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Platyceps variabilis (BOULENGER, 1905)

IUCN Red List - Platyceps variabilis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPlatyceps variabilis manseri (LEVITON 1986)
Platyceps variabilis variabilis (BOULENGER 1905) 
Common NamesE: Variable Snake 
SynonymZamenis variabilis BOULENGER 1905: 178
Coluber variabilis — SCORTECCI 1932: 43
Coluber variabilis — SCHÄTTI & WILSON 1986
Coluber variabilis — GASPERETTI 1988: 224
Platyceps variabilis — SCHÄTTI & CHARVET 2003
Platyceps variabilis — EGAN 2007: 78
Haemorrhois variabilis
Platyceps variabilis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 568

Platyceps variabilis manseri (LEVITON 1986)
Coluber manseri LEVITON 1986
Coluber manseri — GASPERETTI 1988: 228
Coluber variabilis manseri — SCHÄTTI & GASPERETTI 1994: 385
Platyceps variabilis manseri — SINDACO et al. 2013
Platyceps manseri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 565 
DistributionSaudi Arabia, SW Yemen

Type locality: El Kubar (5 males and 6 females), Schaf Ravine (1 male and 1 female)

manseri: Saudi Arabia; Type locality: Hakimah  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes (n=10 to 13): MCZ R-28468; BMNH 1946.1.14.70 (formerly BMNH 1903.1.28.12), a female, (collected by G.W. Bury, 1900–1903), designated as lectotype by Gasperetti (1988: 409).
Holotype: CAS 140514 [manseri] 
Diagnosis 
CommentDistribution: Not in Oman (Carranza et al. 2018). For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013 (who showed one locality at the extreme SW tip of Oman). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin (variō "change, alter" +‎ -bilis "added to a verb to form an adjective noun of relationship to that verb") for "changeable". This presumably refers to the wide range of coloration seen in the species ["... exhibit a surprising amount of colour variation" (Boulenger 1905). 
References
  • Al Hadi Aloufi, Abdul; Mohammad Abu Baker, Zuhair Amr 2020. First record of the Variable Racer, Platyceps variabilis (Boulenger, 1905) for Saudi Arabia. Herpetology Notes 13: 973-975 - get paper here
  • Alshammari, A. M. and Busais, S. M. 2020. Distribution of snakes in Ha’il Province, Saudi Arabia, with an identification key to the species. Russian Journal of Herpetology 27 (1): 5-10. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1905. Descriptions of three new snakes discovered in South Arabia by Mr. G.W. Bury. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) xvi: 178-180 - get paper here
  • Carranza S, Xipell M, Tarroso P, Gardner A, Arnold EN, Robinson MD, et al. 2018. Diversity, distribution and conservation of the terrestrial reptiles of Oman (Sauropsida, Squamata). PLoS One 13 (2): e0190389 - get paper here
  • Corkill, N. L. and Cochrane, J. A. 1966. The snakes of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 62 (3): 475-506 (1965) - get paper here
  • Egan, D. 2007. Snakes of Arabia. Motivate Publishing, Dubai, 208 pp.
  • Gasperetti,J. 1988. Snakes of Arabia. Fauna of Saudi Arabia 9: 169-450
  • Grossmann, W., Kowalski, T., Zwanzig, B. M., Zilger, H. J. and Gebhart, J. 2020. Herpetological observations in Oman: Al Mughsayl and Wadi Ashawq in Dhofar, Part 1. Amphibia: Anura; Reptilia: Squamata: Sauria. Sauria 42 (1): 1-20.
  • Leviton A E 1986. Description of a new species of Coluber (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) from the southern Tihama of Saudi Arabia, with comments on the biogeography of southwestern Arabia. Fauna of Saudi Arabia 8 : 436-446 - get paper here
  • Schätti B; Wilson L D 1986. Coluber Linnaeus. Holarctic racers. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 399: 1-4 - get paper here
  • Scortecci, G. 1932. Rettili dello Yemen. Atti soc. Ital. Sci.Nat. 71: 39-49 - 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
  • Šmíd, Jiří; 2010. New remarkable snake records from Oman. Herpetology Notes 3: 329-332
 
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