Eirenis coronella or crowned dwarf racer, is a non-venomous

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

found in the Near and Middle East.

Description

''Eirenis coronella'' adults range from 25 to 30 cm in length. The head is a little wider than the body, although the body is a little bulky and has smooth dorsal scales. The tail is distinctly narrower than the main body and constitutes about 20% of the total length. The dorsal surface is usually pale brown to grey, with darker bands. They have a thick brown crescent-shaped collar, and the underside is yellowish to white with round brown spots.

Distribution

The snake is found in Southern Turkey,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

(

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

), Iraq,

Western Iran Western Iran consists of Armenian Highlands, Northern Zagros and the rich agricultural area of the Khuzestan Plain in the south. It includes the provinces of Kordestan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Hamadan and Lorestan. Some references also count West ...

, Northern Saudi Arabia, and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. This species is found in arid, sparsely vegetated mountainous and hilly areas on hard and rocky soils. It can be found between rocks and on the banks of dry

wadis Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

. They are often found in agricultural land and other man made habitats (Egan 2007). It is not known from agricultural areas.

Reproduction

Oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

, the female lays between three and five eggs in a clutch.

References

* 1837. Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Générale: xxviii +251 S. + Partie Descriptive: 606 S. + xvi. La Haye (J. Kips, J. HZ. et W. P. van Stockum). * 1969. Lizards and snakes from Southwestern Asia, collected by Henry Field. ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology'' 138: 327–406. * 1978. Some rare species of snakes from Turkey. ''Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums, Wien'' 81

977 Year 977 ( CMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May – Boris II, dethroned emperor (''tsar'') of Bulgaria, and his brother Roman ma ...

261–265. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3049477 Eirenis Fauna of Turkey Fauna of Jordan Fauna of Syria Fauna of Iraq Fauna of Israel Flora of Palestine (region) Reptiles of the Middle East Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel