Platyceps
| Platyceps | ||||||||||||
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Slender snake ( Platyceps najadum ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Platyceps | ||||||||||||
| Blyth , 1860 |
Platyceps is a genus of snakes whose species are found in Europe, Africa and southwest Asia. In the south the distribution area reaches the equator, in the east Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Platyceps collaris and Platyceps najadum are the two species found in Europe, although in Europe theyare restrictedto the Balkan Peninsula .
features
Adults are 70-130 centimeters long. Like most snakes from the family of snakes have snakes of the genus Platyceps round pupils, large, symmetrically arranged head shields and smooth, not keeled scales. Like all real snakes (Colubrinae), they have no poisonous teeth (aglyph). There are 19 rows of dorsal scales around the middle of the body. One or two shields of the upper lip ( scutum supralabiale ) border directly on the eye. In addition, compared to other wrath snakes, they are very slender and have long, thin tails. The head barely separates from the neck. Some species of the genus have horizontal stripes, others a neck band. The coloring is variable.
Way of life
The snakes of the genus Platyceps are egg-laying and nimble hunters. There are both diurnal and nocturnal representatives. Adults eat birds, skinks and, above all, lizards, young animals also feed on insects.
Systematics
Many larger snakes, which have specialized in the hunt for nimble prey such as lizards, were placed in the genus of the angry snake ( Coluber ). This collective genus, which included both species from the new and old world, was discussed controversially for a long time and was ultimately divided into several genera. The species of the Old World were shifted to the genera Dolichophis , Hierophis , Hemerophis , Hemorrhois and Platyceps , among others .
The genus Platyceps therefore belongs to the subfamily of land and tree snakes . According to the Reptile Database , there are currently 25 species in the genus :
- Platyceps afarensis Schätti & Ineich , 2004
- Platyceps bholanathi ( Sharma , 1976)
- Platyceps brevis ( Boulenger , 1895)
- Reddish angry snake ( Platyceps collaris ( Müller , 1878), synonym: Platyceps rubriceps )
- Magnificent angry snake ( Platyceps elegantissimus ( Günther , 1878))
- Egyptian angry snake ( Platyceps florulentus ( Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , 1827))
- Platyceps gracilis ( Günther , 1862)
- Platyceps insulanus ( Mertens , 1965)
- Platyceps karelini ( Brandt , 1838)
- Platyceps ladacensis ( Anderson , 1871)
- Platyceps largeni ( Schätti , 2001)
- Platyceps messanai ( Schätti & Lanza , 1989)
- Slender snake ( Platyceps najadum ( Eichwald , 1831))
- Platyceps noeli Schätti , Tillack & Kucharzewski , 2014
- Platyceps rhodorachis ( Jan , 1865)
- Anderson's arrow snake ( Platyceps rogersi ( Anderson , 1893))
- Platyceps scortecci ( Lanza , 1963)
- Platyceps sinai ( Schmidt & Marx , 1956)
- Platyceps sindhensis Schätti , Tillack & Kucharzewski , 2014
- Platyceps somalicus ( Boulenger , 1896)
- Platyceps taylori ( Parker , 1949)
- Platyceps tessellata ( Werner , 1910) Synonym: Platyceps saharicus
- Platyceps thomasi ( Parker , 1931)
- Platyceps variabilis ( Boulenger , 1905)
- Spotted angry snake ( Platyceps ventromaculatus ( Gray , 1834)) type species
The following cladogram shows the known relationships of the genus Platyceps according to Nagy et al. Several species are missing here because the genus has not yet been fully systematically investigated.
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The position of the other species of the genus Platyceps in the above system is still unknown. The Ravergiers angry snake, which was also classified as Platyceps ravergieri in this genus, was moved to the genus Hemorrhois .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Platyceps in The Reptile Database
- ^ A b c Zuhair S. Amr, Ahmad M. Disi: Systematics, distribution and ecology of the snakes of Jordan . In: Vertebrate Zoology . tape 61 , no. 2 , 2011, p. 179-266 .
- ^ A b 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, 0.2 MB). uni-heidelberg.de ( 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.
- ^ Robert F. Inger, Philip J. Clark: Partition of the Genus Coluber . In: Copeia . tape 1943 , no. 3 , 1943, p. 141-145 .
