BAUER, DEBOER, & TAYLOR: ATLAS OF THE REPTILES OF LIBYA 
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IUCN Threat Status: Not assessed, but assumed to be Least Concern. 
Psammophis schokari (Forskal 1775:14) (Fig. 33) 
1775 Coluber schokari Forskal, Descriptiones animalium, avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectoram, 
vermium; quae in itinere Orientali observavit Petrus Forskal. Molleri, Hainiae [Copenhagen], xxxiv +164 pp. 
Neotype.— FMNH 66153, designated by Marx (1958a), “Hodeida ( = A1 Hudaydah), Yemen” by neo¬ 
type selection. The original description provides scale counts for two syntypes, both appertly lost, from 
“Yemen.” 
Psammophis schokari schokari , Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963:517. 
Psammophis shokari [sic], Le Berre 1989:270. 
Psammophis sibilans [part], Le Berre 1989:266. 
Psammophis schokari, Schleich, Kastle, and Kabisch 1996:515. 
Psammophis sibilans [part], Schleich, Kastle, and Kabisch 1996:515. 
Psammophis schokari, Trape and Mane 2006:152. 
Psammophis schokari, Sindaco, Venchi, and Grieco 2013:133. 
Distribution.— Widely distributed 
across North Africa from Senegal to Morocco 
and across the continent to Sinai and south to 
Ethiopia and Somalia, with scattered records 
from Mali and possibly Niger (but see Trape 
and Mane 2015). In Asia from Israel, Jordan, 
Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula to Iran, Turk¬ 
menistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north¬ 
western India. Libyan records are from across 
the entire country except Kufrah. 
Libyan Records (Map 59): Nuoat al 
Khams : 9: MCSN 4203. Jafara : 29: MCSN 
4220. Tripoli : 39: USNM 56019. 45: NHMW 
25747; Werner 1909; Ghigi 1913; Zavattari 
1934; Scortecci 1939; Loveridge 1940. 
Muroub : 60: Peters 1880, 1881; Wemer 1909; 
Gighi 1913; Zavattari 1934. 61: BMNH 
1901.10.28.9. 62: CUP R 068; Frynta et al. 
2000. Misratah : 73: SK 338; Kramer and 
Schnurrenberger 1963. 77: MCSN 4200. 80: 
NMBE 29534; MSNG 29534; Boulenger 1914; 
Zavattari 1934; Scortecci 1939; Loveridge 
1940; Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963. 84: 
MCSN 4202. Nalut : 104: BMNH 1960.1.6.3; 
Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963. Jabal al 
Gharbi : 131: SK 2445; Kramer and Schnur¬ 
renberger 1963. 141: MCSN 4199. 148: SK 
198, 330; Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963. 
149: SK 237; Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963. 154: FMNH 82956. Sirte : 174: MSNM [no spe¬ 
cific number given]; Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963. 85: MCSN 4201. “Bir Milrha to Giofra”: 
Loveridge 1940. “Tripolitania settentrionale”: Zavattari 1937. FEZZAN: Wadi al Shatii : 211: 
Figure 33. Psammophis schokari from Murzuq, Fezzan, 
Libya. Photo © Adel Ibrahim. 
Map 59. Distribution of Psammophis schokari in Libya. 
