Diadem Snake

Fascinating facts about the Diadem Snake

• A 1.8-metre (about 6 feet) adult can stretch from a kitchen table to the edge of a small sofa, with a 34-cm (13½-inch) tail that’s roughly the length of a school ruler, showing how a snake can pack a lot of body into a modest space.
• This snake occurs on two continents, from the dunes of Algeria to the deserts of Kazakhstan and the valleys of northern India, showing it can thrive across many countries and a span of varied habitats.
• One of its three subspecies bears the name cliffordi, a nod to Dutch consul Jacques Clifford Kocq van Breugel (1799–1867) who worked in Tripoli, an example of how human history can become etched into a creature’s scientific label.
• With a total length of 1.8 m and a tail that makes up just 19 % of that length, the snake’s body is proportionally longer than most colubrids, a design that may aid its movement through sand and rocky crevices.

At a glance

About the Diadem Snake

Spalerosophis diadema may attain a total length of about 1.8 m (≈6 ft), of which roughly 34 cm (13½ in) is tail. Dorsally it is pale buff or sandy grey with a median series of dark blotches and smaller dark spots; ventrally it is usually uniform white, rarely with small blackish spots. The species is found in Algeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, northern India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, United Arab Emirates, western Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, northern Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, southern Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It is oviparous.

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