brown tree snake

reptile

Also known as: Boiga irregularis, brown catsnake, culepla

Written by

John P. Rafferty

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

brown tree snake, (Boiga irregularis), slender, mildly venomous, primarily arboreal snake of family Colubridae that is considered to be one of the most aggressive invasive species in the world. The brown tree snake is native only to the islands immediately west of Wallace’s Line and to New Guinea and the northern and eastern coasts of Australia; however, its geographic range has expanded significantly and now includes Guam, Saipan, and other islands of the western Pacific....

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