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Dice Snake
Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768)
Also calledCobra-dado (por) · Couleuvre tessellée (fra) · Couleuvre tessellée (La) (fra) · Couleuvre tesselée (fra) · Culebra de dados (spa) · Damalı su yılanı (tur) · Dambordslang (nld) · Dobbelsteenslang (nld) · Kobranka (slv) · Mori Obi (tgk) · Natrice tessellata (ita) · Rudesnog (dan) · Sarpe de apa (ron) · Serpiente de Dados (spa)
First described in: Laurenti, J. N. Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austracorum, quod authoritate et consensu.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
Natrix tessellata (Laurenti 1768)
33. Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768) Coronella tessellata Laurenti, 1768 Tropidonotus tessellatus: Nikolskii (1913: 130) Natrix tessellata tessellata: Muskhelishvili (1970: 135) Taxonomic sources followed. Merrem (1820), Bánki et al. (2026), Speybroeck et al. (2020), Tuniyev and Ananjeva (2024), Uetz et al. (2025). Records in Georgia. Nikolskii (1913), Muskhelishvili (1970), Bannikov et al. (1977), Iankoshvili and Tarkhnishvili (2021). Taxonomic remark. Biologically confirmed species. Genetically, dice snakes from eastern and southern Georgia belong to the “ Caspian lineage ” closer to the Central Asian than to the Anatolian populations (Jablonski et al. 2024). Genetic affinities of the snakes from the west of the country remain unknown. Barcoded individuals. CaBOL -ID 1027402 (BOLD: AEO 3649; Akhalkalaki). The closest sequences in BOLD Systems: N. natrix with a private status (Unknown location; similarity 99.08 %). Second-best match: N. tessellata with a private status (Tajikistan; similarity 98.92 %). NCBI: N. tessellata (NCBI JN 871607; Ukraine; similarity 99.84 %). Next closest taxon: N. helvetica (NCBI MN 993168; Austria; similarity 89.06 %).
An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia with DNA Barcoding Data and Taxonomic Remarks
materials_examined
1 ex.; Georgia, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kazbegi, Kobi, lat: 42.55, long: 44.50, elev: 1970; 2018 - 04 - 19; (table Reptiles in the project region (Lot 1) • 1 ex.; Georgia, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kazbegi, Kobi, lat: 42.55, long: 44.50, elev: 1970; 2018 - 05 - 08; (table Reptiles in the project region (Lot 1).
North-South Corridor (Kvesheti-Kobi) Road Project - APPENDIX Y OTHER ECOLOGICAL SURVEYS
discussion
The Dice Snake is reported for Lefkada by several authors (De Betta, 1868: 927; Lehrs, 1912: 449; Broggi, 1994: 32; Schmid, 2019: 76). We did not find any individual during our survey, nor citizen science records.
Annotated checklist of the herpetofauna (Amphibia, Reptilia) of Lefkada Island (Ionian Islands, Greece)
distribution
Distribution in Afghanistan. The species is known from the Provinces of Badakhshan, Balkh, Bamiyan, Faryab, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabul, Kunduz (Wagner et al. 2016) and Takhar, representing 26 % of all provinces.
The herpetofaunal diversity of Takhar Province, Afghanistan
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Natrix tessellata in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 6161327.