Distribution of Snakes in Ha’il Province, Saudi Arabia, with an Identification Key to the Species

Ahmed Mohajja Alshammari, Salem Mahfoudh Busais

Abstract


This study provides the occurrence and distribution of snakes in Ha’il from previous literature and supporting fieldwork, and updates the checklist of snake fauna in the area of study. The recent study reveals 12 species of snakes belonging to five families (Boidae, Colubridae, Lamprophiidae, Elapidae, and Viperidae). However, four registers from the previous record are inaccurate, and accordingly were removed from the list of Ha’il snakes. In addition, an identification key to the snake species of Ha’il is presented.

Keywords


distribution; identification key; snakes; Ha’il; Saudi Arabia

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aloufi A. A. and Amr Z. S. (2015), «On the Herpetofauna of the Province of Tabuk, Northwest Saudi Arabia», Herpetozoa, 27(3/4), 147 – 158.

Al-Sadoon M. K. (1989), «Survey of the reptilian fauna of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I. The snake fauna of the Central Region», J. Coll. Sci. King Saud Univ., 1(1 – 2), 53 – 59.

Al-Sadoon M. K. (2010), «Survey of the reptilian fauna of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. IV. The lizards, snakes and amphisbaenian fauna of Al-Hassa Region», J. Egypt. Ger. Soc. Zool., 61B, 59 – 85.

Al-Sadoon M. K., Paray B. A., and Al-Otaibi H. (2017), «Survey of the reptilian fauna of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. VI. The snake fauna of Turaif region», Saudi J. Biol. Sci., 24, 925 – 928.

Al-Shammari A. M. (2012), «Additional Records of Lizards in Ha’il Province, Saudi Arabia», Russ. J. Herpetol., 19(4), 287 – 291.

Alshammari A. and Ibrahim A. (2015), «Lizards and snakes in the Historical Faid Protected Area. (Faid Hema), Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia», Herpetol. Conserv. Biol., 10, 1021 – 1029.

Alshammari A. M., Busais S. M., and Ibrahim A. A. (2017). «Snakes in the Province of Ha’il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including two new records», Herpetozoa, 30(1/2), 59 – 63.

Alshammari A. M., El-Abd E., Ciccozzi M., Lo Presti A., Giovanetti M., and Cella E. (2015), «Single-Gene Versus Double-Gene Tree Analyses in Molecular Classification of Saudi Venomous Snakes», Arab. J. Sci. Eng., 40, 37 – 49.

Amr Z. and Disi A. (2011), «Systematics, distribution and ecology of the snakes of Jordan», Vertebr. Zool., 61(2), 179 – 266.

Arnold E. (1987), «Zoogeography of the reptiles and amphibians of Arabia», in: F. S. Krupp. (Hrsg.), Symposium on the Fauna and Zoogeography of the Middle East, Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Mainz, pp. 245 – 256.

Biaggini M. and Corti C. (2015), «Reptile assemblages across agricultural landscapes: where does biodiversity hide?» Animal Biodiv. Conserv., 38(2), 163 – 174.

Busais S. and Al-Jumaily M. (2005), «Contribution to the Reptiles of Yemen: Distribution Study of Dangerous Snakes in Yemen», J. Aden Univ. Appl. Nat. Sci., 9(3), 515 – 524.

Corkill N. and Cochrane J. (1965), «The snakes of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra», J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 62(3), 475 – 506.

Dekinesh S. (1991), «The reptilian fauna of Ha’il district, north of Saudi Arabia», J. Egypt. German Soc. Zool., 5, 177 – 196.

Egan D. (2007), Snakes of Arabia, Motivate Publishing, Dubai.

El-Oran R., Al-Melhem W., and Amr Z. (1994), «Snakes of southern Jordan», Ital. J. Zool., 61, 359 – 367.

Gasperetti J. (1988), «Snakes of Arabia», Fauna of Suadi Arabia, 9, 169 – 450.

Joger U. (1987), «An Interpretation of Reptile Zoogeography in Arabia, with Special References to Arabian Herpetofaunal Relations with Africa», in: R. K. Kinzelbach. (Hrsg.), Proc. of the Symp. on the Fauna and Zoogeography of the Middle East, Mainz, Germany.

Leviton A. E., Anderson S. C., Adler K., and Minton S. A. (1992), Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles. Bd. VII, Contributions to herpetology, No. 8. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford, Ohio., pp. VII, 252.

Masood M. F. (2012), «Ecological distribution of snakes’ fauna of Jazan region of Saudi Arabia», Egypt. Acad. J. Biol. Sci., 4(1), 183 – 197.

Nilson G. and Rastegar-Pouyani N. (2007), «Walterinnesia aegyptia Lataste, 1887 (Ophidia: Elapidae) and the status of Naja morgani Mocquard 1905», Russ. J. Herpetol., 14(1), 7 – 14.

Schätti B. and Gasperetti J. (1994), «A Contribution to the Herpetology of Southwest Arabia», Fauna of Suadi Arabia, 14, 348 – 423.

Sharawy S. M. and Alshammari A. M. (2009), «Checklist of Poisonous Plants and Animals in Aja Mountain, Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia», Austral. J. Basic Appl. Sci., 3(3), 2217 – 2225.

Sindaco R. and Jeremčenko V. (2008), The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic: 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, Edizioni Belvedere, Laina Italy.

Sindaco R., Venchi A., and Grieco C. (2013), The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Vol. 2. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, Edizioni Belvedere, Latina, Italy.

Smith C. H. (1983), «A system of world mammal faunal regions. I. Logical and statistical derivation of the regions», J. Biogeogr., 10, 455 – 466.

Thompson A. (2000), Origins of Arabia, Stacey International, London.

Uetz P. et al. (2018), The Reptile Database, http://www.reptile-database.org (accessed on April 15, 2018).

Wallace A. R. (1876), The Geographical Distribution of Animals, with a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth’s surface, MacMillan & Co., London.

Werner Y. (1988), «Herpetofaunal survey of Israel (1950 – 85), with comments on Sinai and Jordan and on zoogeographic heterogeneity», Zoogeogr. Israel, 1988, 355 – 388.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2020-27-1-5-10

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


You can subscribe to the print or electronic version of the journal on the site of EastView Company. If you have any questions, please write to the email sales@ivis.ru