Platyceps najadum
| Platyceps najadum | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Genus: | Platyceps |
| Species: | P. najadum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Platyceps najadum (Eichwald, 1831)
| |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Platyceps najadum, also known commonly as Dahl's whip snake or the slender whip snake, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Eurasia. Four subspecies are recognized as being valid.
Taxonomy
[edit]P. najadum was first described by Karl Eichwald in 1831,[1] as Tyria najadum.[2]
Geographic range
[edit]P. najadum is found in the Balkans, Aegean, Cyprus, the Mid-East, and as far as Turkmenistan and the Caucasus Mountains.[3]
Habitat
[edit]P. najadum occurs in dry and xeric environments in a wide range of habitats: in desert and rocky land, in forests, woodland scrub, and agricultural land from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) altitude. It is commonly found in fields, and seen crushed on roads.
Description
[edit]P. najadum has a slim body, and is rarely over a metre (39 inches) in total length (including tail).[4]
Conservation status
[edit]P. najadum is threatened by direct persecution, forest fires and intensive agriculture, where its range interacts with human interests.[1]
Reproduction
[edit]P. najadum is an egg laying species. Females lay between 3 and 16 eggs in a clutch.[1]
Subspecies
[edit]Four[2] subspecies are identified, including the nominotypical subspecies.
- Platyceps najadum albitemporalis (Darevsky & Orlov, 1994)
- Platyceps najadum dahlii (Fitzinger, 1826) – Balkans, Cyprus, Aegean Turkey
- Platyceps najadum kalymnensis (B. Schneider, 1979) – endemic to Kalymnos island, the Aegean
- Platyceps najadum najadum (Eichwald, 1831) – Caucasus and Asia Minor
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Platyceps.
Etymology
[edit]Both the subspecific name, dahlii, and the common name, Dahl's whip snake, are in honor of Austrian entomologist Georg Dahl (1769–1831) who collected the type specimen in Dalmatia in 1824.[5]
The subspecific name, schmidtleri, is in honor of German herpetologist Josef Friedrich Schmidtler (born 1942).[6]
Indigenous names
[edit]Σαϊτα (Greek), Saita, Стрелушка (Bulgarian), šilac (Croatian), Za'aman Z'eitani (Hebrew), Ok Yılanı (Turkish).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Lymberakis, Petros; Ajtic, Rastko; Tok, Varl; Ugurtas, Ismail H.; Sevinç, Murat; Crochet, Pierre-André; Disi, Ahmad Mohammed Mousa; Hraoui-Bloquet, Souad; Sadek, Riyad; Haxhiu, Idriz; Böhme, Wolfgang [in German]; Agasyan, Aram; Tuniyev, Boris; Ananjeva, Natalia; Orlov, Nikolai (2009). "Platyceps najadum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T157277A5068046. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T157277A5068046.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ a b c "Platyceps najadum ". The Reptile Database. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Platyceps&species=najadum&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Platyceps+najadum%27%29%29
- ^ "Platyceps najadum ". French language Wikipédia.
- ^ "Dahl's Whip Snake (Platyceps najadum) | Archipelago Wildlife Library". Archived from the original on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
- ^ Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich … volume 3. pages 129-130. 1858.
- ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Platyceps najadum dahlii, p. 64; P. n. schmidtleri, p. 236).
Further reading
[edit]- Arnold EN, Burton JA (1978). A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe. (Illustrated by D.W. Ovenden). London: Collins. 272 pp. + Plates 1-40. ISBN 0-00-219318-3. (Coluber najadum, pp. 194–195 + Plate 35, figure 4 + Map 106).
- Eichwald [K]E (1831). Zoologia specialis quam expositis animalibus tum vivis, tum fossilibus potissimum Rossiae in universum, et Poloniae in specie, in usum lectionum publicarum, in Universitate Caesarea Vilnensi [Volume 3]. Vilnius: J. Zawadzki. 404 pp. + one plate. (Tyria najadum, new species, p. 174). (in Latin).