You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Elaphe dione

Elaphe dione (PALLAS, 1773)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Elaphe dione?

Add your own observation of
Elaphe dione »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Steppes Ratsnakes
G: Dionenatter, Steppennatter
Russian: Узорчатый полоз
Chinese: 白条锦蛇 
SynonymColuber Dione PALLAS 1773: 717
Coluber diana LATREILLE 1802: 159 (emendation)
Chironius dione — FITZINGER 1826: 60
Coluber eremita EICHWALD 1831: 174 (fide STEJNEGER 1907)
Coluber maeoticus RATHKE 1837: 433 (fide STEJNEGER 1907)
Coluber trabalis SCHLEGEL 1837: 167 (fide DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854)
Coelopeltis dione — EICHWALD 1841: 120 (fide BOULENGER 1894)
Zamenis trabalis — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 689
Elaphis dione — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 248
Elaphis dione — GÜNTHER 1864: 240
Coluber dione — BOULENGER 1894: 44
Zamenis trabalis — MÜLLER 1895: 203
Coluber dione — STONE 1899: 184
Elaphe dione — STEJNEGER 1907: 315
Zamenis pellioti MOCQUARD 1910
Coluber dione — BOULENGER 1913
Elaphe czerskii NIKOLSKY 1914
Elaphe dione niger GOLUBEVA 1923
Elaphe czerskii — EMELIANOV 1928
Elaphe dione tenebrosa SOBOLEVSKY 1929
Elaphe dione — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Elaphe dione — SCHULZ 1996: 109
Elaphe dione — UTIGER et al. 2002
Elaphe dione czerskii — VEDMEDERYA et al. 2009
Elaphe dione — WALLACH et al. 2014: 262 
DistributionE Ukraine, S/SE Russia, Far East (Russia), Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, N Iran, Kirghizia, Korea, Mongolia, Russia, N China (southward to Sichuan in the west and Jiangsu in the east; Kiangsu, Shantung, Shansi, Shensi, Gansu; north to Chang Jiang river).

Type locality: mountains near Irtin (= Irtysh River); Gratscheffskoi outpost (fide HELFENBERGER 2001); Gratscheffskoi, Kasachstan (Mertens & Mueller, 1928);
South Siberia, Russia (fide KHALIKOV, pers. comm.); restricted to Gratscheffskoi outpost, near Semijarsk, upper Irtysh area, Semipalatinsk district, Kazakhstan by MERTENS & MÜLLER 1928.  
Reproductionovoviviparous (Gruber 2009) 
TypesType: unlocated (fide V. Wallach, pers. comm.) 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy partly after KHALIKOV & ANANJEVA (pers. comm.) and STEJNEGER 1907. See also discussion on Coluber trabalis in PETERS 1861: 481.

Distribution: not in Armenia fide Jeff Ettling (pers. comm., 2 April 2015). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013.

Morphology: this is a vriable species with uniform black and red morphs, as well as striped and blotched variants.

Similar species: Can be confused with Elaphe bimaculata (and is often sold as such in the pet trade).

Conservation: Critically endangered, at least in the Ukraine (KOTENKO 2006).

