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Hemorrhois nummifer (REUSS, 1834)

IUCN Red List - Hemorrhois nummifer - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Asian Racer, Coin-Marked Snake
G: Münzennatter 
SynonymColuber tyria LINNAEUS 1758
Coluber nummifer REUSS 1834: 135
Periops neglectus JAN 1863 (fide BOULENGER 1893: 407)
Zamenis Ravergieri — BOULENGER 1887: 345
Zamenis nummifer — BOULENGER 1893: 407
Zamenis nummifer — VENZMER 1919: 115
Zamenis ater — VENZMER 1919: 117
Zamenis ravergieri — PROCTER 1921
Coluber ravergieri CORKILL 1932
Coluber nummifer Pallaryi ANGEL1936: 114
Elaphe nummifera — SCHMIDT 1939
Elaphe ravergieri — SCHMIDT 1939
Coluber tyria — CHERNOV 1959: 150
Haemorrhois ravergieri ravergieri — WELCH 1983
Zamenis fedtschenkoi STRAUCH 1873
Zamenis glazunowi NIKOLSKY 1896
Coluber ravergieri plumbeus CHERNOV 1926 (fide VENCHI & SINDACO 2006)
Coluber ravergieri — WERNER 1936
Coluber ravergieri nummifer — WERNER & FRANKENBERG 1982
Coluber ravergieri nummifer — SCHNEIDER 1983
Coluber venzmeri (fide SCHÄTTI, pers. comm.)
Coluber nummifer — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Coluber nummifer — SZCZERBAK 2003
Hemorrhois nummifer — NAGY et al. 2004
Hemorrhois nummifera — WALLACH et al. 2014: 328
Hemorrhois nummifer — MEIRI et al. 2019
Haemorrhois nummifer — GENIEZ 2018 (in error) 
DistributionGreece (Aegean Islands, e.g. Kalymnos, Kos, Lipsi), Cyprus, Turkey, Soviet Union (Caucasus),
Israel, Palestine (West Bank), Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, NE Egypt (Sinai), N Iraq, NE Iran,
Asia Minor, Armenia, E Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan

Type locality: Egypt

pallaryi: Syria; Type locality: Hama ("au sud d'Alep, sur les deux rives de l'Oronte"), [= Hamah, Syria]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: SMF 18236 (formerly 7407a)
Holotype: MNHN 1935.359 [Pallaryi] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2175 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSimilar species: H. ravergieri (and sometimes synonymized with this species).

Synonymy partly after KHALIKOV & ANANJEVA (pers. comm.). A E. quatuorlineata reported from the Island of Kos turned out to be C. ravergieri nummifer (LOTZE 1977).

Nomenclature: Schätti & Tillack (2010) proposed to conserve the species name nummifer which is threatened by its putative senior synonym Coluber tyria Linnaeus, 1758, which after 1899 has been applied to Coluber cliffordii Schlegel, 1837, a taxon considered conspecific with the Saharo-Sindian Coluber diadema Schlegel, 1837 belonging to Spalerosophis Jan, 1865 (Spalerosophis diadema ssp.).

Distribution: not in Iraq fide Habeeb & Rastegar-Pouyani 2016. For maps see Sindaco et al. 2013, Bar et al. 2021, Şahin 2025 (Fig. 1).

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyThe specific epithet is derived from the Latin word nummus, meaning "coin or piece of money," and the suffix -fer, meaning "bear," probably in reference to the shape of the dorsal blotches. 
References
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