NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Oriental Odd-tooth Snake
Lycodon orientalis (Hilgendorf, 1880)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Oriental odd-tooth snake (Lycodon orientalis), sometimes called the Japanese odd-tooth snake, is a species endemic to Japan, belonging to the family Colubridae. It is found in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, the Goto Islands, Iki Island, Izu Ōshima, the Oki Islands, Sado Island, Tanegashima, and Yakushima. It has also been reported in Shiashkotan, one of the Chishima Islands.
The snake was first described in 1880 by both Hilgendorf and Günther However, according to Stejneger the description by Hilgendorf was published before that of Günther.
Wikipedia contributors, Oriental odd-tooth snake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:54:34.444335+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lycodon orientalis (Hilgendorf, 1880)
- Name authority
- (Hilgendorf, 1880)
- Common name
- Oriental Odd-tooth Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Lycodon
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyColubrinae
- genusLycodon
- speciesLycodon orientalis (Hilgendorf, 1880)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lycodon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Alcala's Wolf SnakeLycodon alcalai Ota & Ross, 1994 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| David’s Wolf SnakeLycodon davidi Vogel, Nguyen, Kingsada & Ziegler, 2012 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brown Wolf SnakeLycodon effraenis Cantor, 1847 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yellow-collared wolf snakeLycodon flavicollis Mukherjee & Bhupathy, 2007 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Big-tooth SnakeLycodon flavozonatus (Pope, 1928) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gammie's Wolf SnakeLycodon gammiei (Blanford, 1878) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gongshan Wolf SnakeLycodon gongshan Vogel & Luo, 2011 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Twin-spotted Wolf SnakeLycodon jara (Shaw, 1802) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Laotian Wolf SnakeLycodon laoensis Günther, 1864 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lycodon liuchengchaoi Zhang, Jiang, Vogel & Rao, 2011 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Müller’s Wolf SnakeLycodon muelleri Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Luding Kukri SnakeLycodon multizonatus (Zhao & Jiang, 1981) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ophites orientalis Hilgendorf, 1880 Hilgendorf, 1880 | synonym |
| Ophites japonicus Günther, 1880 Günther, 1880 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lycodon&species=orientalis Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3WL3S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.