Platyceps

Platyceps is a genus of snakes of the family Colubridae endemic to Eurasia.

Platyceps
Platyceps najadum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Platyceps Blyth, 1860

Taxonomy

The genus was erected in 1860 by Edward Blyth, allying species previously described.

The genus name Platyceps was inadvertently used for a fossil species in 1877, now recognised as Platycepsion wilkinsoni.^[1]

Species

The following 30 species are recognized as being valid.^[2]

• Platyceps afarensis Schätti & Ineich, 2004 - Afar racer
• Platyceps atayevi (Tuniyev & Shammakov, 1993)
• Platyceps bholanathi (Sharma, 1976) - Sharma's racer, Nagarjunasagar racer
• Platyceps brevis (Boulenger, 1895) - short racer
• Platyceps collaris (F. Müller, 1878) - red whip snake, collared dwarf racer
• Platyceps elegantissimus (Günther, 1878) - elegant racer
• Platyceps florulentus (I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827) - flowered racer, Geoffroy's racer
• Platyceps gracilis (Günther, 1862) - graceful racer, slender racer
• Platyceps insulanus (Mertens, 1965) - Sarso Island racer
• Platyceps josephi Deepak, Narayanan, Mohapatra, Dutta, Melvinselvan, Khan, Mahlow & Tillack, 2021 -Joseph’s racer
• Platyceps karelini (Brandt, 1838) - spotted desert racer
• Platyceps ladacensis (Anderson, 1871) - braid snake, Jan's cliff racer
• Platyceps largeni (Schätti, 2001) - Dahlak racer
• Platyceps messanai (Schätti & Lanza, 1989) - Schätti's racer
• Platyceps najadum (Eichwald, 1831) - Dahl's whip snake, the slender whip snake
• Platyceps noeli Schätti, Tillack & Kucharzewski, 2014 - Brahui racer
• Platyceps plinii (Merrem, 1820)
• Platyceps rhodorachis (Jan, 1865) - common cliff racer, Wadi racer, desert racer, braid snake, Jan’s cliff racer
• Platyceps rogersi (Anderson, 1893) - Rogers's racer
• Platyceps saharicus Schätti & McCarthy, 2004
• Platyceps schmidtleri (Schätti & McCarthy, 2001)
• Platyceps scortecci (Lanza, 1963)
• Platyceps sinai (Schmidt & Marx, 1956) - Sinai racer, Sinai banded racer
• Platyceps sindhensis Schätti, Tillack & Kucharzewski, 2014 - Sindh racer
• Platyceps somalicus (Boulenger, 1896) - Ogaden racer, Audo racer
• Platyceps taylori (Parker, 1949) - Taylor's racer
• Platyceps thomasi (Parker, 1931) - Thomas's semi-banded racer
• Platyceps variabilis (Boulenger, 1905) - variable snake, variable racer
• Platyceps ventromaculatus (Gray, 1834) - Hardwicke's rat snake, glossy-bellied racer, Gray's rat snake, spotted bellied snake
• Platyceps vittacaudatus (Blyth, 1854) - striped-tailed racer

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Platyceps.