The Schokari sand racer (''Psammophis schokari'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of psammophiid

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 parts of Asia and Africa. ''Psammophis schokari aegyptius'' has been elevated to species status. 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 Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids ; grc, ἔλλοψ ''éllops'' "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydoceph ...

than to Colubridae.

Distribution

Northwest

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(Leviton 1959: 461),

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, south

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Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

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Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

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( Kavir Desert), and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

Type locality: Yemen.

References

* 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

External links

* * http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Psammophis_schokari.jpg * http://www.podarcis.nl/downloads/2001/2/eng/OmanDeel422001Eng.pdf Psammophis Reptiles of Pakistan Reptiles of Afghanistan Reptiles of Central Asia Fauna of Egypt Fauna of Libya Reptiles of North Africa Fauna of the Middle East Reptiles described in 1775 Snakes of Jordan {{Colubrids-stub