Elaphe druzei JABLONSKI, RIBEIRO‐JÚNIOR & MEIRI, 2023
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Elaphe druzei
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Elaphe druzei JABLONSKI, RIBEIRO‐JÚNIOR & MEIRI in JABLONSKI et al. 2023: 5 |
| Distribution | Israel (Israeli controlled Golan Heights), Lebanon, Syria Type locality: Majdal Shams, Hermon, Israeli controlled Golan Heights (33.27° N, 35.77° E; 1100 m elevation). Collected by Yaakov Pessah. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: TAU-R 13051; Paratypes: TAU-R 19070, TAU-R 19145, TAU-R 19438 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Elaphe druzei sp. nov. is distinguished from all other species of Elaphe by the combination of the following characters (Table 4): (1) 200–222 ventralia, mean=208.60; (2) 57–78 subcaudalia, mean 66.81; (3) 10–12 sublabialia, mean=10.71; (4) mostly one preoculare (one, n=11; two, n=6); (5) mostly 25 (23–25) dorsalia at forebody; (6) 23 or 25 (rarely 21) dorsalia at midbody; (7) mostly 19 (rarely 21) dorsalia at hind body; (8) snout–vent length (maximum 1541 mm; mean=1066.80 mm); (9) the dorsal surfaces of head, neck and anterior-most part of body homogeneous black in adults; (10) the lateral surface of the head, above supralabialia, homogeneously black in adult specimens; (11) the dorsal surface of the body yellowish with wide, oval black blotches flled by brown; (12) dorsal scales on body distinctly keeled and elongated; (13) dorsolateral scales on body slightly elongated, rather smooth; (14) the base of the hemipenis is ornamented by long pines, becoming drastically spinulated calyces on about ½ of the total organ length (on the contact area between body and base); (15) the apical area and the body of the hemipenis with several, conspicuous spinulated calyces. |
| Comment | Distribution: The first, verified record of the E. quatuorlineata group from the Levant is from the vicinity of a Druze town, Majdal Shams, that is also the type locality of E. druzei sp. nov. Interestingly, one of the biogeographic hypotheses on the origin of Druzes says that they might have originated in the Zagros Mountains and the surroundings of Lake Van from where they later migrated south to the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. This represents certain parallelisms with the uncovered phylogenetic relationship between the new species and the sister E. urartica that has its centre of distribution in eastern Anatolia, with the type locality near to Lake Van. The two species of Elaphe most probably diverged somewhere in Anatolia or the Middle East with subsequent independent evolution in eastern Anatolia and the Levant. |
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