Eirenis Explained

Eirenis is a genus of Old World snakes in the family Colubridae.

Species

The genus Eirenis contains the following 23 described species:^[1]

• Eirenis africanus - African dwarf snake
• Eirenis aurolineatus
• Eirenis barani, 1988 – Baran's dwarf racer
• Eirenis collaris – collared dwarf racer
• Eirenis coronella – crowned dwarf racer
• Eirenis coronelloides - Sinai dwarf racer
• Eirenis decemlineatus - narrow-striped dwarf snake
• Eirenis eiselti – Eiselt's dwarf racer
• Eirenis hakkariensis
• Eirenis kermanensis
• Eirenis levantinus
• Eirenis lineomaculatus
• Eirenis medus
• Eirenis modestus – Asia Minor dwarf racer
• Eirenis nigrofasciatus
• Eirenis occidentalis
• Eirenis persicus - dark-headed dwarf racer
• Eirenis punctatolineatus – dotted dwarf racer
• Eirenis rafsanjanicus
• Eirenis rechingeri
• Eirenis rothii – Roth's dwarf racer
• Eirenis thospitis
• Eirenis yassujicus

Nota bene

A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Eirenis.

Distribution

Some of the species within this genus have a narrow geographic distribution; for example, Eirenis mcmahoni occurs only within a single ecoregion along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, which region is known as the Registan-North Pakistan sandy desert.^[2]

Further reading

• Jan G. 1862. "Enumerazione sistematica degli ofidi appartenenti al gruppo Calamaridae ". Archivo per la Zoologia l'Anatomia e la Fisiologia (Genoa) 2: 213–330. (Eirenis, new genus, p. 256). (in Italian).
• Nagy ZT, Schmidtler JF, Joger U, Wink M. 2003. "Systematik der Zwergnattern (Reptilia: Colubridae: Eirenis) und verwandter Gruppen anhand von DNA-Sequenzen und morphologischen Daten ". Salamandra 39 (3/4): 149–168. (in German).

Notes and References

1. The TIGR Reptile Database - Genus Eirenis
2. Hogan, C. Michael; World Wildlife Fund. 2012. Registan-North Pakistan sandy desert. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Topic editor Peter Saundry.