Genus · Pareidae
Aplopeltura
The genus Aplopeltura contains a single species. It is not considered dangerous to humans.
About slug snakes
A small Southeast Asian genus built for a strange diet of snails and slugs.
Aplopeltura is a genus in the family Pareidae, the snail-eating and slug-eating snakes of South and Southeast Asia. The genus is often treated as containing a single widespread species, the Blunthead Slug Snake (Aplopeltura boa), though regional populations vary. It sits alongside the closely related genus Pareas in the family, and like its relatives it is a small, slender, nocturnal, tree-loving snake rather than a ground hunter.
Members range across mainland and island Southeast Asia, including parts of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Philippines, where they live in moist lowland and hill forest. They are arboreal and spend their nights moving slowly through shrubs and low branches in search of prey. The defining look is a short, blunt, rounded head set off from a thin body, large eyes suited to low light, and a body that can sway and freeze to mimic a twig when disturbed. This twig-like posture and the bulging eyes are good general recognition cues.
These snakes are harmless to people and are not considered medically dangerous. They are not front-fanged venomous snakes, and their whole anatomy is specialized for soft-bodied prey rather than defense against large animals. Like several pareids they feed largely on snails and slugs, using an asymmetric jaw and recurved teeth to extract snails from their shells, and they lay eggs rather than giving live birth. Even with a harmless wild snake, the right move is to leave it alone, identify it from a distance, and not handle it. If anyone is ever bitten by an unidentified snake, treat it as a medical situation: contact US Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or your local emergency services rather than trying to manage it yourself.
Aplopeltura belongs to the Pareidae family (Slug-eating snakes). Snail and slug specialists with lopsided jaws. Slender, blunt-headed snakes, often with large eyes; usually found in damp forest.
Danger: Harmless. No venom of concern.
All species (1)
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