The red whip snake or collared dwarf racer (''Platyceps collaris'') is a species of

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

in the family Colubridae. Native to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in ...

, rocky areas,

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

, pastureland,

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s, and rural gardens.

Description

The red whip snake is a slender, long-tailed snake that grows to a length of in Europe but up to in the eastern part of its range in Asia. It closely resembles

Dahl's whip snake ''Platyceps najadum'', also known commonly as Dahl's whip snake, the slender whip snake, and the Zagros whip snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Eurasia. Four subspecies are recognized as being valid ...

but differs in having a smaller, flatter head. The upper surface is reddish-brown or reddish grey, with a dark band with pale margins on the neck and scattered, smaller dark bands with pale rims on the fore-parts, these markings being more widely spaced than those of Dahl's whip snake. Another distinguishing feature is the fact that the scales on the belly of that species have a keel on each side whereas the belly scales on the red whip snake do not. The eye is surrounded by a ring of pale skin and the area of skin in front of and behind this is dark. The underparts are whitish-yellow.

Distribution and habitat

The red whip snake is native to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

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 ...

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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Palestinian Territory The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

, Syria, and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It is typically found on dry rocky areas such as coastal plains with low scrub, bushes and other vegetation. It is also found on agricultural land and in gardens, and its altitudinal range is from sea level up to .

Behaviour

The red whip snake is a diurnal species. It can move very rapidly, running at prey and grabbing it with its jaws. It feeds mostly on lizards, with large insects supplementing the diet. Females lay clutches of three to five cylindrical eggs long and wide.

Status

The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has listed the red whip snake as being of least conservation concern. This is on the basis that the population trend is steady, the snake has a large total population spread out over a wide range, it is common in many areas and tolerates some degree of habitat modification. It does not seem to face any particular threats although in some areas it is persecuted by humans.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2381179 Platyceps Reptiles described in 1878 Reptiles of Europe Reptiles of Turkey Reptiles of the Middle East Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Snakes of Jordan