Eastern Montpellier snake

Eastern Montpellier snake
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Psammophiidae
Genus:	Malpolon
Species:	M. insignitus
Binomial name
Malpolon insignitus (St.-Hilaire, 1827)
Synonyms
Coluber insignitus Coelopeltis insignitus Malpolon monspessulana insignitus Malpolon monspessulanus insignitus

The eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake. ^[2]

Geographic range

M. insignitus ranges from the eastern Adriatic coast in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, the southern Balkans in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Greece, western Asia and Caucasus in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Iran, and along northern Africa in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. ^[3]

Description

It usually has 19 dorsal scale rows on its mid-body, but males lack a dark 'saddle'. It often has narrow, pale longitudinal stripes.

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  In Greece
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  Eating a tessellated water snake

References

1. Aram Agasyan, Aziz Avci, Boris Tuniyev, Petros Lymberakis, Claes Andrén, Dan Cogalniceanu, John Wilkinson, Natalia Ananjeva, Nazan Üzüm, Nikolai Orlov, Richard Podloucky, Sako Tuniyev, Uğur Kaya, Milan Vogrin, Sherif Baha El Din. 2009. Malpolon insignitus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T157253A5061050. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/157253/5061050. Downloaded on 23 April 2021.
2. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
3. "Malpolon insignitus". IUCN Red List. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2022.