Platyceps karelini

Platyceps karelini is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Asia.

Platyceps karelini
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Platyceps
Species:
P. karelini
Binomial name
Platyceps karelini
(Brandt, 1838)
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Coluber karelini
    Brandt, 1838
  • Zamenis karelini
    — Strauch, 1873
  • Coluber karelini
    — M.A. Smith, 1943
  • Platyceps karelini
    — Nagy et al., 2004

Geographic range

P. karelini is found in Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.[2]

Description

P. karelini exhibits sexual dimorphism, with females being larger than males. Females may attain a total length of 94 cm (37 in), including a tail 23 centimetres (9.1 in) long. Males may attain a total length of 83.5 cm (32.9 in), with a tail 22.5 cm (8.9 in) long.[3]

Dorsally, it is pale gray or tan, with a series of black crossbars, which are narrower than the spaces between them. Some individuals lack the crossbars, and instead have an orange vertebral stripe. Ventrally, it is whitish, pinkish, or yellowish.[1][3]

Reproduction

P. karelini is oviparous.[2]

Subspecies

There are three subspecies of P. karelini which are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]

  • Platyceps karelini chesneii (Martin, 1838)
  • Platyceps karelini karelini (Brandt, 1838)
  • Platyceps karelini mintonorum (Mertens, 1969)

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

Etymology

The specific name, karelini, is in honor of Russian naturalist Grigory Karelin.[4] The subspecific name, mintonorum, is in honor of American herpetologist Sherman A. Minton and his wife Madge Alice Shortridge Rutherford Minton.[5]

References
  1. Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. ("Zamenis karelinii [sic]", pp. 401-402).
  2. Species Platyceps karelini at The Reptile Database
  3. Smith MA (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. (Coluber karelini, pp. 169-170).
  4. Brandt (1838).
  5. 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. (Coluber karelini mintonorum, p. 179).

Further reading
  • Brandt [JF] (1838). "Note sur quatre nouvelles espèces de serpents de la côte occidentale de la mer Caspienne et de la Perse septentrionale, découvertes par M. Kareline ". Bulletin Scientifique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg 3 (16): 241-244. (Coluber karelini, new species, p. 243). (in French and Latin).
  • Latifi M (1991). The Snakes of Iran. Oxford, Ohio: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 156 pp. ISBN 0-916984-22-2. (Coluber karelini, p. 104).
  • Nagy ZT, Lawson R, Joger U, Wink M (2004). "Molecular phylogeny and systematics of racers, whip snakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using mitochondrial and nuclear markers". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 42: 223-233. (Platceps karelini, new combination).
  • Szczerbak, Nikolai (2003). Guide to the Reptiles of the Eastern Palearctic. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing. 350 pp. ISBN 978-1-57524-004-6.
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