Hierophis

Yellow-green whip snake ( Hierophis viridiflavus )

The wrath of snakes of the genus Hierophis are snakes from the family of snakes, more precisely, the subfamily of land and tree snakes. The development of the genre probably started in the Miocene.

Features

The wrath of snakes of the genus Hierophis are large, agile snakes. They have round pupils, big eyes and broad head shields. They are oviparous and stöbernde Hetzjäger.

Together with the genus Dolichophis they have a typical, single scale under the eye ( Präsubokulare ) and a characteristic head drawing: The back of the head is offset by a line from the body, they also have two side spots.

The also closely related dwarf snakes ( Eirenis ) are much smaller and live hidden. Similarities in the morphology of Hemipenises as well as the appearance of the young animals. Do not have the Präsubokulare.

System

Until genetic analyzes to the contrary had shown were many larger snakes, who specializes in the hunt for more nimble prey such as lizards, placed in the genus of anger snakes ( Coluber ). After it had been shown that the species of the genus Coluber have no common ancestral form, the species of the old world, among others in the genera Dolichophis, Hierophis, Hemerophis, Hemorrhois and Platyceps been moved.

The genus Hierophis consists of four species, the Yellow Green Whip Snake ( Hierophis viridiflavus ), the Balkan whip snake ( Hierophis gemonensis ) Hierophis spinalis, and Andrew's whip snake ( Hierophis Andreanus ). Following further analysis, H. spinalis may still be moved to the genus Eirenis. The poorly understood Andrew's whip snake ( Werner, 1917) was provided by Torki in the genus Hierophis until 2010. H. viridiflavus is the type species of the genus.

The genus Hierophis includes the genus of dwarf snakes ( Eirenis ) with one, therefore is thus paraphyletic. Like many other genera in the family Colubridae is the classification of Hierophis still under discussion and subject of current research. The following diagram shows the family relationship on the basis of studies of Nagy et al. 2004, which is why Andrew's whip snake, which was not part of the genetic testing is missing.:

Dolichophis

H. gemonensis

H. viridiflavus

H. spinalis

Eirenis

Up to the genetic studies of Nagy et al. the four types Dolichophis caspius, Dolichophis cypriensis, Dolichophis vein and Dolichophis schmidti the sister genus Dolichophis were also placed in the genus Hierophis, so among other things Schaetti and Utiger 2001.

Dissemination

The snakes of the genus Hierophis are prevalent in Europe and Asia. While H. spinal lives in Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and northern China, H. and H. viridiflavus come gemonensis only in Europe and especially in southern Europe. The few Hierophis Andreanus, which are known from the literature, from Iran, the type locality is the Iranian province of Fars.