Eryx jayakari
| Eryx jayakari | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Boidae |
| Genus: | Eryx |
| Species: | E. jayakari |
| Binomial name | |
| Eryx jayakari (Boulenger, 1888)[2] | |
Eryx jayakari, known commonly as the Arabian sand boa or Jayakar's sand boa, is a species of snake in the Boidae family.[3] It is found in the Arabian Peninsula and Iran where it spends the day buried in the sand.
Description
The Arabian sand boa is a small snake growing to a length of about38 cm (15 in). The eyes are very small and are located on the top of the head which has a blunt snout and is wedge-shaped. This snake's colour is yellowish-grey or sandy-brown speckled with white flecks and transversely banded with dark marks.[4]
Distribution and habitat
The Arabian sand boa is native to the Arabian peninsular. Its range includes Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, and southern Iran, where a small number of specimens have been found in Khuzestan Province, Bushahr Province and Kerman Province. It is a desert species of snake, living semi-underground in sand or soft soil.[1]
Behaviour
The Arabian sand boa is largely nocturnal and is tolerant of a wide range of temperatures. During the day it buries itself deep in the sand but moves towards the surface at dusk. Here it remains slightly below the surface with just its eyes projecting, ready to pounce with a sideways flick of its head, on any small creature that happens to pass.[4] Its diet includes the short-fingered gecko Stenodactylus spp. and the Baluch rock gecko (Bunopus tuberculatus), and worm lizards. The female lays a small clutch of eggs which hatch in about 66 days at a temperature of 33 °C (91 °F).[5]
Status
The Arabian sand boa is listed by the IUCN as being of "Least Concern". This is because it has a very wide range and is common in at least parts of that range, and no particular threats have been identified.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Behbehani, S.J.Y.; Al Johany, A.M.H.; Sharifi, M.; Papenfuss, T.; Anderson, S.; Shafiei Bafti, S. (2012). "Eryx jayakari". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
- ↑ "Eryx jayakari Boulenger, 1888". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
- ↑ McDiarmid, Roy W., Jonathan A. Campbell, and T'Shaka A. Touré, 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stafford, Peter J. (1986). Pythons and Boas. TFH Publications. pp. 106, 110. ISBN 9780866220842.
- ↑ Masood, Mustafa Fathy (2012). "Ecological distribution of snakes' fauna of Jazan region of Saudi Arabia". Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences 4 (1): 183–197. ISSN 2090-0759.