Zamenis

Zamenis
Z. longissimus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Zamenis Wagler, 1830

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

Species

The following five species are recognized as valid:^[1]

• Zamenis hohenackeri (Strauch, 1873) - Transcaucasian ratsnake
• Zamenis lineatus (Camerano, 1891) - Italian Aesculapian snake
• Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768) - Aesculapian snake
• Zamenis persicus (F. Werner, 1913) - Persian ratsnake
• Zamenis situla (Linnaeus, 1758) - European ratsnake

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Zamenis.

Etymology

The specific name, hohenackeri, is in honor of Rudolph Friedrich Hohenacker, who was a Swiss missionary, physician, and naturalist.^[2]

References

1. "Zamenis ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
2. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Zamenis hohenackeri, p. 125).

Further reading

• Wagler J. 1830. Natürliches System der AMPHIBIEN, mit vorangehender Classification der SÄUGTHIERE und VÖGEL. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. Munich, Stuttgart and Tübingen: J.G. Cotta. vi + 354 pp. + one plate. (Zamenis, new genus, p. 188).