Red-bellied racer, Schmidt's whip snake
Dolichophis schmidti, known commonly as the red-bellied racer and Schmidt's whip snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Western Asia.
The specific name, schmidti, is in honor of Russian ichthyologist Petr Yulevich Schmidt.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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starts withD. schmidti is found in the Caucasus and the Middle East, from Dagestan to Turkmenistan and south into Syria, Jordan, and northern Iran.
D. schmidti occurs in a wide variety of habitats including rocky, stony and bushy river banks, deserts, semi-deserts, rocky outcrops, hillsides, montane steppe, cultivated fields, gardens, vineyards and other rural areas. It can occur close to human habitation and tolerates human disturbance.
D. schmidti is often observed near to large colonies of rodents on which it preys. It also preys on lizards, birds, and snakes.
Adult females of D. schmidti lay clutches of between 5 and 11 eggs.
