Eastern Montpellier snake


The eastern Montpellier snake is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake.

Geographic range

M. insignitus ranges from the eastern Adriatic coast in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, the southern Balkans in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Greece, western Asia and Caucasus in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Iran, and along northern Africa in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.

Description

It usually has 19 dorsal scale rows on its mid-body, but males lack a dark 'saddle'. It often has narrow, pale longitudinal stripes.