Activity pattern. Diurnal and night.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after “Dione” the mother of Aphrodite in Greek mythology. 
References
  • Abraham, G. 1984. Das Portrait: Elaphe dione - Dionenatter. Sauria 6 (4): 1-2 - get paper here
  • Adnagulov E.V. 2016. On the distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the Evreiskaya Autonomous Oblast' (Russia). [in Russian] Current Studies in Herpetology, 16(3/4): 87–106 - get paper here
  • Akhmedenov, K., & Shpigelman, M. 2021. New data on reptiles and birds in the North Ustyurt. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 817, No. 1, p. 012002). IOP Publishing - get paper here
  • Arinin, Ivan Yu 2005. Dione rat snake Elaphe dione Pallas, 1773: survey of geographical and selective variations of the collection of Tula Exotarium. Litteratura Serpentium 25 (3): 128-145 - get paper here
  • Bakiev, A., Kirillov, A., Kirillova, N., Ruchin, A., Klenina, A., Gorelov, R., & Kostina, N. 2020. Reptile occurrences data in the Volga River basin (Russia). Biodiversity Data Journal, 8: e58033 - get paper here
  • Belik V.P. 2014. To the history of research on the amphibian and reptile fauna in the Volgograd Region. Current Studies in Herpetology 14 (1/2): 3–13. Резюме - get paper here
  • Belt, Gidi van de & Wim van de Belt 2005. The Dione-ratsnake, Elaphe dione Pallas 1773: in captivity breeding of Elaphe dione; a personal experience. Litteratura Serpentium 25 (3): 146-159 - get paper here
  • Berezovikov N.N. 2022. Birds feeding on Elaphe dione in the Kazakh part of Altai. Russian Journal of Ornithology 31 (2208): 3148-3155
  • Borkin, L.J. 2022. EARLY STUDIES ON THE HERPETOFAUNA OF KAZAKHSTAN (XVIII CENTURY) [in russian] Almaty: Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2022. - 156 pp.
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1913. The snakes of Europe. Methusen & Co. Ltd, London, 151 pp.
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. A list of the reptiles and batrachians of Amoorland [Russia]. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 5: 137-144 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Davletbakov, A. T.; L. A. Kustareva, D. A. Milko, A. N. Ostastshenko, S. S. Sagymbaev, S. A. Toropov, N. V. Trotchenko 2015. Genetical Fund Cadastre of Kyrgyz Republic. Vol. IV. Phylum Chordata (chordates). Bishkek, 128 p. + XXXVI color tables - get paper here
  • Dieckmann, M. & Weyers, A. 2006. Keeping and breeding the Chinese Rat Snake, Elaphe dione. Reptilia (GB) (47): 70-77 - get paper here
  • Diekmann, M. & Weyers, A. 2006. Haltung und Nachzucht der chinesischen Dione-Natter (Elaphe dione). Reptilia (Münster) 11 (58): 64-71 - get paper here
  • Dorward, Leejiah D 2014. Predation of Elaphe dione (Pallas, 1773) by Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) (Squamata: Colubridae). Herpetology Notes 7: 165-166 - get paper here
  • Dujsebayeva, T. N. (ed.) 2010. Short review of last changes in the checklist of amphibians and reptiles of Kazakhstan. [in Russian]. In: Dujsebayeva, T. N. (ed.) Herpetological Researches in Kazakhstan and adjacent countries, p. 37-52
  • Duméril, A.M.C., G. BIBRON & A.H.A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 7 (partie 1). Paris, xvi + 780 S. - get paper here
  • Dunaev E.A., Orlova V.F. 2003. Diversity of snakes (on the materials of the exposition of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University). Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 376 pp
  • Dunaev E.A., Orlova V.F. 2017. Amphibians and reptiles of Russia. Atlas and determination. 2nd. ed. Moscow: Phyton XXI, 328 p
  • Eichwald, E. 1831. Zoologia specialis, quam expositis animalibus tum vivis, tum fossilibus potissimuni rossiae in universum, et poloniae in specie, in usum lectionum publicarum in Universitate Caesarea Vilnensi. Zawadski, Vilnae. - get paper here
  • Eichwald, E. 1841. Fauna Casp.-Caucas.
  • Emelyanov A.A. 1928. Instructions for collecting amphibians and reptiles. [in Russian] Works of a circle of young local lore at the Vladivostok department of the State Geographical Society. Vladivostok. (2): 3-10
  • Engelmann, W.E. et al. 1993. Lurche und Kriechtiere Europas. Neumann Verlag (Radebeul, Germany), 440 pp.
  • Eplanova G.V., Klenina A.A. 2013. To the method of reptile egg incubation. Current Studies in Herpetology 13 (3/4): 160–163. Резюме - get paper here
  • Fitzinger, L. 1826. Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften nebst einer Verwandschafts-Tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. Zoologischen Museums zu Wien. J. G. Heubner, Wien, 66 pp. - get paper here
  • Garzoni, Jean and Philippe Geniez 2004. Elaphe dione (Pallas, 1773), a snake taxon new to the Turkish herpetofauna. Herpetozoa 16 (3/4):174-175 - get paper here
