European cat snake

European cat snake
Telescopus fallax from Malta
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Telescopus
Species: T. fallax
Binomial name
Telescopus fallax
(Fleischmann, 1831)
Synonyms[1]
  • Coluber vivax Fitzinger, 1826
  • Tarbophis fallax Fleischmann, 1831
  • Trigonophis iberus Eichwald, 1831
  • Coluber carneus Dwigubsky, 1832
  • Ailurophis vivax — Bonaparte, 1837
  • Tarbophis savignyi Boulenger, 1896

The European cat snake (Telescopus fallax), also known as the Soosan snake, is a venomous colubrid snake endemic to the Mediterranean and Caucasus regions.

Geographic range

It occurs in Italy, Greece (Paros, Antiparos, Tourlos, Crete, Kalymnos, Samos, Milos, Corfu), Albania, coastal Slovenia, Croatia (including some Adriatic islands), Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, southern Bulgaria, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, southern Russia (Caucasus, Dagestan), Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Ecology

Head of the European cat snake

The European cat snake is venomous, but because it is rear-fanged (fangs are located at the back of the upper jaw), it rarely injects its venom in defensive biting, and is therefore considered no threat to humans. It feeds mainly on geckos and lizards.

The species can be found in open and scrubby country including beaches and open woodlands.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Aram Agasyan; Aziz Avci; Boris Tuniyev; Jelka Crnobrnja Isailovic; Petros Lymberakis; Claes Andrén, Dan Cogalniceanu, John Wilkinson, Natalia Ananjeva, Nazan Üzüm, Nikolai Orlov, Richard Podloucky, Sako Tuniyev, Uğur Kaya, Wolfgang Böhme, Rastko Ajtic, Varol Tok, Ismail H. Ugurtas, Murat Sevinç, Pierre-André Crochet, Ahmad Mohammed Mousa Disi, Souad Hraoui-Bloquet, Riyad Sadek, Yehudah Werner, Idriz Haxhiu (2009). "Telescopus fallax". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 1 September 2015.

Further reading


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