Hemorrhois ravergieri ( Menetries , 1832)

Jablonski, Daniel, Khalili, Faizurrahman & Masroor, Rafaqat, 2023, The herpetofaunal diversity of Takhar Province, Afghanistan, Herpetozoa 36, pp. 73-90 : 73

Hemorrhois ravergieri ( Menetries, 1832)

Figs 9 , 10C, D

Takhar records.

Bay Yawa (Keserkul), 37.4264°N, 69.7127°E, 734 m a.s.l., 1 April 2020, dead on the road, killed by local people, one subadult male (CUHC-PA 177).

Distribution in Afghanistan.

The species is known from the Provinces of Badakhshan, Bamiyan, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Nuristan, Paktia ( Wagner et al. 2016; Jablonski et al. 2019b) and Takhar. It represents 26% of all provinces.

Chorotype.

West Asian Mountains transition zone + Turanian + Iranian.

Remarks.

The here-presented record is the first of this species for Takhar Province. It is a common Central Asiatic snake, often found in a variety of habitats ( Szczerbak 2003). Some Central Asiatic populations or individuals are characterised by a black head ( Tuniyev et al. 1997) which was also the case for the observed individual from Takhar.

Figures

Figure 9. Herpetofaunistic records of Erycidae, Colubridae, Natricidae and Elapidae from Takhar Province in the context of updated records from Afghanistan (white dots: published data; red dots: new data).

Figure 10. A. Juvenile individual of Eryx tataricus from Taleqan (CUHC-PA 175); B. Adult female of E. tataricus from Bay Yawa (Kaserkul) (CUHC-PA 188); C, D. Dorsal and ventral view on subadult male of Hemorrhois ravergieri from Bay Yawa (Kaserkul) (CUHC-PA 177); E. Ventral view on adult female of Natrix tessellata from Taleqan (CUHC-PA 176); F. Adult female of N. tessellata from Bay Yawa (CUHC-PA 206); G. Juvenile individual of Naja oxiana from Bay Yawa (CUHC-PA 199).