This good-looking snake is named after Jose Vieira, who was one of the guides on my recent trip to Madagascar. He is the best person I've ever met at finding and capturing herps, and having a snake named after him is a well-deserved honor.

We saw four of these snakes on our first night in their habitat. The middle picture shows two of them interacting. The one with higher ground was repeatedly approached at different angles by the other one, until eventually the lower one slipped and fell to the forest floor. I don't know if this was courtship behavior or mild territorial combat. Either way, I guess the top snake won.