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Spalerosophis diadema
Species of snake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Spalerosophis diadema, known commonly as the Blotched diadem snake and the Blotched royal snake, is a species of large snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Asia and northern Africa.
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Geographic range
S. diadema is found in Algeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, northern India, Iran, Iraq, Israel,[3] Lebanon, Jordan, southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, United Arab Emirates, western Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, northern Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, southern Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.[2]
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Subspecies
Three subspecies of S. diadema are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies, and are found as follows.[2]
- Spalerosophis diadema cliffordi (Schlegel, 1837) – from Morocco to Egypt and Israel (Type locality: Tripoli, Libya)
- Spalerosophis diadema diadema (Schlegel, 1837) – India, Pakistan (Type locality: near "Bombay", India)
- Spalerosophis diadema schiraziana (Jan, 1865) – Zagros Mountains and the region of Bushire in western Iran, eastwards to southern Turkmenistan into Afghanistan and India; Pakistan (Type locality: Shiraz, Iran)
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Etymology
The subspecific name, cliffordi, is in honor of "M[onsieur]. Clifford Cocq van Breugel " who was Dutch consul at Tripoli,[4] probably referring to Jacques Fabrice Herman Clifford Kocq van Breugel (1799–1867).
Description
S. diadema may attain a total length of 1.8 m (about 6 feet), of which about 34 cm (13½ inches) is tail. Dorsally, it is pale buff or sandy grey, with a median series of dark blotches, and smaller dark spots. Ventrally, it is usually uniform white, but rarely has small blackish spots.[5]
Reproduction
References
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External links
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