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Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887

IUCN Red List - Walterinnesia aegyptia - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Desert Cobra
G: Schwarze Wüsten-Kobra 
SynonymWalterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE 1887
Walterinnesia aegypti [sic] — HAAS 1957
Walterinnesia aegyptia — WELCH 1994: 123
Walterinnesia aegyptia — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006
Walterinnesia aegyptia — WALLACH et al. 2014: 793
Walterinnesia aegyptia — BAR et al. 2021 
DistributionS Israel, NW Saudi Arabia, W Jordan, Egypt (Sinai), Iraq,
Lebanon ?

Type locality: Cairo (purchased there)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.21.42 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Same as genus; ventrals 180-200; subcaudals 40-53, anteriormost shields (1-13) single, others divided. (Leviton et al. 1992) 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: not in Syria fide MARTENS 1997. For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013 and Bar et al. 2021.

Venom toxins of this species are similar to those of Ophiophagus hannah, implicating a close phylogenetic relationship.

Synonymy: Naja morgani MOCQUARD 1905 has been removed from the synonymy of W. aegyptia and revalidated as a valid species, W. morgani.

Type species: Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE 1887 is the type species of the genus Walterinnesia LATASTE 1887. 
EtymologyNamed after its distribution in Egypt. 
References
  • Al-Quran, S. 2009. The Herpetofauna of the Southern Jordan. American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 6 (4): 385-391 [this journal has a dubious record, see http://goo.gl/81SBPv]
  • Aloufi, Abdulhadi A.; Zuhair S. Amr, Mohammad A. Abu Baker 2021. Reptiles and Amphibians of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah Province, Saudi Arabia. Russian Journal of Herpetology 28 (3): 1 - get paper here
  • Alshammari, A. M. 2022. Four New Records of Snake Species in Ar'ar Region, Northern Border of Saudi Arabia. Jordan Journal of Natural History, 9(1), 41-48 - 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
  • Alshammari, Ahmed M. and Adel A. Ibrahim 2015. Lizards and Snakes in the Historical Faid Protected Area (Faid Hema), Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia. Herp. Cons. Biol. 10 (3) - get paper here
  • ALSHAMMARI, AHMED M. AND ADEL A. IBRAHIM 2015. LIZARDS AND SNAKES IN THE HISTORICAL FAID PROTECTED AREA (FAID HEMA), HA'IL REGION, SAUDI ARABIA. Herp. Cons. Biol. 10 (3):1021–1029 - get paper here
  • Alshammari, Ahmed Mohajja; Salem M. Busais, Abdel A. Ibrahim 2017. Snakes in the Province of Ha’il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including two new records. Herpetozoa 30 (1/2): 59 - 63 - get paper here
  • Anderson, S.C. 1963. Amphibians and Reptiles from Iran. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. Ser. 4, 31(16): 417-498 - get paper here
  • Arıkan, H., Göçmen, B., Kumlutaş, Y., Alpagut-Keskin, N., Ilgaz, Ç & Yıldız, M.Z. 2008. Electrophoretic characterisation of the venom samples obtained from various Anatolian snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae, Viperidae, Elapidae). North-Western Journal of Zoology 4 (1): 16-28 - get paper here
  • Bar, A., Haimovitch, G. and Meiri, S. 2021. Field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of Israel. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main. ISBN 9783-89973-120-0 - get paper here
  • Bar, Aviad and Guy Haimovitch 2012. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel. Pazbar LTD, 246 pp. - get paper here
  • BARAN, I. & KUMLUTAS, Y. & AVCI, A. & ILGAZ, Ç. 2006. Second record of Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887 from southeastern Anatolia [Short Note]. Herpetozoa 19 (1/2): 87-90 - get paper here
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  • Esterbauer, H. 2005. Die Schwarze Wüstenkobra - ökologische und verhaltensbiologische Beobachtungen an Walterinnesia aegyptia. Reptilia (Münster) 10 (55): 63-65 - get paper here
  • Gasperetti, J. 1976. Walterinnesia aegyptia Lataste. A rare black snake. Saudi Arabian Natur. Hist. Soc., Jiddah, J. no. 16: 2-8.
  • Gruber, U. 2009. Die Schlangen Europas, 2. Aufl. Kosmos Naturführer, 266 pp.
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  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • Lataste, F. 1887. Description d’un nouveau genre et d’une nouvelle espéce d’ophidien protéroglyphe. Le Naturaliste 1887: 411-413 - get paper here
  • Leviton,A.E.; Anderson,S.C.; Adler, K.; Minton,S.A. 1992. Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles. SSAR, Oxford, Ohio (Contr. to Herpetol. No. 8), 1-252
  • Martens, Harald 1997. A review of "Zoogeography of amphibians and reptiles of Syria, with additional new records" (Herpetozoa 9(1/2), 1996). Herpetozoa 10 (3/4): 99-106 - get paper here
  • Marx,Hymen 1953. The elapid genus of snakes Walterinnesia. Fieldiana: Zoology 34: 189-196 - get paper here
  • Meiri, Shai; Amos Belmaker, Daniel Berkowic, Kesem Kazes, Erez Maza, Guy Bar-Oz and Roi Dor 2019. A checklist of Israeli land vertebrates. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution - get paper here
  • Nilson, Göran and Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani. 2007. Walterinnesia aegyptia Lataste, 1887 (Ophidia: Elapidae) and the status of Naga morgani Mocquard 1905. Russ. J. Herpetol. 14 (1):7-14 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pola, L., Hejduk, V., Winkelhöfer, T., Zíka, A., Baker, M. A. A., & Amr, Z. S. 2020. Recent Observations on Amphibians and Reptiles in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jordan Journal of Natural History, 7: 11-29 - get paper here
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  • 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
  • Sindaco, R.; Serra, G. & Menegon, M. 2006. New data on the Syrian herpetofauna with a newly-recorded species of snake. Zoology of the Middle-East 37: 29-38 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, Roberto; Riccardo Nincheri, Benedetto Lanza 2014. Catalogue of Arabian reptiles in the collections of the “La Specola” Museum, Florence. Scripta Herpetologica. Studies on Amphibians and Reptiles in honour of Benedetto Lanza: pp. 137-164 - get paper here
  • Tsai, H.Y.; Wang, Y.M.; Tsai, I.H. 2008. Cloning, characterization and phylogenetic analyses of members of three major venom families from a single specimen of Walterinnesia aegyptia. Toxicon 51(7):1245-1254 - get paper here
  • Ugurtas, Ismail H., Theodore J. Papenfuss and Nicolai L. Orlov. 2001. New record of Walterinnesia aegyptia Lataste, 1887 (Ophidia: Elapidae: Bungarinae) in Turkey. Russ. J. Herpetol. 8 (3): 239-245 - get paper here
  • VAN ISSEM, P 2011. Haltung und Nachzucht der Schwarzen Wüstenkobra Walterinnesia aegyptia LATASTE, 1887. Sauria 33 (4): 57-70 - 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
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