  • Geniez, Philippe 2018. Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Princeton University Press, 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Gillissen, Freek 2002. Remarks on Dione's Rat Snake (Elaphe dione, Pallas 1773) Podarcis 3 (1): 17-20 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Evolutionsbiologische Betrachtungen. Draco 16 (61): 38-45 - get paper here
  • Gruber, U. 2009. Die Schlangen Europas, 2. Aufl. Kosmos Naturführer, 266 pp.
  • Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1888. On a collection of reptiles from China. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 1: 165-172 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Helfenberger, Notker 2001. Phylogenetic relationship of Old World Ratsnakes based on visceral organ topography, osteology, and allozyme variation. Russ. J. Herpetol. (Suppl.): 1-56 - get paper here
  • Iankoshvili, G., & Tarkhnishvili, D. 2021. Distribution of snakes (Reptilia: Serpentes) in Georgia: Social media networks help to improve scientific knowledge. Zoology in the Middle East, 1-12 - get paper here
  • Jacobs, Jan-Cor 2005. Elaphe dione, the steppe rat snake. Litteratura Serpentium 25 (1): 6-11 - get paper here
  • Kabisch, K. & Belter, H. 1968. Das Verzehren von Amphibien und Reptilien durch Vögel. Zoologische Abhandlungen aus dem Staatlichen Museum für Tierkunde in Dresden 29: 191-227
  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • Kantz, H. 2016. Elaphe dione - eine attraktive Schlange im Terrarium. Terraria-Elaphe 2016 (3): 70-72 - get paper here
  • Kharin V E 2011. Annotated catalogue of amphibians and reptiles (Amphibia, Reptilia) of the Far-Eastern Marine Biosphere FEB RAS [in Russian]. Biodiversity and Environment of Far East Reserves, Vladivostok, DVMBGPZ DVO RAN 2011 (1): 30-48
  • Kirilyuk, V. E.; O. V. Korsun, O. G. Kurtova, V. F. Lyamkiya, V. N. Puzansky. 2012. Reptiles. Yu. A. Bazhenov. Amphibians. Red Book of the Trans-Baikal Territory. Animals. Novosibirsk: LLC "Nosvosibirsk Publishing House", 2012. 344 p
  • Klenina A. A. 2020. Differences in Features of External Morphology Traits of Young and Adult Snakes of the Family Colubridae (Reptilia) Current Studies in Herpetology 20 (3–4): 116 - get paper here
  • Klesius, Thomas 2013. Wenn die Kälte kommt – die Überwinterung von Schlangen. Draco 14 (55): 50-56 - get paper here
  • Kotenko, T. 2006. Reptiles in the Red Data Book of Ukraine: a new species list, status categories, and problems arising from conservation legislation. Herpetologica Bonnensis II: 55-59 - get paper here
  • Lambert, M.R.K. 2002. Preliminary observations on herpetofaunal diversity in the Almaty region, Southern Kazakhstan (September 1998). Herpetological Bulletin (79): 7-13 - get paper here
  • Latreille,P.A. 1801. XXII Genre. Hétérodon, Heterodon. In: Sonnini and Latreille, Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles avec figures dessinées d’après nature, Vol. 4: 32-37. Chez Deterville, Paris. - get paper here
  • Lenk, P.; Joger, U. & Wink, M. 2001. Phylogenetic relationships among European ratsnakes of the genus Elaphe Fitzinger based on mitochondrial DNA sequence comparisons. Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (3): 329-339 - get paper here
  • Macey, J. Robert;Papenfuss, Theodore J.;Zhao, Ermi 1988. The snakes of Ningxia Hui autonomous region as an indication of a herpetofaunal corridor. Chinese Herpetological Research 2 (1): 4-5
  • Mattison, Chris 1997. Four small Eurasian rat snakes. Reptiles 5 (3): 24-29
  • Mocquard, M.F. 1910. Voyage de M. le D Louis Vaillant dans l'Asie centrale ( Mission Pelliot) Reptiles et batrachiens. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris 3: 145-153 - get paper here
  • Müller, F. 1895. Siebenter Nachtrag zum Katalog der herpetologischen Sammlung des Basler Museums. Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel 10: 195-215 [1892] - get paper here
  • Obst, F.J. & Scerbak,N.N. [= Szczerbak] 1993. Elaphe dione - Steppennatter. In: Böhme,W. (ed.), Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas, Band 3/I., Schlangen (Serpentes) I. Aula-Verlag Wiesbaden, pp. 295-316
  • Paik, Nam-Keuk;Yang, Suh-Yung 1987. Genetic variation in natural populations of the cat-snake (Elaphe dione). Korean Journal of Zoology 30 (3): 211-218
  • Pallas,P.S. 1773. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reiches, vol. 2. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss., St. Petersburg, 744pp. - get paper here
  • Park D, Kim I-H, Park I-K, Grajal-Puche A, Park J 2022. A comparison of gene organisations and phylogenetic relationships of all 22 squamate species listed in South Korea using complete mitochondrial DNA. ZooKeys 1129: 21-35 - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1861. On the Asiatic snake called Taphrometopon lineolatum by Professor Brandt. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 7: 481-484 - get paper here
