The Barons Green Racer or Barons Racer, is a species of colubrid snake that is native to parts of South America.
This snake can produce venom in fangs in the back of its mouth, commonly referred to as rear-fanged venomous. Their venom is considered to be more dangerous to humans that many other colubrid species.
Any venomous snake should be treated with caution as the venom itself, or an allergic reaction can be extremely dangerous.
Barons Green Racer Taxonomy
In the Animal Kingdom, Taxonomy is used as the science and practice of classifying different species and sub-species based on their biological and genetic makeup.
Family
The Barons Green Racer belongs to the Colubridae or Colubrid family of snakes. This is the largest family of Snakes in the world consisting of many popular species such as Corn Snakes and Milk Snakes.
With around 250 different genera of Colubrids, these snakes can be found on every continent except Antarctica which also makes them the most widely distributed family of snake in the world.
The vast majority of Colubrid snakes are non-venomous, or at least contain a venom that isn’t considered to be medically significant to humans.
However, there are a number of species of Colubrid snakes that contain venom capable of killing humans. This includes species from the Boiga and Rhabdophis genera as well as other snakes such as the Boomslang.
Genus
The genus that the Barons Green Racer belongs to is called Philodryas. The snakes in this genus are often referred to as Green Snakes or Racers.
While most species of colubrid snakes are non-venomous and harmless to humans, the snakes in the Philodryas genus are rear fanged venomous and can be dangerous to humans.
There are 16 recognised species in this genus include the Brazilian Green Racer and the Chilean Green Racer.
Species
The scientific name for the Barons Green Racer is Philodryas baroni and there are currently no recognised sub-species.
The species was first described in 1895 by an Argentinian naturalist named Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg or Carlos Berg for short.
The name baroni is in honour of Manuel Barón Morlat, who is credited with collecting the first specimens of this species.
Barons Green Racer Description
The Barons Racer is a large species of snake that can reach up to 6 feet in length. However, their tail makes up around 30% of their overall length and they have a slender build.
They have a long, slender, elongated head and have an extended rostral scale on their snout, which looks very similar to a nose.
As their name suggests, they are typically green in color. However, they can sometimes be brown or even have a blueish coloration.
The Barons Green Racer is typically uniform in color or can have narrow black stripes running down its back and sides.
Their belly is typically white or yellow in color but can sometimes have shades of green or blue.
Natural Habitat and Distribution
The Barons Green Racer is native to Southern Bolivia, Paraguay and parts of Northern Argentina.
These snakes are particularly found in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina. This is a semi-arid, sparsely populated lowland region.
These snakes are an arboreal species that can typically be found in tropical and subtropical forests as well as savannas.
Barons Green Racer Behaviour
The Barons Green Racer is an arboreal species that will spend the vast majority of their time in trees and bush.
They are a diurnal snake, meaning they are mainly active during the day and sleep at night.
When they feel threatened, they will often excrete a foul-smelling substance (musk) from their cloaca in an attempt to deter the threat.
While these snakes are considered to be less aggressive than other species in the Philodryas genus, they will sometimes strike repeatedly if they feel threatened.
As this snake contains a venom that is considered dangerous to humans, it is best to leave them alone and not try to handle them.
This snake feeds on a variety of different prey. As they are an arboreal species, most of their prey are also arboreal and vary from frogs and lizards to small mammals.
There are even confirmed reports of cannibalism amongst this species with large adults being observed eating smaller juveniles.
