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Naja haje (LINNAEUS, 1758)

IUCN Red List - Naja haje - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Egyptian Cobra
G: Uräusschlange 
SynonymColuber Haje LINNAEUS 1758: 225
Cerastes candidus LAURENTI 1768
Coluber candidissimus LACÉPÈDE 1789
Vipera haje — DAUDIN 1803
Naja haje — MERREM 1820
Naja haje — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1298
Naja haje var. viridis PETERS 1873
Naja haie — BOULENGER 1891: 152
Naja haje — SCHMIDT 1923: 126 (fide BROADLEY 1968)
Naja haje legionis VALVERDE 1989 (fide TRAPE et al. 2009)
Naja haje haje — WELCH 1994: 91
Naja haje haje — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 24
Naja haje — WELCH 1994: 91
Naja haje — BROADLEY 1998
Naja (Uraeus) haje — WALLACH et al. 2009
Naja haje legionis — LAITA 2013
Uraeus haje — WALLACH et al. 2014: 762
Naja haje — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 551 
DistributionAlgeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic ?, N Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Chad, Egypt (?), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau (?), Guinea (Conakry), Kenya, Libya, Mali, Western Sahara, Mauritania ?, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe

haje: S Morocco east to Egypt, south to C Tanzania (Shinyaga and Kilosa) and west through the Sahel to Senegal; Central African Republic, Djibouti

legionis: Morocco, Western Sahara, W Algeria

Type locality: Lower Egypt.

viridis: Type locality: Westafrika” [Naja haje var. viridis PETERS 1873]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 2820 (unlocated) [Naja haje var. viridis PETERS 1873] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (Uraeus): Intracranial (dorsal) anterior Vidian canal position, almost always 2–3 solid maxillary teeth (one specimen out of 21 examined by Bogert [1943] and Szyndlar & Rage [1990] had one solid maxillary tooth on each side), seven supralabials with penultimate (sixth) shield high, combination of one preocular and one anterior temporal, rostral as broad as deep, internasals as long as prefrontals, dorsal scales matt or moderately shiny, and fangs not adapted for spitting.


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CommentVenomous!

Type species: Coluber haje Linnaeus, 1758, is the type species of the subgenus Uraeus WAGLER 1830. The name of the subgenus is derived from the Egyptian uraeus, a symbol of the goddess Wadjet in the shape of a cobra with a spread hood, which formed part of the head-dress of Egyptian divinities and kings. Note that Cerastes candidus LAURENTI 1768 has been designated as type species of the genus Cerastes. See Cerastes cerastes for more details.

Synonymy: Naja haje anchietae has been considered as a subspecies of Naja annulifera (which was previously considered as a subspecies of Naja haje). Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic name Wellsus Hoser 2009 invalid and rejected its use instead of Naja (Uraeus).

Distribution: Not listed for Togo by Segniagbeto et al. 2012. Naja haje has been displaced as a name for the West African "Egyptian Cobra" by N. senegalensis Trape et al 2009: 12. Benin mentioned on p. 19 (B. Hughes, pers. comm. 9 Dec 2013). Not in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, or Benin fide TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014: 320, ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010. For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. Not in the Middle East (Yemen) fide IUCN assessment.

Genome: Colston et al. 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after Egyptian Arabic ḥayyah, meaning snake. 
References
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