  • Qi, S., Shi, J. S., Ma, Y. B., Gao, Y. F., Bu, S. H., Grismer, L. L., Li, P.P. & Wang, Y. Y. 2021. A sheep in wolf's clothing: Elaphe xiphodonta sp. nov.(Squamata, Colubridae) and its possible mimicry to Protobothrops jerdonii. ZooKeys 1048: 23-47 - get paper here
  • Rajabizadeh, M. 2018. Snakes of Iran. [in Farsi] Tehran: Iranshenasi, 496 pp. [2017 ?] - get paper here
  • RASTEGAR-POUYANI, NASRULLAH; HAJI GHOLI KAMI, MEHDI RAJABZADEH, SOHEILA SHAFIEI AND STEVEN CLEMENT ANDERSON 2008. Annotated Checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 4 (1): 7-30
  • Rathke, M.H. 1837. Mém. Sav. Étrang. Acad. St. Pétersbourg 3: 433
  • Schneeweiss, N. 1989. Herpetologische Beobachtungen in der Ussuri-Taiga, Ferner Osten - UdSSR. Salamandra 25 (3-4): 191-202 - get paper here
  • Schulz, K. D. 1996. Eine Monographie der Schlangengattung Elaphe Fitzinger. Bushmaster, Berg (CH): 1-460
  • Schulz, K.-D. 1986. Die hinterasiatischen Kletternattern der Gattung Elaphe, Teil 4 Elaphe dione (PALLAS, 1773). Sauria 8 (1): 27-30 - get paper here
  • Schulz, Klaus Dieter 1989. Die hinterasiatischen Kletternattern der Gattung Elaphe. Teil 4: Elaphe dione (Pallas, 1773). Litteratura Serpentium 9 (3): 135-136 - get paper here
  • Schulz, Klaus-Dieter 1996. A monograph of the colubrid snakes of the genus Elaphe Fitzinger. Koeltz Scientific Books, 439 pp.
  • Seung Hoon, Cha 2012. Snake, the world most beautifull curve [in Korean]. Hownext, 304 pp. [ISBN 978-89-965656-7-3] - get paper here
  • Shannon, F.A. 1956. The reptiles and amphibians of Korea. Herpetologica 12 (1): 22-49 - get paper here
  • Simonov, Evgeniy; Artem Lisachov, Natalia Oreshkova, Konstantin Krutovsky 2018. The mitogenome of Elaphe bimaculata (Reptilia: Colubridae) has never been published: a case with the complete mitochondrial genome of E. dione. Acta Herpetologica 13 (2): 185-189 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, R.; Alberto Venchi & Cristina Grieco 2013. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an Update to Volume 1. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 543 pp. - get paper here
  • Stejneger, LEONHARD H. 1907. Herpetology of Japan and adjacent territory. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 58: xx, 1-577 - get paper here
  • Stone, Witmer 1899. A small collection of batrachians and reptiles from eastern Mongolia. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1899: 183-184 - get paper here
  • Szyndlar, Z. 1984. A description of a small collection of amphibians and reptiles from the People's Democratic Republic of Korea, with notes on the distribution of the herpetofauna in that country. Acta Zool. Cracov. 27 (1): 3-18
  • Treu, Bruno 2008. Amurnattern Elaphe schrenckii & Elaphe anomala. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 64 pp. - get paper here
  • Treu, Bruno 2012. Die Steppennatter Elaphe dione. Natur und Tier Verlag, 64 pp. [review in Reptilia 97: 86 (2012)] - get paper here
  • Tuniyev, B.S.; N.L. Orlov, N.B. Ananjeva and A.L. Aghasyan 2019. Snakes of the Caucasus: taxonomic diversity, distribution, conservation. St. Petersburg, Moscow. KMK Scientific Press. 2019. 276 pp. - get paper here
  • Utiger, Urs, Notker Helfenberger, Beat Schätti, Catherine Schmidt, Markus Ruf and Vincent Ziswiler 2002. Molecular systematics and phylogeny of Old World and New World ratsnakes, Elaphe Auct., and related genera (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 9 (2): 105-124. - get paper here
  • Vedmederya, Valeriy; Oleksandr Zinenko, and Andrei Barabanov 2009. An Annotated Type Catalogue of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Museum of Nature at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Kharkiv, Ukraine). Russ. J. Herpetol. 16 (3): 203-212 - get paper here
  • Venchi, Alberto and Roberto Sindaco 2006. Annotated checklist of the reptiles of the Mediterranean countries, with keys to species identification. Part 2 -Snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "G. Doria", Genova, XCVIII: 259-364
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wang, Kai; Jinlong Ren, Hongman Chen, Zhitong Lyu, Xianguang Guo Ke Jiang, Jinmin Chen, Jiatang Li, Peng Guo, Yingyong Wang, Jing Che 2020. The updated checklists of amphibians and reptiles of China. Biodiversity Science 28 (2): 189-218 - get paper here
  • YU, XIN; NICHOLAS C. WU, LUYUAN GE, LIANSHAN LI, ZHENGWANG ZHANG & JUAN LEI. 2022. Artificial shelters provide suitable thermal habitat for a cold-blooded animal. Scientific Reports 12(1): 5879. - get paper here
  • Zhao, E.M. 2006. The snakes of China [in Chinese]. Hefei, China, Anhui Sience & Technology Publ. House, Vol. I, 372 pp., Vol. II (color plates), 280 pp.
  • Zhao,E. & Adler,K. 1993. Herpetology of China. SSAR, Oxford/Ohio, 1-522
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Elaphe&species=dione

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator