• Boiga Fitzinger, L.J. 1826. Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren naturlichen Verwandtschaften. Vienna : Heubner 66 pp. [60].

  Type species:

   Hurria irregularis Merrem, 1802 by subsequent designation, see Wall, F. 1924. A hand-list of the snakes of the Indian Empire. Part III. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 29: 864-878.
• Pappophis Macleay, W. 1877. The ophidians of the Chevert Expedition. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2: 33-41 [1878 on title page] [39].

  Type species:

   Pappophis laticeps Macleay, 1877 by subsequent designation, see Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [209].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [209]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Africa, Asia, Indo-Malayan Archipelago, islands of the western Pacific.

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Coluber irregularis Merrem, B. 1802. p. 239 in Bechstein, J.M. Herrn de la Cépède's Naturgeschichte der Amphibien oder der eyerlegen den vierfüssigen Thiere und der Schlangen. Eine Fortsetzung von Buffon's Naturgeschichte aus demiere Französischen übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen und Zusätzen versehen. Weimar : Industrie Comptoir. xx 298 pp. [239, pl. 37 fig. 1].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, presumed lost, locality unknown.
• Hurria pseudoboiga Daudin, F.M. 1803. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des Reptiles. Paris : Dufart Vol. 5 365 pp. [277, pl. 59 figs 8-9, pl. 66 figs 1, 3] [nom. nov. for Coluber irregularis Merrem, 1802].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) (that of Coluber irregularis Merrem, 1802).
• Dendrophis (Ahetula) fusca Gray, J.E. 1842. Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian reptiles and batrachians. pp. 51-57 in Gray, J.E. (ed.). The Zoological Miscellany. London : Treuttel, Würz & Co. [54].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1946.1.1.28, Port Essington, NT.
• Pappophis laticeps Macleay, W. 1877. The ophidians of the Chevert Expedition. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2: 33-41 [1878 on title page] [39].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) AM R31888–91, Hall Sound, Papua New Guinea.
• Pappophis flavigastra Macleay, W. 1877. The ophidians of the Chevert Expedition. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2: 33-41 [1878 on title page] [40].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM R31887, Mawatta, Binaturi River (as Katow), Papua New Guinea.
• Dipsas boydii Macleay, W. 1884. Census of Australian snakes with descriptions of two new species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 9: 548-568 [1885 on title page] [548].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM R31892, 'collection from J.A. Boyd of Ripple Creek, Ingham, in northern QLD'.
• Dipsas ornata Macleay, W. 1888. Notes on some ophidians from King's Sound, north-west Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2 3: 416-418 [416].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM, 'vicinity of King's Sound', WA.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [210]

Generic Combinations

• Boiga irregularis (Merrem, 1802).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Also New Guinea and Indonesia

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pine Creek (PCK), Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, cave dweller, closed forest, low open woodland, nocturnal, open forest, oviparous, predator, tall forest, tall open shrubland, terrestrial, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

General carnivore.

General References

Aldridge, R.D. & Arackal, A.A. 2005. Reproductive biology and stress of captivity in male brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam. Australian Journal of Zoology 53: 249-256

Covacevich, J. & Limpus, C. 1973. Two large winter aggregations of three species of tree-climbing snakes in south-eastern Queensland. Herpetofauna 6: 16-21 (aggregation)

Irvine, W. 1954. Notes on the brown tree snake. Reptilia (Aust. Rept. Club) 1: 5 (natural history)

Common Name References

CAVS 2006. Census of Australian Vertebrate Species. Australian Biological Resources Study. (Brown Tree Snake)

History of changes