Tropidonophis statisticus Papua New Guinea

Don't kill it! This is a Keelback snake photographed in the Aiyura valley of Papua New Guinea Eastern Highlands Province. Story: This snake was on the road in front of my house. 3 Papua New Guinean Men told me not to get near it as it was a "One Second Poison Snake!" Meaning that it would kill me very quickly. They were not local and the place that they were from has several poisonous snake species. We don't have many poisonous snakes here. For reasons of survival Papua New Guineans kill almost every snake they come across. They were horrified when I picked it up.
This species is non-venomous but can sometimes be confused with other venomous snakes. It is very similar to a Whip snake or Brown snake. Confirmation was found upon studying the head scales. The Keelback has a Loreal scale between the two small scales in front of the eye and the scale right behind the nostril. Please don't get this close to any un-identified snake if you don't know what you are doing. An excellent article written by David Williams can be found at http://www.kingsnake.com/aho/pngsmc "Chapter2SnakesofPapuaNewGuinea"