Animalia > Chordata > Squamata > Colubridae > Zamenis > Zamenis longissimus

Zamenis longissimus (Aesculapean Snake)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The Aesculapian snake (now Zamenis longissimus, previously Elaphe longissima), is a species of nonvenomous snake native to Europe, a member of the Colubrinae subfamily of the family Colubridae. Growing up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) in total length (including tail), it counts among the largest European snakes, though not as massive as the four-lined snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata) or the Montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus). The Aesculapian snake has been of cultural and historical significance for its role in ancient Greek and Roman mythology and derived symbolism.
View Wikipedia Record: Zamenis longissimus

Infraspecies

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  302 grams
Gestation [1]  54 days
Litter Size [1]  12
Litters / Year [1]  1
Maximum Longevity [1]  4 years
Snout to Vent Length [1]  39 inches (100 cm)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (207)

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Caucasus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Turkey No
Irano-Anatolian Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan No
Mediterranean Basin Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Kalicephalus viperae[3]
Mesocestoides lineatus[3]
Physocephalus sexalatus[3]
Rhabdias elaphe[3]
Rhabdias fuscovenosa[3]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
2Food habits of Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768) (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) in Bieszczady (south-eastern Poland), BARTŁOMIEJ NAJBAR, Vertebrate Zoology 57 (1) 2007, 73-77
3Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0