Schokari sand racer

Schokari sand racer
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Psammophiidae
Genus:	Psammophis
Species:	P. schokari
Binomial name
Psammophis schokari (Forskal, 1775)

The Schokari sand racer or Forskal sand snake (Psammophis schokari) is a species of psammophiid snake found in parts of Asia and Africa. ^{[1] [2]} Psammophis aegyptius has at times been considered a subspecies of Psammophis schokari but is presently considered a full species. ^[3] Many people refer to snakes in the genus Psammophis as colubrids, but this is now known to be incorrect — they were once classified in the Colubridae, but our more sophisticated understanding of the relationships among the groups of snakes has led herpetologists to reclassify Psammophis and its relatives into Lamprophiidae, a family more closely related to Elapidae than to Colubridae. ^[4]

Distribution

Northwest India, Afghanistan (Leviton 1959: 461), Pakistan, south Turkmenistan, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, ^[5] Syria, kenya, Iraq, Iran (Kavir oDesert), and Yemen.

Psammophis schokari from United Arab Emirates

Type locality: Yemen.

References

1. Wilms, T.; Wagner, P.; Els, J.; Al Johany, A.M.H.; Amr, Z.S.S.; Orlov, N.L.; Shafiei Bafti, S.; Baha El Din, S.; Mateo, J.A.; Geniez, P.; Böhme, W.; Hraoui-Bloquet, S.; Papenfuss, T.; Ananjeva, N.B.; Borkin, L.; Milto, K.; Golynsky, E.; Rustamov, A; Nuridjanov, D.; Munkhbayar, K. (2021). "Psammophis schokari". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021: e.T164704A1069614. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T164704A1069614.en . Retrieved 21 February 2022.
2. Psammophis schokari at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 2 June 2024.
3. Psammophis aegyptius at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database . Accessed 2 June 2024.
4. Pyron, R.A.; Burbrink, F.T.; Wiens, J.J. (2013). "A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13 (1): 93. Bibcode:2013BMCEE..13...93P. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93 . PMC   3682911 . PMID   23627680.
5. "One of the fastest snakes caught on camera". The Times of Oman. 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2018-12-31.

• Forskål, P. 1775 Descriptiones animalium, avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quae in itinere Orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Mölleri, Hauniae, xxxiv + 164 pp.
• Marx, H. 1988 The colubrid snake, Psammophis schokari, from the Arabian Peninsula. Fieldiana Zool. New Ser. 40 (1383): 1-16