Eirenis

Eirenis modestus

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Colubroidea

Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Amorphea Cladus: Obazoa Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Cladus: Filozoa Cladus: Choanozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: ParaHoxozoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Cladus: Eugnathostomata Cladus: Osteichthyes Cladus: Sarcopterygii Cladus: Rhipidistia Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes Cladus: Elpistostegalia Cladus: Stegocephali Cladus: Tetrapoda Cladus: Reptiliomorpha Cladus: Amniota Cladus: Sauropsida Classis: Reptilia Cladus: Eureptilia Cladus: Romeriida Cladus: Diapsida Cladus: Neodiapsida Cladus: Sauria Cladus: Lepidosauromorpha Superordo: Lepidosauria Ordo: Squamata Cladus: Toxicofera Subordo: Serpentes Cladus: Caenophidia Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Colubrinae
Genus: Eirenis
Species (23): E. africanus – E. aurolineatus – E. barani – E. collaris – E. coronella – E. coronelloides – E. decemlineatus – E. eiselti – E. hakkariensis – E. kermanensis – E. levantinus – E. lineomaculatus – E. medus – E. modestus – E. nigrofasciatus – E. occidentalis – E. persicus – E. punctatolineatus – E. rafsanjanicus – E. rechingeri – E. rothii – E. thospitis – E. yassujicus

Name

Eirenis Jan, 1863: 254

• Type species: Coronella modesta Martin, 1838 (=Eirenis collaris sensu Jan non Ménétries, 1832), by original designation.

Synonyms

• Pediophis Fitzinger, 1843: 25
  • Type species: Calamaria coronella Schlegel, 1837, by original designation.
• Psilosoma Jan, 1863: 33 [nomen praeoccupatum pro Psilosoma Zetterstedt, 1860]
  • Type species: Calamaria coronella Schlegel, 1837.
• Pseudocyclophis Boettger, 1888: 262
  • Type species: Pseudocyclophis walteri Boettger, 1888, by monotypy.
• Collaria Dotsenko, 1989: 25 [nomen praeoccupatum pro Collaria Provancher, 1872]
  • Type species: Coluber collaris Ménétries, 1832, by original designation.
• Eoseirenis Nagy, Schmidtler, Joger & Wink, 2003: 160
  • Type species: Ablabes decemlineatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854, by original designation.

References

Primary references

• Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus primus. Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel: Wien. vi + 106 pp. BHL Reference page. 
• Jan, G. 1863. Enumerazione sistematica degli ofidi appartenenti al gruppo Coronellidae. Archivio per la zoologia, l'anatomia e la fisiologia 2(2): 213–330. BHL Reference page. 
• Boettger, O. 1888. Über die Reptilien und Batrachier Transcaspiens. Zoologischer Anzeiger 11: 259–263. BHL
• Dotsenko, I.B. 1989. Ревизия рода Eirenis (Reptilia, Colubridae). Сообщение 2. Структура рода Eirenis. Vestnik Zoologii 1989(5): 23–29. Reference page. 
• Nagy, Z.T., Schmidtler, J.F., Joger, U. & Wink, M. 2003. Systematik der Zwergnattern (Reptilia: Colubridae: Eirenis) und verwandter Gruppen anhand von DNA-Sequenzen und morphologischen Daten. Salamandra 39(3–4): 149–168. PDF Reference page. 

Additional references

• Rajabizadeh, M., Schmidtler, J., Javanmardi, S., Rastegar-Pouyani, N. & Esmaeili, H.R. 2012. Taxonomy, distribution and geographic variation of Eirenis punctatolineatus (Boettger, 1892) (Reptilia: Colubridae). Amphibia-Reptilia 33(1): 69–82. DOI: 10.1163/156853811X622048 Reference page. 
• Rajabizadeh, M., Schmidtler, J., Orlov, N.L. & Soleimani, G. 2012. Review of taxonomy and distribution of the Eirenis medus group (Chernov, 1940) (Ophidia: Colubridae) with description of a new species of the genus Eirenis from Kerman Province, southeastern Iran. Russian Journal of Herpetology 19(4): 307–313. DOI: 10.30906/1026-2296-2012-19-4-307-313 [nonfunctional] Reference page. 
• Mahlow, K., Tillack, F., Schmidtler, J.F. & Müller, J. 2013. An annotated checklist, description and key to the dwarf snakes of the genus Eirenis Jan, 1863 (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae), with special emphasis on the dentition. Vertebrate Zoology 63(1): 41–85. DOI: 10.3897/vz.63.e31413 Reference page. 
• Rajabizadeh, M., Nagy, Z.T., Adriaens, D., Avcı, A., Masroor, R., Schmidtler, J., Nazarov, R., Esmaeili, H.R. & Christiaens, J. 2016. Alpine-Himalayan orogeny drove correlated morphological, molecular, and ecological diversification in the Persian dwarf snake (Squamata: Serpentes: Eirenis persicus). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176(4): 878–913. DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12342 Reference page. 
• Fathinia, B., Rastegar-Pouyani, E. & Shafaeipour, A. 2019. A new species of Eirenis (Ophidia: Colubridae) from highland habitats in southern Iran. Zoology in the Middle East 65(4): 319–329. DOI: 10.1080/09397140.2019.1663914 Reference page. 
• Akbarpour, M., Rastegar-Pouyani, N., Fathinia, B. & Rastegar-Pouyani, E. 2020. A new species of the genus Eirenis Jan, 1863 (Squamata: Colubridae) from Kerman Province in South-central Iran. Zootaxa 4868(1): 117–128. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4868.1.6 Reference page. 

Links

• Uetz, P., Freed, P., Aguilar, R., F. Reyes, J. Kudera & Hošek, J. (eds.) 2026. Eirenis . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 22 October 2025.

Vernacular names

• English: Middle Eastern Dwarf Racers