The short racer (''Platyceps brevis''), is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of snake in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ev ...
. The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to northeastern
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Geographic range
''P. brevis'' is found in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
,
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...
, and
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
.
[. www.reptile-database.org.]
Subspecies
Two
subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the
nominotypical subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...
.
[
*'' Platyceps brevis brevis''
*'' Playceps brevis smithi''
'']Nota bene
(, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well".
It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature
and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atte ...
'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
other than ''Platyceps''.
Reproduction
''P. brevis'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...
.[
]
Etymology
The subspecific name
In zoological nomenclature, a subspecific name is the third part of a trinomen. In zoology there is only one rank below that of species, namely " subspecies".
In botanical nomenclature, there are several levels of subspecific names, such as ''v ...
, ''smithi'', is in honor of American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, ...
physician Arthur Donaldson Smith
Arthur Donaldson Smith (1866–1939) was an American physician, hunter, and explorer of Africa. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph (now Lake Turkana), passing through what was then Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Keny ...
.[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Coluber smithi'', p. 247).]
References
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.
Reptiles described in 1895
Reptiles of Africa
Platyceps
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