Large Whip Snake
Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789)
Also calledBalkan-Springnatter (deu) · Cobra-chicote-do-Cáspio (por) · Colubro azzannatore (ita) · Couleuvre de la Caspienne (fra) · Culebra látigo del Caspio (spa) · Hazar Yılanı (tur) · Hazer Yılanı (tur) · Kaspische Pfeilnatter (deu) · Kaspische Pijlslang (nld) · Kaspische Springnatter (deu) · Kaspische Toornslang (nld) · Kaspische Zornnatter (deu) · Kaspisk pilsnog (dan) · Kaszpi haragossikló (hun)
First described in: Gmelin, J. F. Caroli a Linné Systema naturae. 13. ed., Tom 1 Pars 3.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin 1789)
40. Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) Coluber caspius Gmelin, 1789 Zamenis gemonensis var. caspius: Nikolskii (1913: 136) Coluber jugularis caspius: Terentyev and Chernov (1940: 136), et auct. Taxonomic sources followed. Nagy et al. (2004), Bánki et al. (2026), Speybroeck et al. (2020), Tuniyev and Ananjeva (2024), Uetz et al. (2025). Records in Georgia. Nikolskii (1913), Bannikov et al. (1977). Taxonomic remark. Candidate species. This snake belongs to the eastern species group of a large superspecies D. jugularis (Nagy et al. 2010) . Formerly considered to be a geographic subspecies of D. jugularis . However, it is isolated geographically from the nominal form of D. jugularis . Reported mitochondrial differentiation from the geographically distant population of D. schmidti (cytochrome b) is ~ 6–7 %. Yet, populations of these taxa may approach or contact in the western Caspian area, and population-level studies are needed to validate their separate species status.
An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia with DNA Barcoding Data and Taxonomic Remarks
Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin 1789)
Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) Number of records. 171 (18% of the data). Number of grid cells. 54 (18.3% of the entire grid; Table 1; Figs 6, 9D). Comments. This is the most common snake with a high number of observations per grid cell (Table 1). This species is known throughout the Mykolaiv Oblast (Dotsenko and Radchenko 2005; Tarashchuk 2007; Bilyakov and Tarashchyuk 2008; Nekrasova 2013; Sillero et al. 2014; Marushchak et al. 2018; Redinov 2018; Mykytynets et al. 2019; Nekrasova et al. 2019; Voblenko et al. 2019). We found multiple individuals within the Southern Bug eco-corridor in the steppe zone and a single one near the village of Snihurivka. Most records were from Buzk’s Gard National Nature Park (Fig. 10D). The known distribution for this species shows a broad occurrence throughout the oblast, albeit with significant gaps, most likely due to lack of sampling. We found this species more often than other snakes in this oblast.
The first comprehensive data on the distribution of reptiles within the Southern Bug eco-corridor, Ukraine
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From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2457224.