Lycodon alcalai
species of reptile

Lycodon alcalai, also known commonly as Alcala's wolf snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Philippines.
Etymology
The specific name alcalai was chosen to honor the Philippine naturalist Angel Chua Alcala, who made significant contributions to herpetology in the Philippines.
Taxonomy
L. alcalai is a member of the genus Lycodon, a genus of snakes commonly known as wolf snakes. The genus belongs to the snake family Colubridae, the largest snake family, with member species being found on every continent except Antarctica.
Description
L. alcalai has a body that is rounded on the back and flattened on the belly. Its head is distinct from its neck, with a snout that extends further than its lower jaw. The pupil of its eye is a vertical ellipse. The rostral scale is large and triangular, and extends backwards for some distance. The dorsum of the snake and the top of the head are dark brown in color, while the belly and bottom of the head are white or light cream yellow.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3268419. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lycodon alcalai” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.