Short racer explained

The short racer (Platyceps brevis), is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to northeastern Africa.

Geographic range

P. brevis is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania.^[1]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.^[1]

• Platyceps brevis brevis
• Playceps brevis smithi

Nota bene

A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Platyceps.

Reproduction

P. brevis is oviparous.^[1]

Etymology

The subspecific name, smithi, is in honor of American physician Arthur Donaldson Smith.^[2]

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1895). "Rettili e Batraci ". In: "Esplorazione del Giuba e dei suoi affluenti compiuta dal Cap. V. Bottego durante gli anni 1892-93 sotto gli auspicii della Società Geografica Italiana, risultati zoologici ". Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2, 15: frontispiece map + xviii + 558 pp. + Plates I-V. (Zamenis brevis, new species, pp. 13–14 + Plate III, figures 3, 3a, 3b). (title in Italian, text in English).
• Boulenger GA (1895). "An Account of the Reptiles and Batrachians collected by Dr. A. Donaldson Smith in Western Somali-land and the Galla Country". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1895: 530-540 + Plates XXIX-XXX. (Zamenis smithi, new species, pp. 536–537 + Plate XXX, figures 2, 2a).
• Schätti B, Charvet C (2003). "Systematics of Platyceps brevis (Boulenger 1895) and related East African racers (Serpentes Colubrinae)". Tropical Zoology 16: 93–111.

Notes and References

1. . www.reptile-database.org.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Coluber smithi, p. 247).