. There may also be two pairs of indistinct longitudinal stripes along body; two thick ones on vertebral line and two thin ones on the flanks. Ventral head is white to light gray, with areas of dark pigmentation. Ventral body is white to light gray with scattered quadrangular marks of prominent black pigment which are irregularly arranged on sides of prominent orange-red midventral line. The designs of ventral body extend onto anterior half of ventral tail. Anal scale is divided and subcaudals are paired.
生態描述
此蛇擁有後溝牙(見注示(1),日夜間皆可能出沒的卵生蛇類，喜歡棲息在山區或是果園附近。主要以吞食爬蟲類的卵維生。牠特化的上頷齒有著大而窄扁的形狀，可以迅速的割破嵌入革質蛋殼進而取食。
"通常蛇類吃鳥蛋都是整個吞入，然後再整個粉碎。但是赤背松柏根不一樣，牠是以大而窄扁的特化上頷齒快速在革質蛋殼上切割畫痕，最後才嵌入蛋殼內並且吸食其中的蛋黃。牠有效的將上頷骨可伸展的弧度利用到極限，再使用鋒利的特化上頷齒來回的畫弧切割直到蛋殼上出現深刻的畫痕為止。畫弧切割的過程利用下顎平舉蛋殼面，並且將上顎頷骨延展成弓型再施力接觸與收縮" (Source)
赤腹松柏根有著與牠學名(kukri snake)上一樣鋒利如刀的牙齒，形狀類似著名的尼泊爾的廓爾喀士兵所持有的刀 (kukri dagger) 。 防禦的時候，這些牙齒有著非常可怕的功效，會造成出血性的撕裂傷口。不過也有傳言是蛇的唾液中含有抗凝血的成分在內
當遭受威脅或不安時，赤腹松柏根會使出一招小把戲 - 將尾部捲起成扁螺旋狀吸引敵人力避免頭部遭受攻擊。
學名與俗名
Kukri snakes: 形容蛇的牙齒形狀類似著名的尼泊爾的廓爾喀士兵所持有的刀 (kukri dagger)。
Oligodon: oligos 是來自希臘語，意思是 "很少, 稀少"; odont 則是指"牙齒"; 指的是他數量稀少的上頷齒。
ornatus 是拉丁語，意思是 "華麗的"。
赤腹松柏根、飾紋小頭蛇。
附註
(1) "Opisthoglyphous"(有後溝牙的蛇)指的是上顎後方進化出增大的牙齒方便更穩固的咬住獵物的蛇種，類似無溝槽(無毒牙)的蛇類，但是有微毒。後溝牙會隨著蛇嘴的閉合而斜上向上顎方向收入溝槽，並不會垂直往下導致戳傷自己。白話一點又稱 "rear-fanged snakes". (Source)
翻譯:周信甫