Hierophis
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Yellow-green angry snake ( Hierophis viridiflavus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hierophis | ||||||||||||
| Fitzinger , 1843 |
The wrath snakes of the genus Hierophis are snakes from the family of the snakes , more precisely, the subfamily of the land and tree snakes . The genus probably began to develop in the Miocene .
features
The wrath snakes of the genus Hierophis are large, agile snakes. They have round pupils, large eyes, and broad head shields. They are egg laying and rummaging hunters.
Together with the genus Dolichophis , they have a typical, single scale under the eye ( presuboculars ) and a characteristic mark on the head: the back of the head is separated from the body by a line, and they also have two spots on the side.
The also closely related dwarf snakes ( Eirenis ) are significantly smaller and live hidden. Similarities exist in the morphology of the hemipenise and in the appearance of the young animals. You are missing the presuboculars.
Systematics
Until genetic analyzes had shown otherwise, many larger snakes, which are specialized in hunting for nimble prey such as lizards, were placed in the genus of the angry snakes ( Coluber ). After it had been shown that the species of the genus Coluber did not have a common parent form, the species of the Old World were moved to the genera Dolichophis , Hierophis , Hemerophis , Hemorrhois and Platyceps , among others .
The genus Hierophis consists of four species, the yellow-green angry snake ( Hierophis viridiflavus ), the Balkan angry snake ( Hierophis gemonensis ), Hierophis spinalis , and Andreas' angry snake ( Hierophis andreanus ). After further analysis, H. spinalis may be moved to the genus Eirenis . The scarcely researched Andreas Zornnatter ( Werner , 1917) was only placed in the genus Hierophis by Torki in 2010 . H. viridiflavus is the type species of the genus.
The genus Hierophis includes the genus of the dwarf snakes ( Eirenis ) and is therefore paraphyletic . Like many other genera in the Colubridae family, the Hierophis systematics is still under discussion and is the subject of current research. The following diagram shows the relationship based on the research by Nagy et al. 2004, which is why the Andreas Wrath Snake, which was not part of the genetic test, is missing .:
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Until the genetic studies by Nagy et al. the four species Dolichophis caspius , Dolichophis cypriensis , Dolichophis jugularis and Dolichophis schmidti of the sister genus Dolichophis were also placed in the genus Hierophis , among others by Schätti and Utiger 2001.
distribution
The snakes of the genus Hierophis are common in Europe and Asia. While H. spinalis lives in Kazakhstan , Russia , Mongolia and Northern China , H. viridiflavus and H. gemonensis are only found in Europe and mainly in southern Europe. The few Hierophis andreanus known from literature come from Iran , the type locality is the Iranian province of Fars .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c ZT Nagy, JF Schmidtler, U. Joger, M. Wink: Systematics of dwarf snakes (Reptilia: Colubridae: Eirenis) and related groups on the basis of DNA sequences and morphological data . In: Salamandra . tape 39 . Rheinbach 2003, p. 149-168 .
- ↑ a b c d e ZT Nagy, R. Lawson, U. Joger, M. Wink: Molecular systematics of racers, whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using mitochondrial and nuclear markers . In: Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research . tape 42 , no. 3 . Blackwell Verlag, 2004, ISSN 0947-5745 , p. 223–233 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1439-0469.2004.00249.x ( uni-heidelberg.de [PDF; 200 kB ]). PDF; 0.2 MB ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Hierophis in The Reptile Database
- ↑ a b Hierophis andreanus in The Reptile Database
- ↑ Beat Schätti, Urs Utiger: Hemerophis, a new genus for Zamenis socotrae Günther, and a contribution to the phylogeny of Old World racers, whipsnakes and related genera (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubrinae) . In: Revue Suisse de Zoologie . tape 108 , 2001, p. 919-948 .
- ↑ Mehdi Rajabizadeh, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani: Two New Records of Reptiles (Reptilia: Squamata) from Southeastern Iran . In: Turk J Zool . tape 33 , 2009, p. 103-104 .
